Is this true?

[ole man]

Found this on internet today, surely it can't be true

Midland Mainline, which operates services to Leicester and Nottingham from St. Pancras, are proud of their new four-car ‘Meridien’ units. However, the guards go on strike if the train is longer than four cars – why?

 

[NSE]

Midland Mainline don't exist anymore, its now EMT, and they originally got four car 222's, but reshuffled them with the longer ones to make 5 & 7 as they were not long enough. They then recieved 4 car ones from Hull Trains, which were extra, therefore I can't see why they'd complain they were too long, So I reckon its not true.

 

[jopsuk]

No... where on earth did you find that? The original Class 222 formations were:
7 x 9 car sets
16 x 4 car sets

The 4 car sets had a coach and a half of 1st class, which was crazy. There were also 4 x 4 car sets for Hull Trains with less 1st class.

The formations operated now by EMT are:
6 x 7 car
17 x 5 car
4 x 4 car (ex Hull)

Nine and ten car formations (two units) are used in service

Perhaps someone with better memory can confirm or deny industrial unrest at their introduction?

 

[Eagle]

That change in formations went in at least two stages though (MM initially rearranged their long 222s to be 8-car, before they were further reduced to 7).

 

[ole man]

No... where on earth did you find that? The original Class 222 formations were:
7 x 9 car sets
16 x 4 car sets

The 4 car sets had a coach and a half of 1st class, which was crazy. There were also 4 x 4 car sets for Hull Trains with less 1st class.

The formations operated now by EMT are:
6 x 7 car
17 x 5 car
4 x 4 car (ex Hull)

Nine and ten car formations (two units) are used in service

Perhaps someone with better memory can confirm or deny industrial unrest at their introduction?

Found it on a railway quiz i was doing at work, it never gave the answer so i put it on here to see.Must of had some truth in the question or it wouldn't of been asked.

 

[hairyhandedfool]

If it is true I would guess it was a staffing issue, but that is a guess.

When Midland Mainline ordered the 222s they were due to put the 9 car sets on a new St Pancras-Leeds service. The new service didn't happen and the seven sets were left in store while the 4 car trains gradually replaced Turbostars. I don't recall the 222s running in pairs back then.

 

[pt_mad]

Does anyone think Meridiens are better than Voyagers?

 

[Eagle]

Does anyone think Meridiens are better than Voyagers?

The long ones are (simply because they're longer). My opinion :P

 

[Hydro]

Yes, mainly down to the interior and luggage space, and as Eagle points out they come in longer flavours.

 

[pt_mad]

Yup the meridiens are how it should be done baby!

 

[Bellwater]

Right. Its EMT not MML, they have Train Managers not Guards and they operate Meridians not Meridiens.

 

[Wath Yard]

Found it on a railway quiz i was doing at work, it never gave the answer so i put it on here to see.Must of had some truth in the question or it wouldn't of been asked.

I searched for the website and at the top it states answers will be given on request and contains an e-mail address.

 

[shedman]

The reason why the Train Managers were balloting for strike was staffing of 2 units when running in multiple. The arguement was it was unsafe to operate a service of that length (vehicle wise) with just 1 safety critical member of staff between 2 units and the union said 'unit hopping' was out of the question. This was all back in the days of MML.

 

[Clip]

The reason why the Train Managers were balloting for strike was staffing of 2 units when running in multiple. The arguement was it was unsafe to operate a service of that length (vehicle wise) with just 1 safety critical member of staff between 2 units and the unit said 'unit hopping' was out of the question. This was all back in the days of MML.

Thats what I thought. I can certainly remember travelling on a double unit back in MML days - though I cant remember if the back was locked out or not.

 

[shedman]

The chances are it wouldnt have been. MML usually had a TM and a safety critical catering host on the same train so they would work a unit each