Fro the Stoppers, what is the acceleration like on a 319? At the moment, they seem to take an awful long time to get up to speed out of each station. Is that just because it isn't worth the while due to the pathing? or are they really that labored.
They are not greased lightning, for sure.
The Airport/Preston semi fasts are pretty good at getting going through Olive Mount, but the stoppers have no need to hurry on current times.
The Preston gets stuck behind the Victoria stopper at Roby (will be fixed by the 4th track), and has lots of time after St Helens, helped by 100mph on the WCML from Wigan to Balshaw Lane.
They are fast loaders/unloaders compared to 142/156s, so dwell times could be cut.
We don't seem to have heard anything about further 319 upgrades beyond the current cosmetic facelift.
A traction upgrade was on the cards, and as Northern will have something like 27 units interworking with new CAF 331s, maybe this will happen in the future.
Anyway, this is the TPE thread, and we should be talking AT300 or similar performance on the Liverpool-Glasgow services.