The refurbishment of the 317/6s to me looks 'sufficient' - it looks tidy, but it's nothing out of the ordinary, it certainly doesn't make the units any different from an 'as new' condition to the original spec other than perhaps a less 80s colour scheme. Despite the considerable criticism it drew, apart from the terrible doors I still think the Eversholt 321 demonstrator made a solid effort at transforming 25 year old EMU into something fairly comparable to modern stock. Whether doing that across the board is cost-effective of course is another matter. Nonetheless, given the extended length of the franchise from its origin, a refurb to the standard of the 317/6s is what I really would have expected pretty much across the board. They've delivered that sort of thing with the LHCs, and one might argue that the 321/4s from the WCML are similar in standard, but the 321/3s saw very minimal effort, and the condition the 170s ended up in was inexcusable.
As for the rumour of 100% fleet replacement, I'd find that very hard to believe. I could potentially believe a 100% replacement on the DMU fleet and sending the small fleet of 170s off to bolster another TOC, full replacement of the LHCS set makes sense, replacement of all the 317s is a fair possibility, but:
- replacing all 94 321s? where would they send them all?
- replacing the 360s and 379s would seem utterly pointless
It's been too long since the Electrostar and Desiro UK now so a new build of stock for the mainstay of the fleet would have to be different to that currently in operation.
It would be a great opportunity to once and for all deal with the fleet shortage issues that have plagued the route since I can remember, but it'd be a huge investment, I'll believe it when I see it.
It must be fairly close to the announcement of the winning bidder now, mustn't it?