The following article is from today's Huddersfield Examiner
New operator makes bold promises
According to Mr Shapps, the new state-owned operator will:
- Get rid of all Pacer trains in Yorkshire “by the spring”
- Move electric trains from other parts of the network to the north so they can “boost capacity” for passengers travelling between Leeds and Manchester
- Trial new technology to “identify crowding pinch points”
- Extend platforms at 30 stations on the Northern network to accommodate longer trains
- Deep clean all trains and “review the cleaning pattern”
- Prioritise improving Sunday services
These are indeed worthy objectives as Sunday services are awful, the trains are filthy and there is a severe capacity shortage. I'm not sure whether its necessary to trial new technology to spot crowd pinch points - just travel around on trains for a week and you'll likely find out all you need to know.
Is he suggesting boosting capacity between Leeds and Manchester by transferring electric trains to northern routes, with existing diesels on these routes being transferred to transpennine route? if so, which current routes will the diesels be replaced by electrics? Surely the simplest fix is to keep the 185's which were to go off-lease and double up all 185 diagrams on north transpennine. Whilst transferring additional electrics may help on West side of Pennines, There are limited places east of Manchester where they could be employed at present - Ilkley, Bradford, Skipton, Doncaster, but these are already slated to receive or indeed have received additional electric trains. The rest is not electrified.
Or is he hinting the North Transpennne route might be electrified throughout (although many years hence)?
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