Jozhua
Established Member
- Joined
- 6 Jan 2019
- Messages
- 1,860
So Northern will run diesel multiple units - which they are very short of - under the wires for hundreds of miles a day, in the midst of a climate emergency, just because the government happen to dislike funding 15 miles of electrification.So Northern will run diesel multiple units - which they are very short of - under the wires for hundreds of miles a day, in the midst of a climate emergency, just because the management happen to dislike the alternative.
Surely there must be a better reason than that, even if it's not been given publicly?
Yes, batteries are also heavy, expensive and don't have amazing longevity. And if you have different operational/maintainance procedures, this adds a lot of cost. Small sub-fleets never really go amazingly. Probably part of the issue with the 180's is just the lack of resource and difficulty finding parts for such a small fleet.It also creates a small subfleet of battery EMUs which is much less preferable than just electrifying it, its only 15 miles long meanwhile NR have hired Atkins (engineering and design company) to bring down the cost of electrification.
Arriva had planned for 16 more 2 car 170 like DMUs but this never happened.
I doubt we will see many new 195s, the better way is to electrify most routes and use 195s and 170s were it would cost too much till the end of the train's life.