I would hope that the Brum-Euston remain as 350 for that reason. Allows unit swaps much better.
Absolutely. The only thing I can think of is that they ordered them fully expecting to be 2 separate franchises by the point of delivery so that there was WMT 730 and LNR 730. Obviously a lot has happened that they couldn't have foreseen since they took over
But what's the point, the 730/0 and 730/2 are about as similar as 458/4 and 458/5
Before you posted this, I was actually thinking this.
Are the 730/0s and 730/2s the only 2 subclasses on the railway that cannot work in multiple?
36 5 car 730s replace 36 4 car 350/2s and (yes although they have already been replaced technically) the remaining 319s and the diagrams they all used to operate (except the abbey line)
I was wondering about that, so there is an advantage - thanks
It’s 37 350/2s, but that’s me being pedantic. What helps is that when a 10 car replaces a 12 car, that’s essentially 3 units replaced by two which makes it a ludicrous capacity increase.
Well a capacity increase seems deserved, and they'll need more if they are to run to Manchester.
Plus not forgetting they do replace the 319s diagrams as well. Its not just 350/2s they takeover from
Ah I had forgotten, if I remember correctly I think they had 12 319s, making it then for 49 350 equivalents, so an increase of 5 350 equivements.
I believe, when all were still in service, LNR had 15 319s (319005/012/013/214/215/216/217/218/219/220/429/433/441/457/460)
A 350/1 has 230 seats, a 730/2 has 406 seats. My maths puts that at at a roughly 76% increase in seats. So effectively, capacity-wise, a 730/2 is the equivalent of 1.76 350/1s, which is staggering, so it's effectively 63 350s!
Just a shame they have too many seats decreasing legroom (according to @Bletchleyite ).
This allowed a refurbishment program to take place on the 350/1's and 350/3's so some of those were not operating when the 319's were around, and neither were the 350/4's which only came along from TPE in 2019 and 2020
Legroom is on a par with a 350/1 in all fairness, these have a similar setup where the middle section has less legroom (still a bit more than a 350/1, I'm 6' and it was fine) than the carriage end sections (on a par with the 350/1 end sections). I don't wish to speak for @Bletchleyite, but from what I've seen he dislikes these since the airline seats on the end sections with more legroom don't have a very good window view (there is a view, but there's a bit of bulkhead).
Should be every 2 weeks or so. So 23rd all being well
23rd indeed, 2x5 formation planned as follows:
Does T and K mean Tring and Milton Keynes?
Yes usually. As well as N for Northampton, but its Y to/from Birmingham and U for Trent Valley services as a rule.
About a minute into the video the engineering director says that they are aiming to get 32 or 33 out of the 36 units in service every day. Does that seem overly optimistic?
32 of 36 is 88.88%, I think most modern units haven't had that avaliability.
The order was changed; the 730/1 have become 730/2s. The volume of units for both sub classes was amended slightly as well.
