How many carriages will an XC have ?

[yorksrob]

Hi all, I was wondering if there's a way to find out how many carriages a cross country service will have ?

Thinking particularly of today's 11:27 Plymouth - Glasgow, if anyone knows.

 

[LowLevel]

4 car 221141 throughout - avoid!

 

[TT-ONR-NRN]

Hi all, I was wondering if there's a way to find out how many carriages a cross country service will have ?

Thinking particularly of today's 11:27 Plymouth - Glasgow, if anyone knows.

CrossCountry formations are on Realtime Trains.

 

[yorksrob]

CrossCountry formations are on Realtime Trains.

Cheers, I'll try that.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Friday at 10:24 ==

Ah, four carriages. Avoid like plague.

 

[BrianW]

What has to be done to deal with this clear and obvious shortcoming of such short trains on XC? What chance? Why will it not change? Answers blaming Dept of Transport or the Treasury won't cut it- they are only obeying orders.

 

[Jamesrob637]

Short formed for today only, or booked that way?

If the former, okay for occasion

If the latter, not acceptable for such an oversubscribed route.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The coming of the Avanti units should allow the end of 4 car operation if I recall.

 

[MCR247]

The coming of the Avanti units should allow the end of 4 car operation if I recall.

Although that doesn’t mean as much as it should now that so many double sets run around with half locked out of use

 

[The exile]

What has to be done to deal with this clear and obvious shortcoming of such short trains on XC? What chance? Why will it not change? Answers blaming Dept of Transport or the Treasury won't cut it- they are only obeying orders.

Thought they were the ones issuing the orders.

 

[800001]

What has to be done to deal with this clear and obvious shortcoming of such short trains on XC? What chance? Why will it not change? Answers blaming Dept of Transport or the Treasury won't cut it- they are only obeying orders.

Well you won’t get any other answer then, it is all down to DFT and Treasury.

 

[yorksrob]

Well you won’t get any other answer then, it is all down to DFT and Treasury.

Saw this go by at Taunton. Couldn't fit everyone on (full and standing before it got here).

Yet according to the powers that be, there was more than enough rolling stock with XC to withdraw the HST's.

Liars !

 

[The exile]

Saw this go by at Taunton. Couldn't fit everyone on (full and standing before it got here).

Yet according to the powers that be, there was more than enough rolling stock with XC to withdraw the HST's.

Liars !

There presumably was more than enough (on paper) to fulfil the minimum requirements - just that a) what works on paper often doesn’t in real life and b) those minimum requirements no longer reflect the reality of passenger numbers.

 

[800001]

Saw this go by at Taunton. Couldn't fit everyone on (full and standing before it got here).

Yet according to the powers that be, there was more than enough rolling stock with XC to withdraw the HST's.

Liars !

And who pulls the strings and would have made XC get rid? Dft/treasury

 

[yorksrob]

There presumably was more than enough (on paper) to fulfil the minimum requirements - just that a) what works on paper often doesn’t in real life and b) those minimum requirements no longer reflect the reality of passenger numbers.

Possibly yes.

Fortunately I was able to get a much quieter train twenty minutes later !

Thank heavens for flexible off-peak fares !

 

[irish_rail]

Short formed for today only, or booked that way?

If the former, okay for occasion

If the latter, not acceptable for such an oversubscribed route.

Booked a 4 or 5 car, regularly a 4 car. So bad is this train that a GwR drivers diagram has had to be altered due to frequent occasions where Plymouth drivers who took the 1115 London from Plymouth, as far as Exeter before travelling on the 1127, have been physically unable to board, causing potential cancellation of the 1400 Bristol to London (a Plymouth job). The job has been altered so the Plymouth GWR driver now travels from Plymouth not Exeter on it to allow us a fighting chance of finding a seat (or standing space) . This is one train that is crying out to be doubled up and yet just never seems to be improved.

 

[DarloRich]

Hi all, I was wondering if there's a way to find out how many carriages a cross country service will have ?

Thinking particularly of today's 11:27 Plymouth - Glasgow, if anyone knows.

4 car 221141 throughout - avoid!

I was in this one. Awful. I am sure people were left behind at new street.

It needs sorting out.

 

[Mainline421]

Not enough.

 

[yorksrob]

I was in this one. Awful. I am sure people were left behind at new street.

It needs sorting out.

You have my sympathy !

Four carriages on XC is not adequate.

 

[DarloRich]

You have my sympathy !

Four carriages on XC is not adequate.

Periodic reminder not to use xc complete!

 

[Towers]

The coming of the Avanti units should allow the end of 4 car operation if I recall.

The Avanti units have come! They’ve been around a while now, and still this occurs.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: Saturday at 07:29 ==

You have my sympathy !

Four carriages on XC is not adequate.

But of course has been a standard feature for many, many years, adequate or not!

 

[norbitonflyer]

Started with Branson's Operation Princess. The idea was shorter but more frequent trains. Trouble was that the extra trains didn't run at times that people wanted to travel.

 

[Brooklands]

Surely 1st class should be declassified as effectively they are running 3 car trains!

 

[Parallel]

Last time I took XC it was a 4 car set from Aberdeen. Full and standing between Dundee and Sheffield (not with all the same passengers mind, but still).

 

[Roylang]

How many ex Avanti units are currently off lease? Is there enough to fix this if DfT willed it, or are we now stuck in this situation until new stock is bought?

As we head into the new world of GBR, the blame for issues will be hard for government to deflect.

 

[yorksrob]

Started with Branson's Operation Princess. The idea was shorter but more frequent trains. Trouble was that the extra trains didn't run at times that people wanted to travel.

To be fair to Operation Princess, it worked - frequent trains do attract more passengers.

However we've had over twenty years since then to increase capacity on XC. Lots of IC standard rolling stock has been withdrawn in that time, yet the powers that be have failed to take the opportunity to boost capacity.

 

[Haywain]

Surely 1st class should be declassified as effectively they are running 3 car trains!

How many extra seats would that give, realistically?

 

[Shaw S Hunter]

XC doesn't serve London. So DfT staff will have almost no direct experience of the capacity problems. I'm not expecting things to get better under GBR. It might even be better to do away with the whole XC concept.

 

[Starmill]

CrossCountry don't usually declassify First. Certainly not at the weekend when they'll just charge the relevant upgrade.

 

[Starmill]

The Avanti units have come! They’ve been around a while now, and still this occurs.

They're not all in service though are they.

 

[Starmill]

How many ex Avanti units are currently off lease? Is there enough to fix this if DfT willed it, or are we now stuck in this situation until new stock is bought?

As we head into the new world of GBR, the blame for issues will be hard for government to deflect.

Is it something like 7 in storage and 2 at Grand Central?