Future of the 350/2s

[Zomboid]

On the Bournemouth to Manchester run there is a lot of passenger turnover at New Street. Anecdotally I'd say about 66-75% of the arriving passengers disembark, but that's not in any way scientific.

If (for example) the train continued through to Coventry (let's electrify one of the sidings adjacent to the Leamington line for turnbacks if necessary) then I suspect that in itself wouldn't inconvenience many people coming from the north - though I'd probably be one of them...

Though that wouldn't help passengers needing to go to Leamington or further south (could those run via Solihull to save a path on the Coventry line? But then that would disconnect Coventry and Birmingham International from direct trains to/from Leamington and the south...).

 

[The Planner]

On the Bournemouth to Manchester run there is a lot of passenger turnover at New Street. Anecdotally I'd say about 66-75% of the arriving passengers disembark, but that's not in any way scientific.

If (for example) the train continued through to Coventry (let's electrify one of the sidings adjacent to the Leamington line for turnbacks if necessary) then I suspect that in itself wouldn't inconvenience many people coming from the north - though I'd probably be one of them...

Though that wouldn't help passengers needing to go to Leamington or further south (could those run via Solihull to save a path on the Coventry line? But then that would disconnect Coventry and Birmingham International from direct trains to/from Leamington and the south...).

XC would in no way relinquish the Cov corridor for the Bournemouth service.

 

[Zomboid]

XC would in no way relinquish the Cov corridor for the Bournemouth service.

No, I don't think it's a good idea from my viewpoint as a semi-regular passenger, either. Though if there was a way to run a Cov - Manchester EMU service in addition to the XC that might help with the overcrowding.

Another problem that HS2 would have solved... And maybe (in conjunction with the proposed new Liverpool - Manchester line still could)

 

[stevieinselby]

In reference to the ex Manchester services, realistically, how many people are getting on at Manchester and travelling further than Birmingham? I'd be very surprised if it was a majority as I would expect a good chunk of people who got on at Manchester to have alighted by the time the train leaves Stoke! And equally, those boarding at Stoke, Stafford and even Wolves will get off at Birmingham. So will it be that many people inconvenienced by a change of trains at Birmingham?

It may not be a "majority" of passengers travelling across Birmingham, but it can still be significant numbers.

From the 2022/23 data, there were 188k passengers travelling between Manchester Piccadilly and Birmingham New Street, and over 220k travelling to stations beyond New Street on the XCountry network (or connections therefrom), including Coventry, Bristol (TM & P), Reading, Oxford, International, Leamington Spa, Cheltenham, Southampton C & AP, Bath, Bournemouth, Basingstoke, Exeter, Gloucester, Plymouth and any more below 2k I didn't count. While we don't know for sure that all of those passengers did travel through New Street on an XCountry train without changing, it's likely that most of them did.

 

[physics34]

How about these go to GWR, then their 387s could move to Southern to provide more capacity down there.?

 

[hwl]

How about these go to GWR, then their 387s could move to Southern to provide more capacity down there.?

Far too logical

 

[CaergwrleKen]

I might have missed something but any reason why Scotrail are not having the 350’s? They would seem a nice fit with some Siemens already there and to get rid of the older units 318/320? Seems a big waste the 350’s are good trains.

 

[JamesT]

I might have missed something but any reason why Scotrail are not having the 350’s? They would seem a nice fit with some Siemens already there and to get rid of the older units 318/320? Seems a big waste the 350’s are good trains.

As has been mentioned on many threads previously, the existing units Scotland uses are 3-car, sometimes doubled up as 6-car services. 4-car 350s may not fit and potentially would require infrastructure changes (e.g. platform lengthening).

 

[stevieinselby]

As has been mentioned on many threads previously, the existing units Scotland uses are 3-car, sometimes doubled up as 6-car services. 4-car 350s may not fit and potentially would require infrastructure changes (e.g. platform lengthening).

A large proportion, possibly even a majority (although I'm not going to do the maths) of the Glasgow suburban network currently uses 3- and 4-car sets – while there are plenty that are doubled up to make 6-car sets, it's a very long way from universal. So it looks to me as though there would easily be scope to replace a load of 3-car 318s and 320s with 4-car 350s on diagrams that currently run with a single set, and then you have the 334s, 380/0s and 385/0s can be doubled up for those diagrams that do need more than 4 carriages.

 

[JCO1406]

Is it possible to convert the 350s into 3 car sets?