I would have thought spending millions on the pier was an ideal time to rationalise it all and use the space better - getting rid of the unused platform and creating an overall roof with facilities there would make things a lot warmer!
Are they ever going to demolish the tramway pier?!
millions on the pier is just to make it structurally sound for the next 20 years or so.
in all honesty they should probably spend a bit on making the pier end a bit more entertaining than just a ferry point and a costa coffee.
aside from that, it's very welcome news.
I did hear mention of the D stock having some modifications to remove some padding/suspension to make them about 3 inches lower.
depending on what's done with the track you might still end up with trampolines!
however I think they probably should have gone for 5* 3 car.(or more depending on overall cost). 3 car with PRM really is the minimum the line should be running in summer.
at least with D78's running on third rail there's not much tinkering to do, and the doors will still be faster to operate than the 38TS!
2*2 car + 1 spare seems to be cutting it fine though.
I get that it's notoriously seasonal, but a bit of creativity from the council vis a vis out of season events could help pad that out somewhat.
If the D78's went cheap enough then it's an opportunity to future proof it for a couple of decades- plus it fills vivarail's order book quite considerably for both stock and spares/support.
at only 20% take up of rolling stock(that's just 2 car end units, much less for intermediate carriges) at present there is certainly scope to get such a scheme in place.
The fit-out of the marston units is pretty decent..not brand new obviously,but I thought they were a reasonable step up from the sprinters too,and with the addition of aircon I am sure will be a very nice improvement for IoW passengers anyway.