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XC Voyager Refurbishment

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Energy

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Bletchleyite said:
I can only assume an intention to aim at a younger client base (which in some ways makes sense), but when I was student age I found any attempt by a faceless corporation to be "down with the kids" just grossly patronising and stupid, not attractive.
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Any XC rebrand feels pointless unless they do it after the additional stock is in and routes are up to a decent capacity.

XC's routes are already attractive but it needs longer trains. If the 12 extra voyagers are enough, future advertising on XC needs to focus on its trains being much longer.
 
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43066

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Russel said:
There's a lot of negativity here, toward what is only an artists impression which generally do have over saturated colours compared to how the real thing usually turns out.

Maybe we need to reserve judgement until we see the real thing?
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Fair point re. the need to see it in the flesh, but I just can’t help but think it’s too “busy” and garish for a train livery.

Bletchleyite said:
To me it's more rock-bottom budget - Ouigo, Avlo, Flixtrain etc. But without the fares to match.
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This sums it up for me as well.
 
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JD2168

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Bayum said:
I quite like it. Think it’s more suited to a cross-city unit, rather then long-distance intercity operator.


Much better on this than the voyager.
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The new livery looks awful & quite dated looking already. Surely they could have come up with something better.
 
WAB

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Russel said:
It's all down to personal taste and thread like this tent to turn into echo chambers, for what it's worth, I think it looks modern and fresh.
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I think the base design is alright. It's the awful turquoise and grey which really makes it look awful.
 
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Jacob

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Busy livery for busy trains, maybe that's what they were going for, distract passengers with an ugly looking train
 
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Brissle Girl

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One thing that struck me is that the turquoise triangle very close to the turquoise door seems to go against accessibility guidelines that the doors should be a separate colour.
 
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LowLevel

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Bletchleyite said:
It's only the EMR ones being declassified.

Must admit I think those two derogation applications are downright lazy and should not be granted. A few extra screens would be cheap in the scheme of things, including fitting an outside one in a window as some other Turbostars have.
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I don't think it is as easy as you might think - I know there is some concern already about how crowded the wiring trays are on the 170s and the main original trunk is apparently not particularly easy to access either.
 
C

Class 800

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I too find the new livery and proposed interiors to be incredibly plastic-y and tacky.

I hope first class is not so bad. I find Grand Central in particular have done an excellent job of luxury-looking and understated exteriors and interiors, specifically in first class
 
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tomoufc

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I'm not really fussed about liveries, but the more substantive issues.

Looking at the article in MR, the timeline suggests that it's going to be many months before there is an increase in capacity relative to demand, which is a shame. A lot more financial resource needs to be thrown at the franchise, which would allow it to fully embrace increased capacity opportunities by rolling stock going off-lease.
 
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Brissle Girl

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tomoufc said:
I'm not really fussed about liveries, but the more substantive issues.

Looking at the article in MR, the timeline suggests that it's going to be many months before there is an increase in capacity relative to demand, which is a shame. A lot more financial resource needs to be thrown at the franchise, which would allow it to fully embrace increased capacity opportunities by rolling stock going off-lease.
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I don't think anyone's in disagreement that XC (it's not a franchise remember any more) needs even more capacity than has been given to it by the government. But it is what it is for a while, and at least now we have concrete plans for a long overdue refurbishment and a gradual increase in capacity, which by clever reshuffling of unit configurations will be more meaningful that might be imagined. (new 5 replaces 4, 2x4 replace a 5, that 5 then replaces another 4 etc).
 
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tomoufc

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Brissle Girl said:
I don't think anyone's in disagreement that XC (it's not a franchise remember any more) needs even more capacity than has been given to it by the government. But it is what it is for a while, and at least now we have concrete plans for a long overdue refurbishment and a gradual increase in capacity, which by clever reshuffling of unit configurations will be more meaningful that might be imagined. (new 5 replaces 4, 2x4 replace a 5, that 5 then replaces another 4 etc).
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I broadly agree, but the MR article underlined to me just how slowly that improvement will take to implement.
 
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Brissle Girl

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tomoufc said:
I broadly agree, but the MR article underlined to me just how slowly that improvement will take to implement.
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I'm not sure I agree that 1 unit being refurbished per week is particularly slow given that it appears to be a full strip out.
 
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Wolfie

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Brissle Girl said:
I'm not sure I agree that 1 unit being refurbished per week is particularly slow given that it appears to be a full strip out.
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Indeed and, given that Standard on those trains is pretty much untouched since new, precedent means that the question must be who knows just what nasties they may find....
 
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Snow1964

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Brissle Girl said:
I'm not sure I agree that 1 unit being refurbished per week is particularly slow given that it appears to be a full strip out.
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Although to some extent on a modern train, doesn't take that long to unbolt seats using power tools and strip out carpets etc.

Only gets really slow if changing panelling or behind the scenes work like rewiring, rather than refitting refurbished fittings.

If there are effectively extra trains (12) then probably work on basis of 3 being done at any one time, 3 overlapping weeks as they progress through the stages.
 
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Brissle Girl

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Snow1964 said:
Although to some extent on a modern train, doesn't take that long to unbolt seats using power tools and strip out carpets etc.

Only gets really slow if changing panelling or behind the scenes work like rewiring, rather than refitting refurbished fittings.

If there are effectively extra trains (12) then probably work on basis of 3 being done at any one time, 3 overlapping weeks as they progress through the stages.
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The images shown suggest that panelling will be replaced (unless it is spray painted?), as it appears much fresher in colour.

And yes, the Modern Railways article talks about three production lines with one a week being completed. The first three units cascaded from Avanti enable the programme to start (although the Avanti units will be last, as they have had a more recent refresh).
 
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Carlisle

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Brissle Girl said:
The images shown suggest that panelling will be replaced (unless it is spray painted?), as it appears much fresher in colour.
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If it’s anything like the Pendolino refurbs most panels will be sprayed
 
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Blindtraveler

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Would love to see them strip out most of the huge bogs and replace with smaller ones plus either a couple of tip up seats or an extra luggage stack. The large luggage storage area in coach d isn't as well used as I think they anticipated and this space could possibly also be used better, totally novel idea here but how about a buffet counter?
 
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Bletchleyite

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Russel said:
Has there been any images to show the proposed internal look yet?
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Yes, in this month's Modern Railways. I think it would probably breach copyright to post the image here which is why people aren't doing - in due course it'll likely go on XC's site then people will post references to it.
 
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BanburyBlue

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Bletchleyite said:
Yes, in this month's Modern Railways. I think it would probably breach copyright to post the image here which is why people aren't doing - in due course it'll likely go on XC's site then people will post references to it.
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Is this the May issue? I've just been to WH Smith's in central Birmingham, and they still have the April edition on display.
 
HarryF

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BanburyBlue said:
Is this the May issue? I've just been to WH Smith's in central Birmingham, and they still have the April edition on display.
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I believe that the May edition should appear in shops tomorrow and that subscribers have it delivered a day or two beforehand.
 
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Russel

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Bletchleyite said:
Yes, in this month's Modern Railways. I think it would probably breach copyright to post the image here which is why people aren't doing - in due course it'll likely go on XC's site then people will post references to it.
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But isn't that the same place the external images have come from?
 
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