Sadly most attempts to do this have not really worked - thinking 319
Porterbrook own the 350/2s, and given their history with the 319s if no one wants the 350/2s they may well try anything to get them out again.
Pretty much every North Clyde and Argyle line station is setup for 120m trains (334s are effectively 20m), only a few would be long enough for 160m trains. Also the capacity is just not needed, definitely doesn't justify platform extensions. 120m is plenty in peaks and 60m sufficient off peak. TBH 4 car 350 would be fine on the shorter low level services. There would probably be more obstacles to overcome. Signal sighting being one, with the gangways. Not necessarily a complete no.
Announced but done absolutely nothing about it since? Similar to the battery assisted 450 proposals about Basingstoke - Salisbury - Exeter. Yet they’re often mentioned in the forum.
)I'm slightly ahead of events then. The point still stands though as it won't go fully over to electric due to a shortage of sufficient EMUs.
And when they go ahead with ordering their new (B)EMU fleet, it will be very good for train services across large parts of Scotland. I just hope they actually go and progress the order process.
Can't comment on the second part, but if the 350/2 withdrawal thread is anything to go by, the first LNWR ones were stood down in Autumn 2024.
I haven't heard about it since, though the 350/2s have been busy with LNWR till recently.
SWR seem to be far more serious about battery 450s.
The TPE is asking for 29x at least 5-car 200km/h (124mph) trains with an option for another 26. They intend that all services are full-length units, and the units will be multimode to avoid procuring several fleets.
There would need to be a lot of (pretty much invisible) design work done before anything tangible happens.
There is a fundamental commercial barrier to effective conversions IMO.
Some of the platforms on the smaller staions of the Ayr line like Barassie aren't long enough for 7-carriage trains. SDO would need to be instaled in order for this to work.
Porterbrook and Siemens have installed a large power supply (SFC based) at Long Marston and are busy upgrading the track on the outer loops to increase speed for continuous running battery testing purposes.Announced but done absolutely nothing about it since? Similar to the battery assisted 450 proposals about Basingstoke - Salisbury - Exeter. Yet they’re often mentioned in the forum.
Does anyone know if any practical work has ever started, you’d think Porterbrook would be pretty quick with the PR if it had…
(I just did a search, there’s 36 posts in this thread about battery conversion…
Work has already been done on the 350 fleet to install ASDO, I am not sure on whether this includes the 350/2s, but the actual job itself will be doable with recent experience from Siemens for installation. The ASDO isn't in use yet but it's planned to be implemented once the 730/2 fleet is fully introduced.
350/2 excluded from scope. But all others fitted and waiting to be commissioned.
Ah, that makes sense.
I suspect then we could see a 350/2 in the future equipped with batteries to show it works. Now if the wires got to Bristol TM perhaps.if there's enough range along with equipped them.with 3rd rail shoes maybe let gwr have some for the Cardiff to Portsmouth Harbour service
A pretty likely scenario if there are no takers for them as AC units, IMO.
Could be handy for gwr especially with 3rd rail shoes. North downs line etc
The work involved in getting them on a service like Cardiff-Portsmouth is probably too costly and risky, which is a shame as having 8-car tri-mode units would be a real crowd-buster on that route and maybe a magnet for further passenger growth.
Yes, but adding shoes and batteries is likely to be fraught with opportunity for things to go wrong. Better to add batteries to a train that's already dual voltage if that's the target.
