So, what is the current thing on the Chiltern line which needs improving?
The main one I can think of is electrification, its stupid that the line is still running diesel trains. ETCS L2 overlay would be nice at some point once the signalling system gets replaced or becomes too difficult to maintain (Chiltern's is non standard).
At the same time another DB / Arriva TOC was ordering new DMUs.
Were they? Around that time the 172/0s and /1s were being ordered, /0s don't really count as TfL decides the rolling stock and /1s were a small tag on order of the /1s which originally served a much different purpose of helping the 165s operate the Chiltern Metro. If you're counting Northern ordering class 195s then that would be replacing a small fleet with another small fleet.
LHCS in this country is seen as an absolute last resort to operate services with for a variety of reasons.
Track access costs are higher for loco hauled services and they are arguably less flexible with the 168s being able to make almost any length of train.
