Could a way be found to operate non-tilting trains at 125mph on the WCML?

[toby_farman]

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/wcml-new-rolling-stock-discussion.188847/page-15

So everyone expecting 80x's is definitely wrong but you're definitely right? We don't know anything for sure yet but considering the cost for such a small order of tilting units, especially pending a decision on HS2 would be too high considering no manufacturer is currently offering a UK guage tilting train, you might be able to get more 390s but that doesn't answer the requirement for a bi-mode unit. When taking into account the fact that the 80x units are becoming the UK standard high-speed units ordering a micro-fleet of very specialised units is asking for trouble.

Is there a way of operating 80x "non-tilting" units at 125mph on the WCML?

 

[Nick Ashwell]

Is there a way of operating 80x "non-tilting" units at 125mph on the WCML?

If the money can be found for line upgrades sure. 125 units will not be a priority if HS2 happens as most people will use HS2.

 

[toby_farman]

If the money can be found for line upgrades sure. 125 units will not be a priority if HS2 happens as most people will use HS2.

Let's hope it doesn't get cancelled, then.
Anyway, it probably won't open until 2040/2045 at the latest, so passengers need 125 mph units on the WCML until then.

 

[toby_farman]

So you agree that there won’t be any more 390s then?

Agreed, no more 390s, but similar tilting trains can still be made, albeit not class 390s.

 

[AndrewE]

If the money can be found for line upgrades sure. 125 units will not be a priority if HS2 happens as most people will use HS2.

Most people? Nobody can use HS2 north of Warrington. It obviously needs saying (again) that Wolves-Stafford-Crewe-Warrington traffic to the north will not benefit from HS2. All the people connecting in or starting their journeys north of Curzon St (i.e. at Crewe, Warrington, Wigan, Preston etc) will get a slower service if the WCML north of HS2 gets slower. I know people from London and Brum will stll have benefitted, but this sort of suggestion is what allows us provincials to be easily persuaded that HS2 is really only about London, and journeys around the rest of the country will suffer as a consequence.

 

[Western Lord]

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/wcml-new-rolling-stock-discussion.188847/page-15



Is there a way of operating 80x "non-tilting" units at 125mph on the WCML?

Any train could run at 125mph on the WCML, tilt exists purely for passenger comfort, not some magic way of going around corners quicker.