Could West Midlands Trains operate 8 cars on their Birmingham to Liverpool service?

[peter166]

Moderator note: split from

Avanti WC down the pan again

Several late and cancelled trains on the Manchester route this evening, including, apparently, the last Manchester-Euston at 21:15. NRE showing shortage of traincrew as the reason. The previous 20:15 left over half an hour late, it looks like its incoming Down train was cancelled so has...

www.railforums.co.uk

It's (was) a Friday night! Very much peak traffic out of Lime St, a 4 car would not have sufficed.

The company can't win can it? Surely Friday-Sunday is when 8 cars ARE needed, no?

Why aren't 8 car trains run by LNR throughout the day on every Liverpool to Birmingham service?

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Why aren't 8 car trains run by LNR throughout the day on every Liverpool to Birmingham service?

Not enough units given at least half of the hours have 2tph now, with the idea being going back to pre-covid frequencies now and potentially changing to 5 car 730s when launched to increase capacity.

 

[peter166]

Not enough units given at least half of the hours have 2tph now, with the idea being going back to pre-covid frequencies now and potentially changing to 5 car 730s when launched to increase capacity.

Thank you.
Are the diagrams, ie. which trains are 4 car & which are 8 car, published ? How does the planned allocation of 4 car & 8 car trains cope with events such as football matches or concerts or cancellations to LNWR and Avanti services ?
Presumably sufficient 5 car 730's have been ordered with the staff to operate them for a full 2 train (half hourly) service throughout the day ?

 

[SCDR_WMR]

Thank you.
Are the diagrams, ie. which trains are 4 car & which are 8 car, published ? How does the planned allocation of 4 car & 8 car trains cope with events such as football matches or concerts or cancellations to LNWR and Avanti services ?
Presumably sufficient 5 car 730's have been ordered with the staff to operate them for a full 2 train (half hourly) service throughout the day ?

Have a look in the 730 thread, but I would imagine that the service will become a mix of 730 and 350s. Hopefully there is flexibility in terms of additional train lengths for 350s once the 730s go on the Wolves-Walsall route at the end of Jan.

We do get a monthly list of all high attendance events so I would certainly hope that fleet plan for such things (where units are available of course)

 

[87015]

5-730 doesn't fit in 4C at New St does it, which many of the Liverpool diagrams cycle through SX at least - in addition to those which attach/detach during the day so can't be a mix?

 

[gazzaa2]

Thank you.
Are the diagrams, ie. which trains are 4 car & which are 8 car, published ? How does the planned allocation of 4 car & 8 car trains cope with events such as football matches or concerts or cancellations to LNWR and Avanti services ?
Presumably sufficient 5 car 730's have been ordered with the staff to operate them for a full 2 train (half hourly) service throughout the day ?

Issue at the moment is Avanti services are cancelled all over the place, which makes any 4 car LNWR on the services around that maxed out.

 

[SCDR_WMR]

5-730 doesn't fit in 4C at New St does it, which many of the Liverpool diagrams cycle through SX at least - in addition to those which attach/detach during the day so can't be a mix?

Since TT change I've not worked a single Liverpool service from 4c, I know some have, but as long as the signaller knows what traction it is, other platforms will be used.

In fact, I haven't used 4c at all this month now the via Tame Bridge/Stoke doesn't exist.

The attach/detach diagrams can be kept to single tractions, it's not the first time the company has had multiple tractions to deal with.

The reality needs to be that they do away with the attach/detach anyway, dumping trains for hours at Lime St is poor and adds complexity where it isn't necessary. The only detach should be the 1st in the morning which takes 2 train crews up, like it does in a Saturday.

 

[Bletchleyite]

When the 730s are in service they should all or mostly be 5.730 which is equivalent to 6.350 - should be about ideal at 2tph.