230 gone from Cov Yard as of 8:30 this morning. Unless they have shunted it out of sight.
According to someone on WNXX, it was moved last night by road on flatbeds.
The Class 230 does give the opportunity to deliver improved frequency services to many branch lines and to do this at a minimal cost.
Lines such as the Marston Vale which currently only has an hourly service in each direction and the Whitby to Middlesborough line with even fewer trains can only hope to improve their services with a low cost unit. I certainly hope Vivarail can help revitalised branch line services where the cost of alternative units would be prohibitively expensive.
For the umpteenth time, the Marston Vale line simply does not justify a greater than hourly frequency.
The X5, good though it is, is often hit badly by traffic, and there's the anti bus prejudice, so I think you might be surprised what extending back to MKC would do.
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but it is well known that an hourly service is not sufficient to make people break habits and change mode. It is highly likely that a twice hourly service would become more attractive for many more people.
Not true - because the X5 avoids the main traffic congestion point of the M1 and instead uses the A422, which is how it arrives in the north side of Bedford.
The simple fact is the Marston Vale line is shuttling between Bletchley (which isn't a particularly important place) and Bedford (which is a slightly more important place).
The vast majority of the rail travel to / from the Milton Keynes area is for London commuters.
Perhaps if the Marston Vale line could actually sustain a well used hourly weekday service there would be a justification for increasing it to half-hourly, but given the resource constraints, there are much, much better schemes for both LM and Network Rail to be focussed on.
Apart from the two Bedford stations and Bletchley, none of the stations manages an annual passenger usage of more than 50,000 - Long Buckby station (used as a comparison as it's also a village station) by comparison manages over 300,000.
That is completely irrelevant and shows a lack of understanding. TOC's rolling stock costs account for about ¼ of their overall costs. So even if these 230s were significantly cheaper than anything else available, and that is certainly not a proven fact and according to some sources nowhere near the truth, it still wouldn’t result in large scale increases of services.
Have you ever actually driven around MK in the peak? There is significant congestion around the Coachway and J14 in both peaks in both directions, and on going into Bedford on the 422. It isn't as bad as the 421 route, but it is still bad. And because it's a long distance route the X5 hits congestion elsewhere, too.
I thought this was a discussion about the 230 unit (or demise of) not a discussion about bus routes in MK?
I hope its not a case of 'never to be seen again'.
I was hoping for the opposite! Should have taken it to direct to Booths or similar and be done with it!
Tall poppy syndromeI *really* don't get the hatred for this project.
If it is non-viable no doubt they will be sold for scrap to liquidate the company. But what is the *problem* with them? Why do so many desire Shooter to fail?
I *really* don't get the hatred for this project.
If it is non-viable no doubt they will be sold for scrap to liquidate the company. But what is the *problem* with them? Why do so many desire Shooter to fail?
Because its a second rate product already rejected by 3 franchises for better alternatives. Some see it as a innovative solution, I see it as Vivarail trying to make a killing out offering a second rate product because they thought nobody was willing to make and buy new regional DMU's/Bi-modes, but unfortunately for Vivarail that's not been the case.
... because they thought nobody was willing to make and buy new regional DMU's/Bi-modes, but unfortunately for Vivarail that's not been the case.
I *really* don't get the hatred for this project.
If it is non-viable no doubt they will be sold for scrap to liquidate the company. But what is the *problem* with them? Why do so many desire Shooter to fail?
Remind me again how many DMUs have been delivered, or withdrawn from service, this decade?
Remind me again how many units Vivarail can make isn't it about 75, while Northern have ordered 55 new DMU's and Anglia have ordered 38 Bi-modes and who's to say that such as EMT wont order some new trains.
Because its a second rate product already rejected by 3 franchises for better alternatives. Some see it as a innovative solution, I see it as Vivarail trying to make a killing out offering a second rate product because they thought nobody was willing to make and buy new regional DMU's/Bi-modes, but unfortunately for Vivarail that's not been the case.
At the time the Class 230 was first conceived, there was no sign at all that Northern was guaranteed to receive any brand new rolling stock.
At the time the Class 230 was first conceived, there was no sign at all that Northern was guaranteed to receive any brand new rolling stock.
So what if they are? He's not lying, he's not cheating etc. There's nothing below board about the product he is offering. If the market wants to buy it, it will, if not he'll lose a load of money. It's just a business gamble. Again, why the hate for the project?
You can dislike the unit itself and hope not to have to travel on one (though as with anything else I'll reserve judgement until I have travelled on one) but this seems to be going way beyond that.
Remind me again how many DMUs have been delivered, or withdrawn from service, this decade?
Do you mean in the last 10 years (i.e., since 2007) or since 2010?
In both cases I'm fairly sure it's only been the Class 172s, although a few Class 185s may have been commissioned into service in early 2007.