northwichcat
Veteran Member
The 319's that are planning on moving up north are going to be used on Manchester Picc/Victoria - Liverpool via Newton-le-Willows, not on Blackpool services, according to Wikipedia anyway.
Personally that seems like a bad idea, because although the 185's are crammed they're actually very stylish, the 319's are older stock, so Blackpool services would have the standard of train decreased. Liverpool services are currently Sprinter operation, so a 319 would be quite a nice 'electric' stylish unit.
I hope to dear god that 319's do not go on Blackpool services. In fact, I don't know why they're on Thameslink services, one of they key services hitting central London, I personally think they should work services that are no longer than an hour.
When the government first proposed the cascaded Thameslink EMUs going to the North West and Thames Valley the Bolton and Blackpool electrification hadn't been confirmed. However, it was obvious there would be surplus 319s, so when they added on the Blackpool and Bolton bits the assumption has been the rest of the 319s will take over on those services.
The only new EMUs that have been proposed are for Manchester to Scotland. Manchester to Liverpool and Liverpool to Wigan will get 319s unless something changes. However, electrification on these routes will either happen during the current franchises or very soon after the next franchises start. With the Blackpool services there is the option of a new EMU order being placed after the next franchises start and being ready in time.
I think the following would be best for the Blackpool/Cumbria routes:
1. Electrify Oxenholme-Windermere.
2. Order new 3 car 380s (or equivalent) for Blackpool and Windmere services - enough to allow peak time 6 car operation and/or portion working as required.
3. Interwork Windermere and Barrow services as they used to be to give an hourly Manchester-Bolton-Lancaster frequency.