I fear we're going to have to disagree. As a local user of the lines in the North East the thought that travellers could be guaranteed either a 156 or a 158 sounds like a significant improvement to me. And 158s haven't even been sporadic visitors to the area (in passenger service on local services at least) for quite a while now.
Is it as transformational as the rest of the Northern franchise? No, of course not, no one gives a toss about the North East. But is improvement? Yes unarguably yes and I believe it's a significant one.
I agree that the move from 142s to, presumably, 156s and 158s will demonstrate a marked improvement in the standard of service provided, and is good news all round: WiFi, passenger information systems and LED lighting will be of great benefit to the passengers regardless of the age of the stock, but a region seeing refurbishment and partial replacement of it's local train fleet for the first time in 15 - 20 years does not to me represent an "unbelievable" improvement in its' fortunes.
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Sunderland will be getting a limited VTEC service (using bi-mode IEP) alongside the existing Grand Central services.
I'm sure those early risers and night owls looking to catch the one train each way per day, surely far less than those required to fill a 5-car IEP, formed of new stock will be grateful for it, but it's not much in the way of new trains across the board is it, away from the main line?
Although, there will presumably be other lengthy routes within the Northern area which will also see little other than refurbished stock.
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Well it's all about where the main routes are surely. Sunderland has a population of around 200,000 depending whether you count Washington and will only be getting half hourlies basically to either Middlesbrough, Newcastle and Hexham...
There's been no confirmation that the heavy rail service through Sunderland will increase to anything more than hourly, outside of the handful of Grand Central services and the daily Virgin East Coast train.
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I thought 150's were not allocated to Heaton mainly because they are not able to run on the section between Heworth to Sunderland because of gauging issues with the infrastructure or the Metro, I'm not fully certain if that is actually the case or not but if it is, then that surely rules out 150's as the current Newcastle to Carlisle services will be extended to Middlesbrough via the Durham coast line and of course the 158's will be the more express service via the ECML. Some 150's may be transferred for any other services which diagrams does not include heading towards Sunderland but all will be revealed in a few years anyways.
The restriction exists between Monkwearmouth and East Boldon, where 150s are banned, and the 150 based Network Rail Track Recording Unit, which sporadically traverses the line, is restricted to 40mph, which suggests that the issue isn't just down to a need to demonstrate clearance on paper, but to an actual physical limitation.