East Midlands franchise won by Abellio

[MargaretNoodle]

How did u find that out?

It was posted in the Modern Railways June edition and mentioned here some time a go (post 1053 in this thread)

 

[Kneedown]

One word, ugh.

A dull, dark colour, probably the dreariest livery since all over BR blue. How disappointing.

Nothing at all wrong with rail blue. Whilst I, personally, would have gone with electric blue, it's still much easier on the eye than the current, garish offering.

 

[RealTrains07]

It was posted in the Modern Railways June edition and mentioned here some time a go (post 1053 in this thread)

Ill check out the magazine. Hell of an extension though i must say. I thought being just being extended to nottingham was generous let alone further!

 

[dk1]

How did u find that out?

Thought it was common knowledge now in the same way Norwich services will divert & terminate Matlock. Peterborough goes hourly via the joint right through to Doncaster too.

 

[Robertj21a]

Nothing at all wrong with rail blue. Whilst I, personally, would have gone with electric blue, it's still much easier on the eye than the current, garish offering.

You mean the current bright and cheery livery I assume.........

 

[ashkeba]

Not sure how you can call Stagecoach dull when it has one of the brightest liveries out there.

Dull, as in boring. How long will they keep doing minor rehashes of a bus livery that's now 30+ years old? It's an insult to keep painting trains as buses.

 

[Sprinter153]

Dull, as in boring. How long will they keep doing minor rehashes of a bus livery that's now 30+ years old? It's an insult to keep painting trains as buses.

The 'beach ball' branding is actually only about 20 years old.

 

[Robertj21a]

Dull, as in boring. How long will they keep doing minor rehashes of a bus livery that's now 30+ years old? It's an insult to keep painting trains as buses.

But they're not painting trains as buses, that's their corporate livery for anything they own or operate. What is it that's 'insulting' ?

 

[Killingworth]

But they're not painting trains as buses, that's their corporate livery for anything they own or operate. What is it that's 'insulting' ?

A digression not really for this thread but Stagecoach UK Bus have quite a lot of buses in different liveries.

 

[ashkeba]

The 'beach ball' branding is actually only about 20 years old.

Isn't it a rehash of an earlier three stripe brand?

 

[edwin_m]

Ill check out the magazine. Hell of an extension though i must say. I thought being just being extended to nottingham was generous let alone further!

Probably more to do with minimising the number of units sitting at Nottingham on turnarounds (needing more platform capacity as well as more units) rather than because there are huge numbers of passengers travelling between Crewe and Newark or indeed Matlock and Norwich. Give it a couple more franchises and they'll be back to the Central Trains policy of random pairings of termini hundreds of miles apart.

 

[RealTrains07]

Probably more to do with minimising the number of units sitting at Nottingham on turnarounds (needing more platform capacity as well as more units) rather than because there are huge numbers of passengers travelling between Crewe and Newark or indeed Matlock and Norwich. Give it a couple more franchises and they'll be back to the Central Trains policy of random pairings of termini hundreds of miles apart.

But why the move away from derby, is that to also minimise trains terminating at derby?

I thought the main issue with derby-crewe was to increase capacity on trains and get new trains?

 

[Class 170101]

Anyone know what the future plans are regarding what EMR plan to do with crewe - derby line??

Extending at the eastern end through to Newark Castle.

But all that is a changing of destinations. Norwich to Matlock and Crewe to Newark Castle instead of the Matlock.

 

[dk1]

But all that is a changing of destinations. Norwich to Matlock and Crewe to Newark Castle instead of the Matlock.

Yes & obviously Crewe gets a through service to Nottingham again and Liverpool transfers to Northern or TPE.

 

[edwin_m]

But why the move away from derby, is that to also minimise trains terminating at derby?

I thought the main issue with derby-crewe was to increase capacity on trains and get new trains?

The Crewe service always used to run to Nottingham or beyond, and whenever I've used it a lot of passengers change at Derby for the Nottingham train. I think it was cut back for capacity reasons, but that was before Derby, Trent and Nottingham were re-modelled. The current 3TPH, one non-stop, is probably a bit thin for the Derby-Nottingham service too (although there are other trains Long Eaton to Derby and Beeston to Nottingham).

 

[700007]

Why not Crewe to Norwich and Matlock to Newark Castle?

 

[RealTrains07]

Thought it was common knowledge now in the same way Norwich services will divert & terminate Matlock. Peterborough goes hourly via the joint right through to Doncaster too.

Just checked the modern railways edition, covers mainly the replacement of 222s and 360 potential delayed introduction.

No mention of crewe-derby though?

 

[Kite159]

Norwich - Matlock...

Why do I picture that ending badly due to the single track with the Matlock branch meaning late running trains get turned back early to avoid the timetable collapsing for the rest of the day

 

[dk1]

Just checked the modern railways edition, covers mainly the replacement of 222s and 360 potential delayed introduction.

No mention of crewe-derby though?

Think it was last month. Just after the news broke.

 

[dk1]

Norwich - Matlock...

Why do I picture that ending badly due to the single track with the Matlock branch meaning late running trains get turned back early to avoid the timetable collapsing for the rest of the day

Probably be similar to now with the Liverpool & just terminate the incoming Norwich if late at Nottingham with anything sitting spare sent forward to Matlock. Would imagine it might be a change of crew anyway so won't affect things operationally.

 

[edwin_m]

Why not Crewe to Norwich and Matlock to Newark Castle?

It's probably to do with turnaround times. If Nottingham-Norwich stays in present timings then extending it to Matlock would give maybe 15-20min turnaround time at the terminus, which is a little tight but probably workable considering the Norwich leg is reasonably reliable (problems tend to be between Sheffield and Liverpool).

The Norwich arrives at Nottingham at about the same time every hour that the Crewe leaves Derby, and the Crewe arrives Derby about 10min before the Norwich leaves Nottingham, so one or both would need a retiming by around 30min in both directions for them to join up. This might be difficult considering how many other routes and junctions they conflict with. The Crewe turnaround is also uncomfortably short even for a journey of the current length, but I hope it's possible to extend it a few minutes by re-timing for 158/170 instead 153. Increasing it significantly for a Crewe-Norwich service would involve re-timing the entire journey.

 

[whhistle]

Rumour is that 5 Scottish 170s and 9 Anglia 156s will make a dent in them.

And so the rolling stock circus begins

 

[ainsworth74]

A reminder that rolling stock discussion should be confined to the relevant thread in Traction & Rolling Stock which can be found here. I appreciate it can be easy to get confused or to slip off-topic but if people could please make a best effort attempt to post in the right place

 

[tracksider]

Has anyone heard anything about Abellio's plans for first class? As far as I know 180s don't have the "galley" spaces that the 222s and HSTs have for food prep, so how would this work?

 

[SemaphoreSlim]

Has anyone heard anything about Abellio's plans for first class? As far as I know 180s don't have the "galley" spaces that the 222s and HSTs have for food prep, so how would this work?

To quote Abellio;

“An improved Intercity product with a consistent catering and first class offer 7 days a week”

 

[Bletchleyite]

To quote Abellio;

“An improved Intercity product with a consistent catering and first class offer 7 days a week”

Trouble is that could mean nicer seats and tea and biccies only all week.

 

[SemaphoreSlim]

I’d like to think they’d keep the standard at least at the current level if not better, but you’re quite right

 

[Killingworth]

All managed stations with passenger numbers over 150,000 to be manned, those over 250,000 to have catering.

The two nearest stations to me are Northern managed and both fulfil the first criteria, and one possibly the other. I asked, and if they were EMR stations both would be manned - and they currently are. 3 mornings a week at one, shared with 2 mornings at the other from about 6.30 - 10.00. Apparently that counts as 2 manned stations in the statistics.

Catering might be a vending machine for wrapped and possibly bottled goods.

 

[Qwerty133]

All managed stations with passenger numbers over 150,000 to be manned, those over 250,000 to have catering.

The two nearest stations to me are Northern managed and both fulfil the first criteria, and one possibly the other. I asked, and if they were EMR stations both would be manned - and they currently are. 3 mornings a week at one, shared with 2 mornings at the other from about 6.30 - 10.00. Apparently that counts as 2 manned stations in the statistics.

Catering might be a vending machine for wrapped and possibly bottled goods.

To be honest its about time that all manned stations had catering. It will not be sustainable to have traditional ticket offices but a well run cafe priced to attract non travellers with staff trained in ticketing and and disability assistance may well be sustainable at many stations located in small towns and larger villages.

 

[Robertj21a]

To be honest its about time that all manned stations had catering. It will not be sustainable to have traditional ticket offices but a well run cafe priced to attract non travellers with staff trained in ticketing and and disability assistance may well be sustainable at many stations located in small towns and larger villages.

Really ? - isn't that rather OTT ?