I've never seen the local scallies use Northern, or other TOC's that operate through Manchester/Warrington, a lot of the time when I'm using Merseyrail I see groups on them on the train causing trouble, being aggressive and abusive towards other passengers, and fare evading. All they seem to want to do is cause trouble.
No doubt in my mind that toilets would get graffiti'd all over constantly. The walls of most Merseyrail trains have been defaced; obnoxious remarks, and peoples names engraved with knives and keys.
Although toilets may be a nice addition to Merseyrail those travelling slightly longer journeys, i.e. if someone was travelling from Southport to Chester, or disabled passengers, I feel these people would ruin it for everyone else. I didn't come here to argue, by the way. Just stating my opinion. Just find it a shame that kids like to create an unpleasant and depressing atmosphere.
edit; I'm also hoping that they revert to the old seating plans, but also have convenient disabled access for those that need it. Old plans carried slightly more passengers.. which is important on a network with an extremely high volume of passengers at peak hours. Toilets would also reduce this capacity.
*I've been using merseyrail frequently for the best part of 20 years, I can honestly say I very in-frequently see anybody being aggressive or abusive to anybody, and anybody who is causing a nuisance is pretty quickly dealt with by enforcement teams.
*Toilets would be useless, I agree, however a return to a 3+2 seating layout would be just as useless as nobody used the middle seats when they were fitted.
Whether you came here to argue or not, your use of stereotypes is rather annoying to a born and bred scouser.
To change tack for a moment, is there any real requirement to have the same stock on both the Southport and Birkenhead lines?
Would one type of train be more suited to one than the other?
Tried that one before with the 502's and 503's. Its also interesting to note that many people forget that until the very early 90's the 508's and 507's were used independently (508's wirral lines and 507s northern lines) Indeed the 507s used to have
northern line destination blinds on the secondmans side.
Like others have said it just makes things more awkward in terms of stabling, maintaining and diagramming of units.
Firstly, I would like to oppose the use of stereotypes here. There are scallies everywhere. Not just in Merseyside. And if a Scally lived in Warrington I am sure he would have little choice but to use Northern. To say that they choose only to "scally" around on Merseyrail trains is a bit silly - they don't have a lot of choice who their local TOC is. And its not up to Merseyrail to refuse any one for how they look for as long as they are fare-paying passengers.
Secondly, I would like to commend Merseyrail on the high standards they maintain in their stock. There is absolutely no competition between Northern and Merseyrail's cleanliness record... Merseyrail are far superior. I live in Arriva-land and I find the trains here (even the recently refurbished ones) to be kept in appauling condition with little respect or care for doing a proper job. Considering the daily usage of a 507/8 unit, they are in remarkable condition. Merseyrail's approach to feet on seats etc may seem hard-line, but almost 10 years after refurbishment, the stock's interiors are in as good condition as the day they left Eastleigh. I have seen vandalism on their trains, yes, but they are extremely responsive to clear up the mess left by vandals.
I will feel slightly disappointed when the 507/508s eventually retire, but a sparkling interior will never cover up for problems caused by 40-year old EMUs underneath them. I do like the design and they do the job extremely well, but they were never designed for an underground metro-style network. However I hope they're not all sent to the scrapyard straight away - it would be a good time for Merseytravel and Taith to discuss the electrification of the Borderlands line along with the Kirkby and Ormskirk branches.
Here Here!
What ARE the differences between the two classes?
*The cabs are slightly different, the 507's have an older style, much larger speedo which is backlit by bulbs, the 508's have a more modern, smaller speedo (think sprinter) which apparently is illuminous.
*The 508s have an extra compressor in the TSO (accounting for there original 4 car formations)
*The 508's have a slightly different WSP system.
