So 3+2 like most of the 317s originally had, then?
True, but the 379s did operate 3 key fast peak services, so many commuters will have enjoyed 379s most of the time. Those services were very well patronised, 2 of them were usually standing from Audley End. Not sure those commuters paying 4k pa would consider themselves spoilt. The 720s are a big step down.
Ultimately once all 133 units are in traffic they will have more than enough to run everything as 10 cars I would imagine
Hopefully we will be as swamped with units on GE & WA as we are with Regional bimodes. It sure is a great place to be.
It won't last !.
I think they have got wise to that by procuring units that can only be serviced at Crown Point in the case of the 755s and which have features only appropriate for Anglia routes in the case of the 720s (24m coaches, 3+2 seating etc). The break clause penalty must be pretty severe for the order not to have been cut back if there is a view that the routes will be 'swamped with units'.
So different to anything that’s gone before though. Maintenance has to be done at specially adapted depots. We can just revel in the wonder that is Stadler for now out East. Never known anything like it in my 37 years of employment at Norwich & long May it continue. It’s just so wonderful.
What's the best element of this for you? IS it the quality of product to drive - and the passenger experience, is the maintenance regime - probably far superior to anything from BR days, or is it the fact you have a lot of spare units ready to go - unlike the past where it seems Crown Point struggled to turn out enough units for the day - probably due to the older stuff being cheap, cheerful and not very well maintained?
It’s a bit of everything really. Yes I have a fantastic working environment & the passenger feedback is overwhelmingly positive too. There’s no chaos & stress for those who do nights to try to get some sort of morning service out, it just flows. I’m obviously not sure how long the dream of having excess units available all day long will last or the viability of it but to be honest, I really don’t care. It’s just wonderful to be in a position I’ve never known in 37 years & we are enjoying every single second of it here in the East.
Trying to achieve awareness that it is run currently as an inconvenient branch line by the old GEML operator. I don't know how its needs differ from the GE but it seems the operator and franchisor don't either because the surveys were lumped together during analysis.
well yes, those nice bimodes sat around NC cus they arent being used on the promised hourly IPS/PBO or East Suffolk to LivSt directs or half hourly Yarmouths are being paid for by someone. Used to be Dutch taxpayers who lost loads on a dud franchise, now British taxpayers
Maybe that's because it's needs don't differ? If it was treated as an inconvenient branch line they'd probably be refurbishing the 317s again for another 10 years service....used the line for 30 years and GA have definitely been an improvement over NXEA or WAGN - and at least GA invested in new stock which no previous TOC bothered doing.
Its unfortunate but we are where we are for now.
I would be happy sitting in the 3+2 bays, which are very similar to those used widely across the UK… but the 3+2 airline seats are extremely claustrophobic. I believe the only other train to have those is Northern’s 150s, and a non-standard pair of GWR’s, but at least the Ashbourne seats are fairly low. I’m slim and not that tall (5’11) and yet those airline seats look extremely uninviting, goodness knows how someone of a bigger build would cope… that’s all down to the close proximity of the seats in front though. I think 3+2 bays are fine.
I must have imagined the 379s that were ordered and introduced under NXEA.
The 4 car services were the slow Cambridge ones that had to stop at Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton. As they weren’t fitted with SDO, they couldn’t be increased in length. Unfortunately on arrival at Kings Cross, they then worked to Peterborough which didn’t help matters.
I heard the plan was cases on the roof.
My post was in the context of Cambridge-Liverpool Street services, the 379s being ordered for Stansted runs, with the side effect that a few worked north of the airport (and indeed 317s could still drop onto Stansteds now and again back then....)
Someone said to me that the aisles in the 720s are 45mm narrower than in the BR mkIII EEMUs which whilst not sounding much is around 1.5 inches or 10% narrower.
And it depends which MkIII EMU and which interior they mean by that. I had a couple of nasty falls from getting a stick stuck in some original 3+2 interiors. Even the Renatus interior needs care for users of two walking sticks. Accessibility should be improving not getting worse and confining people with ever more minor mobility issues to the wheelchair areas. Naturally, the Flirts being so good makes the Aventras seem even worse.
No. In WAGN days nearly everything at weekends was 4 cars, also weekdays off peak. The issue was more the splitting and joining at Cambridge than stopping at Meldreth, Shepreth and Foxton. The Cambridge slows only interworked with the Peterborough slows, not with the fasts and semi-fasts. Saturday evenings out of London in particular used to be a complete nightmare.
Look at the type of services that the GE has, outer suburban mostly, whereas the Hertford East/Stortford-Stratford on West Anglia are more akin to a London Overground/MTR route. Hertford trains that stop all stations between Tottenham and Cheshunt need 710 style units, not 720's ideally. Even with 10 car 720 being used on peak Hertford trains, imagine it in the evening peak; everyone piles on the back at Liv St and Tottenham, then from Ponders End to Waltham Cross those rear coaches will be hanging off the back of platforms, imagine everyone in the rear 4 or so coaches trying to pile through those narrow gangways to get forward, and even if they don't, those coaches won't barely be used with the front unit being crush loaded.
That would be a good idea. Most people walking through are grabbing the top of the seats anyway - the handles, where they are, are not just an obstruction - they're virtually impossible to use...
I'm pretty sure it was last year that Rail Magazine said the last 20 x 720s would have a different internal layout with extra provision for luggage.
