There seems to be a pattern here - the Anglia Flirts were also first shown with Grammer seats which were then switched to Fisa Lean:
Extendable? Pushing on to Hirwaun/GlynNeath/Brecon will only make the lack of toilets even less appropriate. I hope the existing network will truely remain to full heavy-rail standards and that, once the initial project is complete, they will start incrementally raising/insulating bridges in order to reduce the need for the batteries on the Treherbert/Aberdare/Merthyr lines and then wire to Barry Island and Penarth too. Once they got a fully-electrified route (say Treherbert-Penarth) they would be able to introduce cascaded Electrostars (or similar) on that route and cascade some of the tram-trains onto the Coryton branch and the Cardiff-Caerphilly short workings, freeing up the tri-modes for extra Cardiff-Hereford/Chepstow stopping services. I'm guessing that the FLIRTs have >20m vehicles and that this is the reason for Treherbert/Aberdare/Merthyr not having FLIRTs but that is just a guess (and why can't they fix the infrustructure in order to clear the route for 23m vehicles; does anyone know what structure(s) scratched the 158 that went to Treherbert on a guaging test once?). If the FLIRTs will fit on the Treherbert/Aberdare/Merthyr routes that just makes using FLIRTs on the much-shorter Coryton branch rather silly methinks; Coryton (and Cardiff Bay) are the only routes that I thought might be sensible to convert to light-rail standards (provided the bit through Queen Street is still heavy-rail for the other services of course).
Would I be correct in saying that the 3-car FLIRTs are similar in length to a 3-car 150, allowing a pair of 3-car FLIRTs to fit in the 6-car (124m) platforms on the Rhymney-Penarth route?
I was thinking the same thing; seems almost inevitable with doors-at-thirds (which, for the ValleyLines, are necessary; I'm supprised there's only one door on one of the coaches on the tri-mode FLIRTs), and the renders of the CAF units showed similar. Also, the windows on the FLIRTs (in particular, but possibly also the new CAF stock) look rather square; this could mean an improvement on current trains (higher windows) or it could mean narrower windows (like a class 153, where the windows are so narrow that a table bay simply CANNOT be installed without giving somebody a pillar blocking at least half their field of view).
Can you point us towards the money tree please? They can't even afford to do a proper and full job of the electrification let alone re-building every platform on those lines for low-floor trams.
Yes. Glad it didn't happen (even though Grammer seats would have been nice).
Well, if my post is wishful thinking then yours is depressing thinking. As I said, if there are to be extensions then the need for toilets (and therefore heavy-rail EMUs rather than tram-trains) becomes even greater. It's probably too late to save Treherbert/Merthyr/Aberdare passengers from crossed-legs for the next decade or so but I really hope it doesn't have to stay that way forever. Maintaining the track to heavy-rail standards keeps a faint glimmer of hope alive...
Looks like product placement to me!
Not sure if anything new here, but I guess the Conwy valley line is getting the 230s, unless they are for Wrexham - Bidston.
Nothing has yet been said about the funding and ownership of the trains - presumably a ROSCO.
Replying with a "like" to say I appreciate your witty comment and to encourage you to write further ones.
WelshBluebird is much more realistic thinking, rather than the fantasy world you appear to live in. 4 tph up each of the valleys will be a massive improvement and whilst the loss of toilets is regrettable, it's a small price to pay for the much lighter (and thus affordable, both to procure and run) vehicles that we will get. And you'll only ever have 15 mins to wait if you need to stop en route, or only 5 mins once on the core line south of Pontypridd (unless heading north beyond Ponty).
That's brave of you: my wife says I need no encouragement.
We were promissed full heavy-rail electrification to Maesteg, Ebbw Vale and Barry Island, with no need for batteries, a few years ago. Thus what we are actually getting in infrustructure terms is less than was once expected so I would think my less-than-ecstatic reaction to the franchise announcement is not entirely unjustified. If we were getting the infrustructure originally promissed, it seems likely that the new franchise could have obtained either 379s or 458s at reasonable lease rates; the ROSCOs must be keen to ensure leases for such stock given that the DfT's quality weighting is seeing even nearly-new EMU stock replaced by brand-new. Given the cancellation of the wires to Swansea, I am relieved that the suituation is not even worse than it is; but forgive me for not being overjoyed.
Yet Rhymney services are going from 1tph up to 4tph and are getting heavy rail Stadler Flirts.
) that the winning bidder must procure vehicles capable of running on-street, to use the pre-specified depot at Taffs Well that Welsh Govt already bought the land for long before the Metro and franchise winner was announced.Yet Rhymney services are going from 1tph up to 4tph and are getting heavy rail Stadler Flirts.
I wonder whether we would now be seeing the entire Valleys network getting tri-mode Stadler Flirts if TfW hadn't written into the ITT (remember we were promised the ITT would be published?
4tph to Merthyr, Aberdare and Treherbert is being achieved in the same way as it is to Rhymney. By doubling track and electrifying to Network Rail HR standards with 25 kV AC.
If anything, the infrastructure works could come in slightly cheaper if HR Flirts were used. No need to build more toilets at extra stations, and no need to electrify right up to the heads as is happening with the Rhymney line, where wires are only going as far as Ystrad Mynach with the high capacity batteries of the Flirts, which have a 40 mile range, being used beyond there. The CityLink vehicles in comparison have batteries with a range of just 4 miles.
I find it extraordinary the number of posts such as this example going on about the onboard toilets. Pity the people setting off from Cardiff on the T4 bus to Newtown! Many will prefer to use a land based crapper rather than risk the onboard john being out of use or heavily in demand by other customers. This means not only that upgrading the specification of the railway means less railway can be afforded with the same budget, but the throne (I strongly suspect) will only be used by a minority of the regular customers of the line anyway.