tbtc
Veteran Member
Not entirely sure Scotrail would want two-car 170s- they have an entirely 3-car fleet at the moment. The only reason I could see for them wanting two car units would be if they were considering displacing 158s from the Far North and 156s from the West Highland- where three-car units may well be too long.
As they already operate 170s they are a natural home to the nine from TPE, and a two car 170 coupled to a three car 170 is no worse than a two car 158 coupled to a three car 170. 170s to Scotrail to replace the 158s (unit for unit) would mean Scotrail got modern trains and had a better fleet of just two DMU types (easier for training/ maintenance/ rostas etc)
156s would be more suited to the Far North, given the line-speeds, but I wouldn't be surprised if they did get 170s (especially with through running to Edinburgh)
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If Scotrail ended up with the nine two carriage 170s I imagine they'd be useful to bolt onto three carriage units to make up five carriage trains, like what is done with the 158s at the moment. Especially if Scotrail's 158 fleet is sent elsewhere. I agree that Scotrail probably wouldn't be keen on having two car units on their own merit though when the majority of the fleet of 170s is three car: Though then again if the 158s were to leave Scotland it could be argued that it would make for more of a standard DMU fleet than they have currently.
That's the way I see it too.
On a "unit for unit" basis I think it makes sense to send the nine 170s to Scotrail, which would allow them to replace all 158s once the central belt electrification is compelted (by my reckoning the electrification would "save" about 40 DMUs, which means you'd only need about nine new units to cancel out *all* Scotrail 158s - the maths is almost too perfect...)