Merseyrail Class 777: could they have been made wider?

[Peter Sarf]

Moderator note: Split from

Merseyrail Class 777 introduction updates

The designation of the new Merseyrail rolling stock is Class 777, according to the latest company safety brief.

www.railforums.co.uk

They’ve been referred to as safety Toblerones a few times.

Makes me wonder. Could the coaches have been made slightly bigger instead. You know - more room on the inside for passengers ?.

 

[themiller]

Moderator note: Split from

Merseyrail Class 777 introduction updates

The designation of the new Merseyrail rolling stock is Class 777, according to the latest company safety brief.

www.railforums.co.uk

Makes me wonder. Could the coaches have been made slightly bigger instead. You know - more room on the inside for passengers ?.

If they’d been built wider, they would have probably been too wide to travel on the rest of the network and so would have had to be delivered by road and foiled the Liverpool mayors ambition to extend services to the likes of Wigan on battery.

 

[stuu]

Moderator note: Split from

Merseyrail Class 777 introduction updates

The designation of the new Merseyrail rolling stock is Class 777, according to the latest company safety brief.

www.railforums.co.uk

Makes me wonder. Could the coaches have been made slightly bigger instead. You know - more room on the inside for passengers ?.

Those sections are fitted below where the body curves under itself, so they don't actually make the train any wider

 

[Peter Sarf]

Those sections are fitted below where the body curves under itself, so they don't actually make the train any wider

Can only think the benefit would be more leg room vs any seat supports.

 

[Bletchleyite]

The units are already built to a fairly wide loading gauge reflecting the actual loading gauge of Merseyrail. They are 2.82m wide, which is the same width as the 507/508 were at their widest point, but is significantly wider than other UK Stadlers, and this is quite noticeable when on board.

I suppose you could make the curve to the sole bar a bit steeper and thus stay wide for longer, but because the windows are quite low (thus providing elbow room) I'm not sure how necessary that actually is.

 

[Djgr]

If they’d been built wider, they would have probably been too wide to travel on the rest of the network and so would have had to be delivered by road and foiled the Liverpool mayors ambition to extend services to the likes of Wigan on battery.

I don't think that extending services out of area was high on the priority list.

My perception was:

a) Existing trains needed replacing
b) Headbolt Lane finally reached top of "to do" list
c) 3rd rail "police" wouldn't let them extend from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane on 3rd rail, based on highly questionable logic
d) Battery was therefore the only solution

Given that the battery trains are now with us, they can in theory now be used for certain out of area services. The main issue is that, with the exception of the Welsh government, these areas (aka Lancashire/Cheshire) are loathe to put their hands in their pockets to make it happen.

 

[Zomboid]

3rd rail "police" wouldn't let them extend from Kirkby to Headbolt Lane on 3rd rail, based on highly questionable logic

I've no idea if it would have been permitted or not, but the extension to Headbolt Lane would have required at least one additional substation and several km of feeder cables, which wouldn't have helped build a case compared to the batteries.

 

[Djgr]

I've no idea if it would have been permitted or not, but the extension to Headbolt Lane would have required at least one additional substation and several km of feeder cables, which wouldn't have helped build a case compared to the batteries.

I don't think batteries would have been considered if third rail had been allowed, as you now have the inflexibility of a mixed fleet