Unfortunately it just doesn’t work as you are describing. At the end of the day if you run the same headway with the same number of vehicles you have the same capacity. Unless you are dealing with very localised flows, which isn’t the case for GNR or concerts on the system, you’re just moving deckchairs and not increasing capacity. Major event flows require a signifiant number of trains to shift the volume of passengers over a long period of time. You’d end up with smaller vehicles which you’ve robbed from turning up at some point and clearing the queue at the same time, disadvantaging those who have potentially waited the longest.
Reforming trains requires crews and more complicated diagraming if you are proposing to do it during the day or lots of shunting in the evening.
There are also other considerations such as demand on the power supply. One of the major issues holding back the GNR service and resolved during Metro Flow.
The economics don’t stack up. Let’s buy 30 more vehicles, spend a fortune on longer platforms, improved power supply and signal locations for a couple of days per year. Spend a fortune on overtime to plan complicated vehicle moves.
It just doesn't make any sense unless it is at least happening once or twice a week. This doesn’t work for the current situation as Nexus lack vehicles, if anything you’d run single vehicles.
The key here is simplicity, the Tyne and Wear Metro doesn’t require any additional capacity and will have sufficient rolling stock to cover until the Stadler vehicles are gone.
The key is simplicity - except simplicity often costs more money unless you want to sacrifice quality. The easiest way to get simplicity is to have a sizable over-provision of vehicles and more staff to drive them.
The events are localised flows that see trains in a specific area fill up at a specific time in a specific direction - under a more flexible system you can run the same headway, but you know which diagrams will be in the area at that time, and which will be nowhere near. You can therefore shunt to provision extra capacity where needed before the start of service. Other systems do this and it works. Some do reform trains during the day, but that's down to their individual needs.
The power supply demand situation was a very real issue, but again this is something that was a result of cost-reductions during the construction phase of Metro. As you say it is now being rectified.
As I say, this is also more than just event days. Under the current situation, we're seeing entire trains cancelled each day due to unit availability. Before this, it was due to the number of drivers.
With the ability to run 3-set trains, Nexus would have been in the position to reduce the frequency, meaning less crew needed whilst still providing a similar amount of capacity. The same applies to a reduction in available units - the ability to run a consistent timetable with some short forms would provide a better service to customers.
the Tyne and Wear Metro doesn’t require any additional capacity and will have sufficient rolling stock to cover until the Stadler vehicles are gone.
This couldn't be further from the truth. There is on a daily basis at present a number of services cancelled outright due to not having sufficient rolling stock in a serviceable condition - the situation is even being discussed in the press.
Additional capacity is sorely needed in many areas during rush-hour and other busy times. Whilst passenger numbers have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels due to a number of factors (the reliability of the service being one), there has been a need for greater capacity for quite a time now - the design and strategy for the new trains even confirms this, as does the investment into Metro Flow to support a network-wide 10-minute frequency.
4002 was shunted off the avoiding line yesterday. It is not long for this world.
Was 4002 also earmarked for preservation? Or is it likely to be going for scrap?
