Why?
If anything they'll be 321s replaced by new stock in other franchises, so a larger 32x fleet could be built up in Yorkshire to run more electric services.
It just seemed to work tidily: Seventeen 323s displaced from Northerns' West side by a North West electrification Phase 2 (Where Northern would receive the rest of the 319 fleet if they were to be displaced from the GWML by 365s made spare by Thameslink/IEP) to work the relatively few Northern diagrams that could go over to electric operation if MML electrification went through to Doncaster, Wakefield and potentially York, and then the remaining twenty six 323s displaced from LM by new stock for when an extensive Transpennine North electrification joins up all the links between MML and TPE with wires to give South Yorkshire a fairly complete electrified commuter rail network.
All entirely conjectural of course, particularly as my scheme would see the 321s/322s gotten rid of and replaced by the fourteen Heathrow Express 332s, coupled with Harrogate Circle electrification, which is incredibly dubious at best given the 332s rather "interesting" leasing/ownership arrangements.
But if was Transport Minister, those are the roads I'd be going down...
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If we're talking about cascading 323's away from London Midland, please don't suggest replacing them with 350's.
That would not be possible because of the 6 car platform on the Cross City line which means that any replacement would need to be 3 car units, preferable with through corridors and all standard class, high density deating.
For anyone who doesn't know the area, platform extansions on the Cross city line would be very difficault because there are island platforms (at Lichfield City, Four Oaks and Duddeston) and platforms that are boxed in by junctions at eithere end (Aston and Barnt Green).
But an eight car 350 formation is only equivalent in length to a seven car 323 formation: Could an extra carriage length not be squeezed out of many of the Cross City line stations? I reckon that Aston would pose a particularly large problem admittedly...
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I take it the Bay would be electrified with the rest of the Valley Lines? I would forever curse the railways if my precious Bubble was ultimately replaced by a 357 :cry:
I'm not sure which of the published proposals for the Valley Lines network is current, but the "Cardiff Metro" document (Or some similar name) that I've seen suggests converting the Cardiff Bay branch to light rail operation or something similar. The 121 seems to be replaced by a 153 more days than not anyway.
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357s are functional and certainly get the job done. But... like many modern EMUs, they're somewhat lifeless. They are almost too reliable. And given the massive multitude of Electrostars around the south-east, the problem is compounded.
302s and 312s (not so much 310s) had a soul to them. They felt like a unit you would enjoy travelling on. Whereas 357s just feel like something that takes you from A to B. To illustrate the point, I do not like 321s, and that is well-known - but I will usually return to Bath from Southend Victoria to avoid having to use 357s in both directions.
Mind you, the line doesn't help. Maybe they would feel better in the Valleys?
I think that the vast majority of commuters and general rail passengers would infinitely prefer a fleet of quick, reliable, functional trains rather than one that has "character".
hock:
