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Scotland Cross Border Plans Shelved

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SkinnyDave

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BBC Scotland reporting that Transport Minister Keith Brown is dropping plans to stop Cross Border services terminating at Edinburgh.

I never had an objection to changing at Edinburgh as long as it wasn't Class 170s! I can't stand going to Inverness on a 170. :-x

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17521070
 
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LE Greys

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BBC Scotland reporting that Transport Minister Keith Brown is dropping plans to stop Cross Border services terminating at Edinburgh.

I never had an objection to changing at Edinburgh as long as it wasn't Class 170s! I can't stand going to Inverness on a 170. :-x

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17521070

:D :D :D

Thank God for that! I depend on those cross-border services to go home. I contributed to the consultation, and added a plea to keep them. Both Friday and yesterday, plenty of people stayed on at Edinburgh.
 

Failed Unit

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BBC Scotland reporting that Transport Minister Keith Brown is dropping plans to stop Cross Border services terminating at Edinburgh.

I never had an objection to changing at Edinburgh as long as it wasn't Class 170s! I can't stand going to Inverness on a 170. :-x

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17521070

Never a surprise, who wants to arrive at platform 8 at Waverley, hump thier baggage over the bridge to platform 17 in 10 minutes. (When it can often take 5 minutes to get onto the bridge)

Out of the box thinking, Scotrail get some HST's or IEP and they operate this as a joint service. Scotrail crew north of Edinburgh, East Coast South like SWT used to do on thier run from Waterloo - Penzance.
 

HSTEd

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Whats Going to happen with Easy Coast Rolling stock procurement now then I wonder? IEP get the go ahead even with the recent Pendolino test?

Of course it is, too much political capital has been invested in the IEP project.
 

ainsworth74

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Whats Going to happen with Easy Coast Rolling stock procurement now then I wonder? IEP get the go ahead even with the recent Pendolino test?

The same thing that always been happening with IEP, nothing has changed (recently at least). Also the 390 test has no bearing on IEP on the ECML as there are only going to be Bi-Mode IEPs for EC as HST replacements.
 

Greenback

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The plans made about as much sense as forcing passengers to change trains at Berwick or Carlisle. It's good they have been dropped, but not exactly a surprise!
 

LE Greys

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The plans made about as much sense as forcing passengers to change trains at Berwick or Carlisle. It's good they have been dropped, but not exactly a surprise!

The surprising thing is that they've done something that makes sense. The original idea was partly about protectionism for Scotrail.
 

Greenback

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The surprising thing is that they've done something that makes sense. The original idea was partly about protectionism for Scotrail.

A rather misguided idea of protectionism. I;m in favour of breakin gup the Union, but you can;t ignore neighbouring countries even if you are an independent nation!
 

Failed Unit

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The surprising thing is that they've done something that makes sense. The original idea was partly about protectionism for Scotrail.

Yep, they don't like East Coast extracting revenue from them. Then you hear that East Coast don't accept "club 55" tickets on Sundays because of overcrowding :lol:

It would be good to see more cross-boarder trains to be honest. The 1335 Edinburgh - Inverness is often full during the summer start it back from London ;)
 

myboysam

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BBC Scotland reporting that Transport Minister Keith Brown is dropping plans to stop Cross Border services terminating at Edinburgh.

I never had an objection to changing at Edinburgh as long as it wasn't Class 170s! I can't stand going to Inverness on a 170. :-x

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-17521070

And whats wrong with the 170's exactly?????
I enjoy driving those things around the country
 

Failed Unit

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A rather misguided idea of protectionism. I;m in favour of breakin gup the Union, but you can;t ignore neighbouring countries even if you are an independent nation!

Yep - Wales still kept its direct services to Birmingham and Manchester although they don't have nasty English TOCs extracting there revenue, hold on they do Great Western on their prime Cardiff - Swansea route!
 

Greenback

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Yep - Wales still kept its direct services to Birmingham and Manchester although they don't have nasty English TOCs extracting there revenue, hold on they do Great Western on their prime Cardiff - Swansea route!

I don't even think the Welsh Government are daft enough to want to cut back FGW services to Cardiff. There wouldn't be anywhere near enough capacity with just ATW trains.

Though FGW might be more interested!
 

LE Greys

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And whats wrong with the 170's exactly?????
I enjoy driving those things around the country

Well, they're a bit short and could do with having doors at the ends of the vehicles. Other than that, not much, I like them. They're a modern unit with a bit of decent seat-padding and that's rare.
 

Robinson

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And whats wrong with the 170's exactly?????
I enjoy driving those things around the country

From a passenger's point of view: the 170s are close to being my favourite class :D
I'd certainly rather have one of them than a 158 if I'm doing Inverness/Aberdeen-Glasgow.
 

SkinnyDave

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And whats wrong with the 170's exactly?????
I enjoy driving those things around the country



Lol you get the comfy chair :D

Don't mind 170 when I get on at Falkirk High to Edinburgh or Glasgow but not up to Inverness or Aberdeen. Too long a journey would prefer the " long train" any day of the week.
 

LE Greys

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Bet you would have a MK3 coach or dare I say a Voyager before all of the afore mentioned lol

A 156 is a MkIII coach with modified windows and seats plus an engine underneath. It's also the perfect stock for the Far North, where you don't need 90 mph speed. Low-end acceleration and good hill-climbing (both of which a 156 has in spades) plus the better seats and internal environment (I prefer open windows to air-con any day) are the deciding factors.
 

SkinnyDave

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A 156 is a MkIII coach with modified windows and seats plus an engine underneath. It's also the perfect stock for the Far North, where you don't need 90 mph speed. Low-end acceleration and good hill-climbing (both of which a 156 has in spades) plus the better seats and internal environment (I prefer open windows to air-con any day) are the deciding factors.

Highland routes from Glasgow can't be comfortable In them Surely for that length of time. I don't think I've been on one in ages
 

swt_passenger

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Yep, they don't like East Coast extracting revenue from them.

When this was first mentioned, it made no sense - and still doesn't, as far as I can see. The ORCATS procedures would allow for an appeal under existing rules if they seriously believed that Scotrail were not getting their fair share of the inter-available fares.
 

Failed Unit

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When this was first mentioned, it made no sense - and still doesn't, as far as I can see. The ORCATS procedures would allow for an appeal under existing rules if they seriously believed that Scotrail were not getting their fair share of the inter-available fares.

I don't get the claim either. But I don't get ORCATs

Simple example,
If Scotrail ran nine trains per day between Edinburgh and Inverness with a class 153 and East Coast ran one train per day with a HST (9 standard coaches for the sake of this arguement) East coast offer 50% of the routes capacity so they get 50% of the revenue? Probably over simplistic here to be honest. But I know for a fact people would rather travel on the HST's than the various units when they get the option. The fact East Coast generally has more APs than Scotrail also tends to influence this choice.

Or could it be if east coast sell a £10 AP ticket they get more revenue than a £50 all operators ticket so they are using APs to extract revenue!

Who knows but it seems very odd, when I have travelled on trains from the North more people stay on at Edinburgh than leave.
 

LE Greys

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Highland routes from Glasgow can't be comfortable In them Surely for that length of time. I don't think I've been on one in ages

Different people tend to prefer different things, probably depending on height and preferred sitting position. I just like the way 156s are laid out.
 

Aictos

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Highland routes from Glasgow can't be comfortable In them Surely for that length of time. I don't think I've been on one in ages

Sorry but for the West Highland line they really are perfect, would be nice to have them on the Inverness to Wick/Kyle of Lochalsh lines as well instead of the 158s.

I've spent time from Edinburgh to Oban and return on one set so know they are comfortable and very useful for the West Highland lines.
 

aylesbury

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Think the ministers comments are all part of Mr Salmonds electenering for indipendance so take it all with a pinch of salt!
 
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