43096
On Moderation
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2015
- Messages
- 15,360
I'd say there is more of an argument to replace the entire 444/450/458 fleet with either a single type of 20m vehicle length train with doors at 1/3 and 2/3 but with outer-suburban and long distance interior variants, or take a leaf out of Southern's book and have a mix of 2+2 and 3+2 in each set, assuming 3+2 is still needed at that stage.If you see the 458s solely as 442 replacements, themselves a sop to portsmouth direct passengers who were desparate for 2+2 end doored stock, then the opportunity to replace both simultaneously and more-standardise the fleet seems to good to pass up. The fact that the portsmouth line customers are getting 2+2 third-doors stock does alter the picture somewhat but the usual standardisation arguments still apply
Potentially looking at it a slightly different way, and obviously dependant on future situation, you could replace the 444s & 15x to then cascade back 444s to portsmouth direct and other "secondary" long distance lines, allowing you to then get rid of the third-door microfleet