TransPennine Express short forms & overcrowding

[londonmidland]

A few observations at Leeds this afternoon sees three consecutive services from platform 16A formed of a 3 car 185, which led to it being overcrowded, with several people standing.

Services were the 13:45 Manchester Airport, 14:00 Lime Street and 14:07 to Manchester Piccadilly.

The South route receives short forms on a regular basis, however I thought these routes faired better, with what is supposed to be regular 6 car services?

 

[EZJ]

The lack of use of the 68/Mk5's is putting considerable pressure on the 185 fleet which unfortunately leads to 3 cars instead of 6 in some cases.

 

[kels430]

Unfortunately this isn’t anything new, it’s been like this for a couple of years now, doesn’t actually seem to be as bad recently.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The North route does fare "better" but it's all relative. The saving grace is frequency rather than fewer short-forms.

 

[RHolmes]

A few observations at Leeds this afternoon sees three consecutive services from platform 16A formed of a 3 car 185, which led to it being overcrowded, with several people standing.

Services were the 13:45 Manchester Airport, 14:00 Lime Street and 14:07 to Manchester Piccadilly.

The South route receives short forms on a regular basis, however I thought these routes faired better, with what is supposed to be regular 6 car services?

York depot are currently using some of their units for the Scarborough to Manchester runs.

There is currently atleast 2 185 units being utilised for route learning trains outside of industrial action.

Some are short formed today as a result of the ASLEF overtime ban and uncovered driver turns. There has been a few trains today (such as the 0530 MCV-HUL) that have split to form two services as a result of uncovered turns.

185 trains which are due to split cannot run in 9 car formation in passenger service only ECS (even with the rear locked out)

Additionally some of the Hull and Redcar services are booked to be 3 car because there isn’t enough 185 units to run in 6 car formation, whilst covering all services and training runs, as well as light and heavy maintenance.

 

[Confused52]

The south route also suffers from "Train Formation Updates" which also involve total cancellation from Liverpool and starting the service at Manchester Piccadilly in the main shed. This sleight of hand has been going on for months.
There is only one MK5 journey in one direction on the South and when it doesn't run this is no substitution. The contempt for the West of the south route is palpable.