Can anyone clarify which wholly electric services which are currently operated by Voyagers will move to the new EMUs?
I wonder if they will simply order 5 car EMUs or take the opportunity for 'full length' units to maximise capacity.
I'm assuming the bi-modes will be short units to allow portion working along the North Wales Coast line.
Voyagers work services to Shrewsbury and Blackpool as well as some Euston-Birmingham-Scotland services, as well as Chester/North Wales.
Some of these services interwork, eg the early Blackpool joins with the early Holyhead at Crewe, and at least one of the Shrewsbury workings comes off a Scotland service at Wolverhampton.
Some of the Birmingham diagrams are to get Voyagers to/from Central Rivers depot overnight.
There are about 9 on Chester/Holyhead and another 9 on the rest, plus a couple of spares.
Blackpool is difficult because Pendolinos (9 or 11-car) can't call at Kirkham or Poulton, which is why there is one Voyager service left despite the line now being wired.
23 new trains (10 EMUs, 13 bi-modes) to replace 20 Voyagers isn't much of an uplift.
They are also posted to serve Liverpool South Parkway's short platforms.
It all points to 5-car trains for portion working, which also allows stops at short platforms.
It would be no different to today's Voyager operation really, with some local extensions.
But maybe 5 EMU units or so could be 9/10-car for the Scotland workings which is where capacity is most needed.
Depending on the manufacturer, the location of the maintenance base will have an impact, just as Central Rivers does for the Voyagers.
Hitachi have no suitable WCML base yet, and CAF is a bit of a jumble for both TPE and Northern.