43096
On Moderation
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2015
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- 15,266
Just ridiculously complicated and expensive, needing a bigger fleet.You could be correct, this seems to complicate matters further.
Say if a new "Rail England" brand to be introduced and the cross-border intercity services, managed by RE-TfW-ScotRail, to be branded for example as "Entente".
The fleets of LNER, GWR, AWC, TPE and XC could be divided up with some going to "Entente" and others transferring to RE.
Some will join RE's other express services currently run by other TOCs. The rail fleet understandably will be varied to begin with but will continue to be dedicated only for the services they run (like 444s to Weymouth, 810s to Sheffield etc) however all will come under the single RE Express livery. The express fleet possibly could become standardised gradually over time (a long way off in the future) such as electrification & conversion from third rail to overhead, new rolling stock orders etc.
The cross-border fleet for "Entente", coming from LNER, AWC, GWR, TPE and XC, mostly consist of Hitachi AT300s with 390s & 397s.
"Entente" to operate from (also stopping at English stations on the way):
Euston-Glasgow/Edinburgh
Euston-Holyhead
Kings Cross-Edinburgh/Aberdeen/Inverness
Paddington-Swansea/Carmarthen
Cardiff-Penzance
Manchester/Liverpool-Glasgow/Edinburgh
Also there are cross-border regional services already run by TfW and ScotRail. GWR's Cardiff-Portsmouth/Brighton/Taunton services to run in RE livery.
Complicated I know! Ha ha!
The answer ought to be for Wales and Scotland to accept "English Rail" services in the same way that ScotRail and TfW operate into England.