[Archive] Northern (Arriva Rail North)

[knutstransport]

RE: Northern (Arriva Rail North)

(15/12/2016 19:05)wirralbus Wrote:  Northern has just had to make do and mend for too long.

The problem is the electrification of the GWR lines is just taking so long now , everyone is suffering now.

A lot of lines have been suffering for a long time now (since around 2008.) While Northern got ex-LM 150s they were made to release some 156s to EMT and carry additional passengers as a result of the TPE Windermere/Barrow services being cut back so they could replace the Virgin service to/from Scotland without additional stock. Then when 319s started arriving Northern effectively lost more 156s as a result of the TPE 170 fiasco. So many routes hoping for extra carriages when the LM 150s arrived are still waiting for more carriages.

On the Mid-Cheshire line the 16:59 Chester-Manchester has been downgraded from a 2 car 150 to a 2 car 142 despite having a loading of well over 200. The day after GHA Coaches collapsed and many people had to travel via Stockport to get between Knutsford and Wilmslow/Macclesfield that service must have loaded over 300 passengers and got delayed by almost half an hour due to how long it took passengers to board and alight and how badly the acceleration was affected by the crush loading. The conductor said he'd never worked a service on any route as crowded as that and put in a complaint on safety grounds - not that it had any effect.