Thameslink and Great Northern

[H101GEV (Administrator)]

RE: Thameslink and Great Northern

(25/06/2019 01:46)iMarkeh Wrote:  323s are perfect. I will agree. The issue is that not enough were built. The 323s were fully utilised before all the recent electrification. There is no spare of them for the electrified lines out of Liverpool and those through Bolton. Services via Bolton could be ran as 2x3 car as the platforms can't accommodate 8 car. Liverpool services can't take 8 car but they can all take 6 car. That is what works in their favour.

Unfortunately the Liverpool Lime Street lines cannot accommodate 6 car 323s as they have long 23 metre carriages. Stations on the Chat Moss and Wigan routes which could take trains of that length are definitely in the minority. I'm not sure even the Blackpool North semi-fast, arguably the busiest of all the EMU-operated Lime Street services, could see 6 car 323 operation as some of Huyton's platforms are too short as well.

My own observations of peak time loadings suggest that 6 car 323s are not needed on the Lime Street services anyway. By far the busiest 323-operated service in the Liverpool area I've seen to date is the 1616 CRE - LIV (1723 from MAN) which is very well loaded but copes as a 3 car. Prior to electrification, 2 car DMUs were commonly used on the Wigan stoppers even in peak times.

As for the 313s, I agree they have been outstanding servants on the Great Northern and I'll really miss them but their time has come. The pace at which new EMUs are being ordered is remarkable and I think the so-called 'delay' in Valley Lines electrification was the death knell for any future use. They're better than the 319s by a long way as far as I'm concerned and at least we'll have the Southern ones around for a few more years.