1970's tube trains to be refurbished for Yorkshire's railway (Read 4,205 times)

[Deleted]

bdaily.co.uk/environment/20-02-2015/london-underground-cast-offs-for-yorkshire-rail-lines-attacked/
Ex Northern line trains built in 1978 will be refurbished and be intended to replace the pacer trains across Yorkshire

[darnall42]

Refurbished 35 year old tube train stock powered by ford transit van engines,Doesn't sound very good

[zebedee]

First off, they're ex District line, not Northern line. And why not see what they're like before criticising them? Of course, as enthusiasts we seem to be incapable of enthusing, which is a pity.

They aren't going to be the tube train straight off the tracks from London, they're going to go through a very extensive redesign and refurb. And with the boss of Chiltern Railways behind all of this, my take is that it ought to be a far superior train to the godawful Pacer it's going to replace.

[Deleted]

Replacing the Pacers has to be a good thing, they have been life expired for years. However I'm not convinced that this is the way forward, it will cost a fortune, they are older than the Pacers and they are only capable of 60mph opposed to 75.

[hep]

Don't get your hopes up too soon, Porterbrook are modernising a class 144 and appear ready to update all their 143s and 144s. Since the 150s in Lancashire are being replaced by even older 319s the replacement of the pacers by aluminium bodied stock with more modern bogies although not ideal does appear to be an improvement

[lv426]

There is detail from the company behind the D-train here: www.vivarail.co.uk/
As to replacing Pacers - whilst I think all Pacers were unfit for purpose the day they were introduced, and have not matured gracefully with age, the one thing I would hate to see is simple replacement. For years, what we have needed hereabouts isn't replacement; it's actually MORE.

[duncan]

Just looked at the site and must say I am impressed.
It does seem to be a well thought out and hopefully well carried out programme.
The advantage is that for a few weeks at least we will have clean trains unless the franchise is awarded away from current incumbents.

[manclad]

I think the fact that they are effectively life expired, history will treat the pacers unfairly. Even with their simple design they have served our lines extremely well in my opinion. Back in my child hood days I always preferred, much preferred, it when a class 156 would roll into Barnsley station. However, the pacers (particularly the class 142) has character in my opinion. I can just about remember the class 101/110's (ironically revisited again when I moved to Manchester in 2002) around Barnsley but the pacers remind me of my child hood so maybe that's why I'm not so harsh.

The North does deserve new trains, as well as the tube stock idea which I like the look of, but I think the feeling of injustice of rail commuters and enthusiasts has meant that it's the pacers themselves that have got the flack.

[TC60054]

This is from the DfT's tender for the Northern Rail franchise which was released to bidding today:

The Department requires a Franchisee who will procure and bring into service, no later than 1 January 2020, a minimum of 120 new carriages that are capable of being used to operate Passenger Services on non-electrified routes
These must be newly-built (not re-using components from existing rolling stock)

[lysander]

:)Before everyone becomes over excited we might remember that the Terms of the new franchise has only just been revealed and that the good old Isle of Wight has had refurbished Underground trains for years.

[TC60054]

Mar 2, 2015 9:09:45 GMT lysander said:

:)Before everyone becomes over excited we might remember that the Terms of the new franchise has only just been revealed and that the good old Isle of Wight has had refurbished Underground trains for years.

IOW may get some of the D-Trains, but the tender states specifically that the new Northern franchise can't have these, they must be brand new

[zebedee]

One problem there. D trains would be decapitated the moment they set foot on the IOW as they're subsurface stock and wouldn't fit in the Ryde tunnel. Island Line needs tube stock.

[duncan]

Mar 2, 2015 18:29:50 GMT TC60054 said:

Mar 2, 2015 9:09:45 GMT lysander said:

:)Before everyone becomes over excited we might remember that the Terms of the new franchise has only just been revealed and that the good old Isle of Wight has had refurbished Underground trains for years.

IOW may get some of the D-Trains, but the tender states specifically that the new Northern franchise can't have these, they must be brand new

Only a set amount need to be new, others can be recycled.

[lysander]

Not really on topic, but as the IoW system has already been mentioned it might interest some of us to know that the 40 year old refurbished stock has, according to the Isle of Wight Council, been considered as replacements to the 1938 build ex London Underground units...and been rejected. Not because of any height restriction but because they would not add to the speed or frequency of existing services...restricted by the single line system. A tram or light railway system is being discussed as a replacement!

[lv426]

LRT on the IOW would make a lot of sense.

As to the Northern tender: yes they are required to have 120 brand new trains; and yes they have to do away with all Pacers. It does not follow from either or both of these requirements that they cannot AS WELL have some or all or none of the proposed D-Trains.