|
|
Post by alemaster on Dec 15, 2015 21:22:58 GMT
Any idea of the routing of the new Sheffield-Bradford service? Wakefield Westgate and Moorthorpe. It will be a Bradford to Nottingham essentially. An additional Leeds to Lincoln via Barnsley will make up the shortfall. Sheffield will be on three of the new 'Northern Connect' routes that are limited stop services with higher quality rolling stock, a mix of brand new and refurbished trains. All Northern Connect stations will apparently be staffed and have some sort of catering facility. The three are: Hull-Goole-Doncaster-Sheffield-Chesterfield Bradford-Leeds-Wakefield Westgate-Sheffield-Chesterfield-Nottingham Leeds-Wakefield Kirkgate-Barnsley-Sheffield-Worksop-Retford-Gainsborough-Lincoln To enable the Leeds-lincoln service to run non-stop Sheffield-Worksop, a new local service will run hourly Sheffield-Retford calling all stations, improving the Sheffield-Worksop/Retford service to two trains an hour. The extension of the Hull-Sheffield fast train to Chesterfield will mean Dronfield gets an improved two trains an hour in the daytime. The Lincoln line and Penistone line both get improved Sunday services too. The Hope Valley line will have an hourly service all day. More seats into Sheffield in the morning peak are also promised. |
 |
|
|
|
Post by zoidberg on Dec 15, 2015 23:36:10 GMT
The best bit is of course the forthcoming withdrawal of the Pacers, and new trains for up here rather than just getting leftovers from down south. It all sounds good to me, but I do hope there will be some scope for expansion, the Pacers are rotten trains that would put even the most hardcore rail enthusiast off travelling by train. I'm no fan of the Sprinters but they're like total luxury besides the nodding donkeys. It will be interesting to see what Pacer operated routes get as replacements, I see Arriva will be free to take cascaded units from other TOCs so that will be interesting. Another bit of good news is free Wi-Fi eventually on all trains. Probably Sprinters. I think everything will cascade downwards with the new fleet probably on the longer routes. But you never know... |
|
|
vwd14
Inspector
Posts: 599 
|
Post by vwd14 on Dec 15, 2015 23:54:57 GMT
Yeah I guess so. I think the New Express routes and services currently operated by 158s are getting the new trains. Arriva will also be getting 185s from Transpennine Express, but I am of the understanding that these are for the TP services they are taking over (which is good news for Blackpool as that was downgraded to leased 156s from Northern so that the Turbostars could cascade to Chiltern).
|
|
|
|
|
Post by snowdon55 on Dec 23, 2015 13:47:54 GMT
It is to be hoped that they have learned some of the lessons from last time - complete cock up from beginning to end to save a few pennies. They have also wrecked XCT so I am not optimistic.
|
|
|
|
|
Post by nikoli on Dec 24, 2015 6:55:01 GMT
It is to be hoped that they have learned some of the lessons from last time - complete cock up from beginning to end to save a few pennies. They have also wrecked XCT so I am not optimistic. XC is a pretty complex network to run (admittedly though I don't remember how successful Virgin were with it) and things are not helped by the lack of fleet investment and Voyagers are not exactly the most popular trains out there however this is partially due to the flaws in the Franchise system. On a more positive note for Arriva they have had huge success with Chiltern Railways, cutting journey times quite considerably and building a second station in Oxford at Oxford Parkway with an extension to into Oxford due to be completed early next year. Grand Central are also pretty successful for Arriva too so I would;t write them off just yet. |
|
|
|
|
Post by zoidberg on Jan 23, 2016 10:31:44 GMT
It's nice that Arriva are supporting UK manufacturing buy buying Spanish...
|
|
|
|
|
Post by duncan on Jan 23, 2016 10:49:41 GMT
It's nice that Arriva are supporting UK manufacturing buy buying Spanish... Why would a german company worry about supporting a British builder? Surely it is in their interest to get the best product / price deal they can. If British builders aren't in the frame maybe they need to take a look at themselves. |
|
|
