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| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 20/06/2011 at 11:02 #3253 | |
hotwellian
211 posts |
A new rail depot near Bristol could be built as part of plans to electrify the Great Western line between Bristol and London. BBC News story Log in to reply |
| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 20/06/2011 at 11:02 #16766 | |
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hotwellian
211 posts |
A new rail depot near Bristol could be built as part of plans to electrify the Great Western line between Bristol and London. BBC News story Log in to reply |
| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 21/06/2011 at 19:36 #16831 | |
moonraker
353 posts |
That doesn't bode well for St Phillips Marsh's long term future then. Likely it'll be scaled down for the Pacer and Sprinter fleet. But then there won't be any HST's to service once the wires are up I suppose.
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| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 22/06/2011 at 09:47 #16851 | |
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postman
47 posts |
There will have to be some HST's to service if the Weston-Super-mare to Paddington services still run.I think I am right in thinking the wires finish at Temple Meads ? Anyone knows whats happening to the old panel at Bristol Temple Meads as it is quite an old early box from the 1960's ? Perhaps the southwales centre will eventually take over as its going all the way up the Marches route too.
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| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 22/06/2011 at 10:48 #16861 | |
postal
5190 posts |
I thought we were still going with the inane DfT idea of sticking thumping lumps of iron into all of the electrics so that they could run off-wire.
“In life, there is always someone out there, who won’t like you, for whatever reason, don’t let the insecurities in their lives affect yours.” – Rashida Rowe Log in to reply |
| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 22/06/2011 at 16:19 #16880 | |
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IrishDave
51 posts |
As far as I am aware, the plan is as follows: * the wires will run from London to Oxford, Newbury, Bristol Temple Meads (via Parkway and Bath) and Cardiff; * there will be a relatively small fleet (about 40% of the total new carriages on the GWML) of all-electric 8-car IEPs to run the London-Bristol/Cardiff services, which will be based at North Pole; * the rest (60%) of the fleet will be 5-car bi-mode, meaning they will be capable of running on electric or diesel power, which will run London-Swansea/Hereford/Cheltenham/Weston/Taunton/Exeter/Paignton services, and will presumably be based at Stoke Gifford (probably with outposts at Landore and Paignton); * a small fleet of HSTs will be retained (though upgraded with power doors and retention toilets) to run London-Plymouth/Penzance services, because - and you'll love this - the new IEPs won't have enough power to get up Dainton Bank (between Newton Abbot and Totnes). In addition, there will be electric and bi-mode IEPs on the East Coast, to replace the HSTs there entirely: the 5-car electric sets will take over London-King's Lynn services (the power north of Ely being insufficient to cope with the new Thameslink trains), while the bi-modes will take over London-Aberdeen/Inverness/Hull/Harrogate and possibly Skipton (which has long been served by an HST under the wires due to insufficient power supplies beyond Leeds). I don't have exact numbers to hand, but I can look them up when I get home if anyone asks? As for the signalling, the long-term plan is, I believe, to have Swindon, Swindon B, Reading, Slough and Slough New consolidated into one control centre at Didcot (known as Thames Valley SC) - certainly Reading has already been transferred - and for Bristol, Gloucester, Exeter, Plymouth and beyond to be consolidated into a new signalling centre in the Bristol area; I'm not sure about Westbury. The reason the Marches line is in the new South Wales SC is because it counts as the Welsh region, so it made organisational sense to put it there - why they didn't have the sense to put it in Stoke IECC I don't know (since Crewe will be resignalled eventually). Log in to reply |
| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 22/06/2011 at 21:43 #16894 | |
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moonraker
353 posts |
Wondered whether Oxford would get wired. Didn't expect Newbury to be included though. Blimey the commuters won't know what's hit them on the Berks & Hants lol :D So I wonder whether some more Desiros will be on the way for Thames Valley Inner and Outer Suburban services ? Or will most of those be transferred to Crossrail when it's finally completed ? Interesting times ahead for us Western Boys. Log in to reply |
| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 23/06/2011 at 00:47 #16899 | |
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IrishDave
51 posts |
No, there will be no new Desiros (except maybe nine for Manchester-Scotland services). For the time being Crossrail is only going to Maidenhead, but once it's actually operational it's likely that it will extend to Reading, but not any further. Basically the old Thameslink stock will end up on the Great Western suburbans. The stock movements are quite complicated, so I'll try and summarise it as best I understand it: * 1,200 new carriages will be built (by Siemens, announced this week) for Thameslink, displacing the existing Class 319s and 365s; * 600 new carriages will be built (company yet to be announced) for Crossrail, displacing the existing Class 315s, 165s and 166s; * the Class 319s and Class 365s from Thameslink / Great Northern and the Class 315s from the Great Eastern will be displaced to run Thames Valley suburban services, and various suburban services in the north west between Liverpool, Manchester, Preston and Blackpool North (where the wires are also going up by 2016) - in particular it's thought the Class 365s will be used on London-Oxford services; * a few Class 165s and 166s will be retained by Great Western to operate Slough-Windsor, Maidenhead-Marlow, Twyford-Henley, Reading-Gatwick/Basingstoke/Bedwyn/Westbury; * the rest of the Class 165s and 166s from the Great Western will be displaced to various other regional operators, with lots of knock-on movements, leading to... * the Class 142/143/144 Pacers will all be withdrawn by 2019 (mainly because they don't comply with the Disability Discrimination Act). At least, that's my best impression of what's going to happen, though I'm open to correction - in any case it's a pretty complicated cascade of rolling stock to happen between now and 2019! Log in to reply |
| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 23/06/2011 at 08:19 #16904 | |
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moonraker
353 posts |
The usual story then. We get all the cast offs from other operators. I just wondered about the Desiros as there are already the 5 car sets used on Heathrow Connect.
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| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 23/06/2011 at 14:01 #16914 | |
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IrishDave
51 posts |
Ah, yes, I forgot about Heathrow Connect - I assume those Class 360s will go to join the other Class 360s on the Great Eastern, and Heathrow Connect will become part of Crossrail. I don't think it's been decided if Heathrow Express will become part of Crossrail or not, though if it did it would significantly help the peak capacity into and out of Paddington on the main lines, so it is being considered.
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| New Rail depot planned for Stoke Gifford, Bristol 23/06/2011 at 14:38 #16917 | |
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moonraker
353 posts |
It was being mooted a while ago about HeX going to Crossrail. Makes sense really in the long run. Don't think we'd have seen this sort of upheavel for quite a few years. It's probably going to be worse than the Padd remodelling of the early 90's.
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