...Hearing a lot of detonators today but nothing on NRE about engineering works or other delays.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
V
Stadler and Bombardier to supply trains for Abellio East Anglia franchise
A £1·4bn investment programme under the new franchise is to include:
- Complete replacement of the current fleet, with the delivery of 1 043 new vehicles between January 2019 and September 2020. Bombardier is to be awarded a £900m contract financed by leasing company Angel Trains for the supply of 665 Aventra electric multiple-unit cars from its Derby plant. Stadler is to enter the UK mainline passenger rolling stock market for the first time with an planned order for 383 Flirt electro-diesel and electric multiple-unit cars.
- Refurbishment of 'many' existing vehicles ahead of the arrival of the new fleet.
- 'Tough new performance targets', with Public Performance Measure scores to be increased from 89·7% to 92·9% 'through a more robust timetable, investment in infrastructure, people and process and through an alliance with Network Rail'.
- At least two trains per weekday each way between London and Norwich with a journey time of 90 min, and two between London and Ipswich in 60 min.
- Free wi-fi on trains and at stations.
- Investment to improve the journey experience, including nearly £60m for stations, with major schemes at Broxbourne, Cambridge, Cheshunt, Harlow and Southend Victoria, digital information screens at all 131 stations, improved ticket offices and more ticket vending machines, nearly 1 800 additional car parking spaces and 4 000 additional cycle parking spaces.
- New ticketing initiatives from October 2017, including offers for part-time workers and those who do not travel every day.
- Automatic 'delay repay' for season and advance purchase tickets.
- £120m of investment in depots, including a new maintenance facility at Manningtree.
- Taking on 20 trainees per year, with a minimum of 30 apprenticeships by 2019.
DfT said the franchisee would make premium payments worth around £3·7bn over the nine-year period.
The franchise is expected to carry more than 97 million passenger-journeys/year. The number of seats on services arriving at London Liverpool Street station in the morning peak is to be increased by 55% to 91 000, and across the franchise there will be 1 144 additional weekday services, an increase of 13%.
Dominic Booth, Managing Director of the Abellio UK subsidiary of the Dutch national passenger operator NS, said the company was 'pleased to become preferred bidder to deliver a transformation in rail services across the region'. This would 'enable us to build on the successes of the two short East Anglian franchises we have run since 2012, and we commend the DfT in running a transparent and rigorous procurement process.'
He said the new franchise would 'greatly improve our customers' experience with faster and more reliable journeys on new trains with higher frequencies and reduced journey times, to support the socio-economic well-being of East Anglia, one of the country's most successful and fastest growing areas.'
Bombardier Transportation's UK Commercial Director, Des McKeon, said the rolling stock order was 'a great endorsement of Bombardier's next-generation Aventra train family, which offers maximum flexibility, to serve many different market requirements from metro to inter-city.' Secretary of State for Transport Chris Grayling said Abellio's decision to order rolling stock from Bombardier would 'ensure our train building industry in Derby remains strong'.
Just a reminder — Abellio is State-owned by the Dutch Government.
Keep Rolling On
Pretty much the only ones that aren't are the Stagecoach and First Group franchises. Govia is part-owned by SNCF, Arriva is Deutsche Bahn...
"Yup. That tasted purple."
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IS THIS GERMANY'S REVENGE FOR THE WAR
so i made a new avatar
If anyone cares:
Amtrak put this video out sometime last month. Apparently we may finally be getting something resembling true high-speed rail. In the northeast.
I don't have much of an opinion besides "that is one ugly locomotive".
yes, it took us this long, i know
edited 9th Sep '16 7:59:47 PM by PhysicalStamina
To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."
Making Unicorns Cool Again Since 2010
"Ugly"? I think it looks nicely futuristic. ![[tup]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Thumbs_up_emoticon_3268.png "[thumb up]"){kind=small}
so i made a new avatar
It's the nose. It just doesn't look aesthetically pleasing to me.
To pity someone is to tell them "I feel bad about being better than you."
V
![[up]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/smiles/arrow_up.png "[up]"){kind=icon}
That's probably down to North American Safety Standards. Rolling stock for the US/Canada can't be ordered off-the-international-shelf — it has to specifically designed and built for the market.
edited 10th Sep '16 8:12:24 AM by Greenmantle
Keep Rolling On
Southern Rail delayed because train that went to fix broken down train broke down
Whoops.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Train Crash in New Jersey - At least 3 dead, 100+ injured
Just caught one of Caledonian's 73s shunting at Derby station.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
Picture
◊ of above.
Cape Malleum Majorem
"I've been workin' on the railroad, all the live-long day..."
Seriously, things are slow at my regular job (we're having another one of those temporary lay-offs), so I volunteered to work on the Colebrookdale Railroad — a small, relatively new heritage railroad in Boyertown, Pennsylvania.
We were laying track today. It's an interesting change of pace from my normal job, but I don't think I'd want to do it as a career.
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
Laying track sounds like a bitch, even with automation. Especially in what you colonials call Fall and we Scots call "F'ng freezing!" ![[lol]](https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lol2v12_4863.png "[lol]"){kind=small}
I'm glad you're enjoying your busman's holiday, so to speak.
Cape Malleum Majorem
It's hard work, but it's also a lot of fun. Like playing with the world's biggest set of toy trains.
I suppose I could get a temporary job over the holiday season until my recall date, but it would probably pay minimum wage, and would also interfere with my unemployment compensation. Unpaid volunteer work doesn't, and the CRR can always use an extra set of hands. It sure beats sitting around the house all day, going crazy with boredom for the next two months...
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
I almost miss digging slit trenches and foxholes, and setting up antenna sites in wind and rain blasted hill tops. But I've got too many nerves screwed up to be safe doing that kind of work again.
... So that engine in the piccy of the website's a diesel? Looks nice.
Cape Malleum Majorem
Unfortunately, it broke down this past weekend, on Saturday's 2 PM run. They had to bring the passengers back to the railyard by bus, and cancel all trips for the rest of the weekend. They have a little switcher engine, which they used to bring the locomotive and the cars back, one or two at a time (which took until almost midnight.)
However, diesel locomotive #7236 is back up and running in time for tomorrow's lunchtime trip. It turned out to be something relatively minor — which probably would have been avoided, had we been professionals who actually knew what we were doing. Bear with us, we're still new at all this...
They borrowed a steam locomotive from another heritage railroad for a couple of weeks over the summer. They have their own steam-powered locomotive (a tank engine) which is "currently undergoing restoration." (At present, it's little more than a chassis, boiler and gutted cab. So it'll need a lot of work — and money — before it's ready for use.)
edited 8th Nov '16 5:33:05 PM by pwiegle
This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
Breaking news of a major incident on a tram in London this morning. It derailed, turned over, and there are people trapped. Dozens have been taken to hospital and sadly there are reports of fatalities according to the latest emergency services press conference, though the authorities are not disclosing at this stage how many there are. Families are more than likely being informed first as is usual in these cases.
More here:
Sounds like it was caused by a points failure in the same manner as Potters Bar.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
On a newish rail?
Fuck.
Keep in mind that's just me speculating based on what has been reported. I have not been trained as an accident investigator and I do not have access to to the scene.
"Yup. That tasted purple."
It's plausible speculation given what we know of the crash so far. But you're right, it's still early stages as yet. Things could be not as they seem just now.
I started High Speed Rail It's formatting is still ugly and it could use some help, though.