London Banter - View Single Post - reliability of NNL and district line richmond branch

Colin Rosenstiel · August 12th 06, 10:47 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article . com,
(Neil Williams) wrote:

John B wrote:

I've not been on Merseyrail in years, but I suspect that running
DC-only trains on a DC-only line presents fewer complications than
running 1970s AC/DC (let there be rock!) trains with regular
changeovers. Certainly, the 313s tend to break down at Drayton
Park on the FCC GN route far more than they do anywhere else along
the line...

Good point.

Would there, then, perhaps be some merit in doing a swap for some
diesel units that are running services under the wires in places
like Greater Manchester, one wonders, until reliability on changeover
can be increased?

Eurostars do the changeover daily at speed, so it isn't impossible
with 10-year-old technology.

The 313s are 35 year old technology. They were also designed for a
maximum speed of 30MPH on DC (series only motors).

--
Colin Rosenstiel