On 21 Jun, 17:05, John B wrote:

Anyway. Wembley is accessible, despite that map. AIUI Green Park is
currently having stepfree access scoped out, to be ready in time for
2012. As someone else said, Finchley Road is busy and would be
straightforward to do.

So why did they not do Finchley Road now, half the roof is off, surely
now is the time to build out over the platforms from the central part
of the train side concourse before the roof is redone ?

In article ,
(Dave) wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:43:39 +0100, The Junk Yard Express
wrote:

Barry Salter wrote:
* A fleet of new trains between Gospel Oak and Barking from 2009,

Anyone know what they are likely to be, diesel versions of the 376
would be most appropriate than any current DMU design surely?

Hope the layout is not going to be like an artists impression of an
interior I saw this week. All the seats faced inwards with a wide
aisle like normal tube trains.
I want to look out of the window in the direction I'm travelling!

You and me both. However, there are just 8 such seats in each D stock car
(counting those facing the opposite direction to that of travel. The C
stock has no such seats any more.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

Dave wrote:

Hope the layout is not going to be like an artists impression of an
interior I saw this week. All the seats faced inwards with a wide
aisle like normal tube trains.

I think the Artist's impression is probably accurate, given the chronic
overcrowding the North London Line suffers from. Simple fact being that
providing (less) longitudinal seating and more standing room, you
effectively increase capacity.

Cheers,

Barry

"Colin Rosenstiel" wrote in message

In article ,
(Dave) wrote:

On Tue, 19 Jun 2007 10:43:39 +0100, The Junk Yard Express
wrote:

Barry Salter wrote:
* A fleet of new trains between Gospel Oak and Barking from 2009,

Anyone know what they are likely to be, diesel versions of the 376
would be most appropriate than any current DMU design surely?

Hope the layout is not going to be like an artists impression of an
interior I saw this week. All the seats faced inwards with a wide
aisle like normal tube trains.
I want to look out of the window in the direction I'm travelling!

You and me both. However, there are just 8 such seats in each D stock
car (counting those facing the opposite direction to that of travel.
The C stock has no such seats any more.

I think that most Tube trains lost some or all of their transverse seats
during refurbishment, as did the C stock. The A and D stocks kept the
same number of transverse seats after refurb. In fact, I don't think
there was any significant change in the A and D layouts (apart from some
folding seats replacing fixed seats in the D stock).

On 19 Jun, 14:45, Roland Perry wrote:
In message . com, at
03:52:52 on Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Boltar remarked:

The winner of the London Overground concession is MTR Laing according

Sounds like a sensible decision. Why pick people who already have
years of experience running railways when you can pick a building
firm.

But isn't Laing Rail actually Chiltern, and the construction business
was sold off years ago.

Certainly becoming unusual for a rail franchise not to be awarded to a
bus company.

--
gordon

On 22 Jun, 13:10, " wrote:
On 19 Jun, 14:45, Roland Perry wrote:

In message . com, at
03:52:52 on Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Boltar remarked:

The winner of the LondonOvergroundconcession is MTR Laing according

Sounds like a sensible decision. Why pick people who already have
years of experience running railways when you can pick a building
firm.

But isn't Laing Rail actually Chiltern, and the construction business
was sold off years ago.

Certainly becoming unusual for a rail franchise not to be awarded to a
bus company.

Perhaps I spoke to soon. Shouldn't be any surprise that the
consolidation of the rail operating industry into four or so big
players is progressing apace as it did with the bus industry before
it.

--
gordon

On Fri, 6 Jul 2007, wrote:

On 22 Jun, 13:10, " wrote:
On 19 Jun, 14:45, Roland Perry wrote:

In message . com, at
03:52:52 on Tue, 19 Jun 2007, Boltar remarked:

The winner of the LondonOvergroundconcession is MTR Laing according

Sounds like a sensible decision. Why pick people who already have
years of experience running railways when you can pick a building
firm.

But isn't Laing Rail actually Chiltern, and the construction business
was sold off years ago.

Certainly becoming unusual for a rail franchise not to be awarded to a
bus company.

Perhaps I spoke to soon. Shouldn't be any surprise that the
consolidation of the rail operating industry into four or so big players
is progressing apace

YWell, with Britain's rail network divided between the Great Western,
London, Midland and Scottish, London and North Eastern and Southern
railways, we should see considerably greater efficiency.

Oh, hang on, wrong century ...

tom

--
Tech - No Babble

On 9 Jul, 18:18, Tom Anderson wrote:

Perhaps I spoke to soon. Shouldn't be any surprise that the
consolidation of the rail operating industry into four or so big players
is progressing apace

YWell, with Britain's rail network divided between the Great Western,
London, Midland and Scottish, London and North Eastern and Southern
railways, we should see considerably greater efficiency.


The privitisation of rail started off with 25 different franchises
with the aim to create as much competition and keep prices down. Yes,
competition does keep prices down (think SWT and no fare hikes on
trains to Windsor/Reading) but amalgamations have kept organisational
costs down - the prime example being 'one'. Others have just happened
due to project reasons, eg: FCC to allow Thameslink 2000 to go ahead
and CT and Silverlink to allow proper 'through' running at Northampton
(most trains do but the Journey Planner doesn't accept it since the
stopover is less than 10 mins).

I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Big 4 returning, although I
was wondering why Govia don't merge South-Central with South-Eastern
as Virgin have done with VXC/VWC quite sucsessfully for 11 years;
although if they win NXC, I won't like the look of Virgin liveried
170s...

JL wrote:

I really wouldn't be surprised to see the Big 4 returning

Which, ironically, is exactly how John Major envisaged privatisation -
before he was talked out of it.

was wondering why Govia don't merge South-Central with South-Eastern
as Virgin have done with VXC/VWC quite sucsessfully for 11 years;

Virgin haven't merged the franchises. It's not within their power to do so.
The DfT will decide if and when franchises are merged.

Virgin West Coast is run by West Coast Trains Limited. Virgin CrossCountry
is run by CrossCountry Trains Limited. Both are accounted for independently.
However, they are marketed under the common trading name of Virgin Trains.

On 9 Jul, 23:50, "Jack Taylor" wrote:

Virgin haven't merged the franchises. It's not within their power to do so.
The DfT will decide if and when franchises are merged.

Virgin West Coast is run by West Coast Trains Limited. Virgin CrossCountry
is run by CrossCountry Trains Limited. Both are accounted for independently.
However, they are marketed under the common trading name of Virgin Trains.

Sorry that's what I meant. However, NRE does treat the two as the same
company when referring to Route Delays etc. The advantage is the
ticketing - the excellently priced Value Advance C is available on
both companies. Of course, if Arrivia win (God hope they don't),
there's half of Virgin gone. It'll be interesting to see what happens
if Virgin wins the east coast - I take it they won't be branding it
Virgin due the joint-venture.