Virgin Trains have launched their new 'Azuma' train which will be rolled out onto the East Coast Main Line in 2018. I enquired about bicycle spaces on Twitter and apparently this is "still to be finalized but it's possibly going to have bike racks in the actual carriage" which sounds promising in terms of being easy to access without relying on train or station staff, just so long as "the actual carriage" doesn't refer to just one carriage per train of course.
CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Cycling News
Virgin Trains East Coast 'Azuma' train
(104 posts)-
Posted 8 years ago #
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And remember it was Virgin (West Coast / XC) who specced the rather rubbish bike spaces in the Voyager and Pendolino carriages 15 or so years ago...
I quite like the name, it has the triple significance of being Japanese (like the train), meaning East, and being a pun on fast.
Virgin say they're going to explore 140mph running as the trains can go that fast. The East Coast incumbent the Class 91 could do 140mph running from day 1 in 1989, and indeed did do it on some trialled timetables using a special flashing yellow signal aspect, but it never came to anything as it significantly reduces the line capacity. Let's hope they have more luck and/or perseverance this time round.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Azumas will accelerate to 125 mph around a minute quicker than current trains so if braking is similarly effective, then that combination may help capacity issues in time.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Indeed; if they can safely brake from 140mph to 0 within a single signalling block then they might be on to something.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"safely"
You mean without everything sliding off the tables?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Without spilling ones gin, yes.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Beeb on this. Government propaganda alert!
Edinburgh to London train journey time to be cut to four hours
New trains with faster acceleration will cut journey times on the East Coast Main Line by up to 22 minutes. The Virgin Azuma Trains, which will be launched in 2018, will enable passengers to travel between Edinburgh and London in four hours.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-edinburgh-east-fife-35842408
Posted 8 years ago # -
0-125 mph acceleration is "about 40 seconds faster" say BBC - Virgin conveninetly rounding to "around a minute".
Posted 8 years ago # -
There's already an EDB - KGX 4 hour train.
http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/Y80287/2016/03/18/advanced
Only stops at Newcastle.
4 hours on all/most trains would be good - especially if it doesn't need any/much track/signal work.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"Indeed; if they can safely brake from 140mph to 0 within a single signalling block then they might be on to something"
It's not the braking that's the (primary) problem, it's that the Health & Safety Executive decided a few decades ago that humans can't be trusted to accurately read lineside signals at any faster than 125mph. Reasonable, as I believe many European countries demand signals to be transmitted to the driver's cab at 100mph (and sometimes below). Historically, paying for cab signalling on UK lines for an extra 15mph hasn't seemed worth it, although there's now plans to introduce it at the southern end of the ECML in a few years' time.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Interesting post JNTY, is that that ERTMS thingy?
Posted 8 years ago # -
Posted 8 years ago #
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"
A high-speed rail deal has been struck to cut Scotland to London journey times below three hours, ministers will announce tomorrow.
The Scottish and UK governments have agreed to track upgrades or new stretches of line to slice one quarter off the current-fastest four-hour journeys from Edinburgh and Glasgow.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
This is all very welcome, of course. However I note there has been no mention of upgrading the Aberdeen or Inverness routes. Upgrades, and electrification of these lines ought to be as much of a priority as long distance connections to London and the south.
Frankly I'm surprised the Scottish government have not made more of such things. They seem to think new roads are enough.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Tell Keith Brown there's a vital route to the north that is at capacity and still single track and he'll probably sign the cheque to dual it before you remember to mention it's the Highland Mainline.
The fancy new zumba trains will run on diesel engines under the floor when heading north of Edinburgh, with all the joys of cabin noise and vibration that gives the passenger. Scotrail will of course be inheriting some HST (125) sets also for Scottish Inter-City routes.
Posted 8 years ago # -
"
Whilst the trains will initially reach speeds of up to 125mph, Virgin Trains has today announced the creation of a cross-industry working group, including Network Rail, to investigate the potential for the East Coast route to enable their operation at 140mph.
"
Posted 8 years ago # -
The Azuma comes in two types, there is the Class 800 which is bi-mode with electric and diesel power. It has been ordered in 5 (x10) or 9 (x13) car sets by Virgin. There are electric only Class 801 versions, and Virgin has ordered 30 of these in 9 car sets.
I'm not sure if they intend to run 5+5=10, but 5 car sets (which I assume they might run north of Edinburgh) would be a distinct cut in capacity.
Current ECML trains are all 9 cars (2 first, 1 buffet, 6 standard in Diesel IC125 sets and 3 first, 1 buffet, 5 standard in Electric IC225 sets). I asked Virgin on Twitter if they had worked out seating capacity, but they said no, however Great Western in England have published the seating capacity of the Class 802 variant as 655 for 9-car and 326 for 5-car. The IC225 9 car sets have a capacity currently of 535. So they've milked a lot of extra seats out of the extra 3 metres carriage length (23m for IC225 Mark IV carriage, 26m for the Class 80x carriage). One note on carriage length is that as you make it longer, you also have to make it narrower to fit within the same loading gauge, this means there's the potential to feel pretty claustrophobic inside (although the Mk.IV stock was designed with tilting in mind, meaning that the carriage section is smaller than it really needs to be).
Virgin have a track record of this; they ordered lots of 4 and 5 car Voyagers to replace the old WCML rolling stock after privatisation (8 or 9 carriage trains) and were surprised to find that this wasn't sufficient.
This is mainly all my own musings, don't take it as fact yet... Watch this space.
Posted 8 years ago # -
Looks like the old East Coast rolling stock will go to the central-belt / Aberdeen / Inverness routes in 2018:
Posted 7 years ago # -
From link -
"
Each train can carry eight bicycles, three of which can be carried in a rack in each of the power car’s luggage compartments, although these will only be available for end-to-end journeys.
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Posted 7 years ago # -
Also
"
54 power cars and 121 coaches will be leased from Angel Trains
"
How many times have these been paid for since break-up of British Rail?!
Posted 7 years ago # -
20 bikes previously 'promised' -
http://www.spokes.org.uk/2017/04/save-the-highland-bike-rail-dream/
Posted 7 years ago # -
Have now written to my MSPs about this.
Posted 7 years ago # -
More info here, too:
http://citycyclingedinburgh.info/bbpress/topic.php?id=746&page=294#post-242944
Posted 7 years ago # -
Nothing about bikes here -
http://www.hitachirail-eu.com/products/projects/class-800/801-iep
Posted 7 years ago # -
"Anger at bike space cut on ScotRail's new long-distance trains"
Posted 7 years ago # -
This was buried in the BBC web site under local Tyne and Wear news:
East Coast Azuma trains thwarted by northern track
Slower, later, more polluting service for the North. Plus ça change ...
Posted 5 years ago # -
"They've had ten years to sort this." We saw one in Pitlochry a few months ago. I didn't know what it was...
Posted 5 years ago # -
“
He said it needed upgrading to the standards of the West Coast Main Line, which was electrified two decades later at the cost of billions of pounds.
“
Better scrap HS2 then.
Posted 5 years ago # -
This is why they do the testing - you only find this stuff out when you run the trains along the track. The introduction of the Pendolino on the West Coast Main Line produced similar problems (plus lots of other ones specific to that service)- as nicely summed up in the attached article:
Posted 5 years ago # -
This is why they do the testing -
Although in this case its not a new problem, its entirely foreseeable that the issue with the pendolino would be an issue with this train.
Posted 5 years ago #
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