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Channel 4 dispatches this evening (16.3.2020) - as reported in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2020/mar/16/investigation-reveals-number-of-ghost-trains-lying-idle-in-britain)


"Britain’s Train Hell is broadcast on Monday 16 March at 8pm on Channel 4"

I think they mean "thousands of carriages" ::).  Does that include all those that have been sent to the scrap heap (e.g. ex-HST carriages?).  We know there are lots of brand new trains waiting to be commissioned, and currently under test.  The CROSSRAIL trains sitting in Old Oak Common Depot must account for a large amount of the majority of the "thousands" I would have thought......

(https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2019/06/07/16/14503982-7116453-image-a-43_1559920165772.jpg)

230 in that picture  ;D

Anybody know how many 'seats' and 'standing places' that equates to?...........

Where? I can't see any D-trains?

A Crossrail carriage has 50 seats and capacity for a further 117 standing.  So that's 11,500 seats plus 26,190 stadnding in that picture ... total 37,690 people.  Of course, creative accounting in "capacity per day" will work on 5 journeys into London per train per day, making 57,500 seats ... 188,450 capacity.
 

Grahame, thanks for that calculation.  Thats quite some capacity waiting sitting idle then ::)   I think thats much more of a true reflection of the status of our railway system rather than journalistic reporting of the number of idle carriages..... :o

Did anybody on here watch the programme?

This has become slightly irrelevant, given the forthcoming winding down of services. I hope there is room for more unwanted trains in those sidings.

Well, they do all get stored away somewhere on Christmas and Boxing Day...... :P

I did. I thought it was reasonably balanced, and worth watching on catch-up.

The programme mostly argued that sorting out a few pinch points such as the Castlefield Corridor (https://cdn.networkrail.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Castlefield-Corridor-congested-infrastructure-report.pdf) could (spot the last-minute edit!) help a rebalance the economy, especially as we recover from the Covid-19 recession.

Yes, I did.
Some good points made about relatively minor works that could relieve bottlenecks and allow faster, more reliable or more frequent services.
And the amount of stored rolling stock, not just Crossrail units.
I feel that the programmed overstated the benefits of electrification. I am in favour of electrification, but primarily for environmental reasons, not journey time.
Viewing some of the grossly overcrowded 2 car units featured in the programme, the near term answer should be much longer diesel units, with electrification being a longer term goal.

How many HSTs are stored ?
And yes I know that they are old, rapidly becoming non standard and not ideal for local services. But in the short term there are many routes where a 5 car HST could replace a 2 car DMU.
This might mean suspending some disability regulations to allow HSTs in the short term.
Viewing some of the gross overcrowding, with many able bodied passengers left behind, I doubt that the "compliant" 2 car units are actually useable by anyone with significant mobility problems.
And as for oft quoted boarding delays due to the end doors, would these be any worse than the delays as a few more tried to board the units featured in the programme ?

Wouldn't you have the same number of doors on a 2+4 Castle as you have on a 2 car 150?

There have been a large number of older units being taken out revenue earning service recently to be replaced by class 700, 387, 345, 800 etc, often Units are placed in storage as spares until the whole class is withdrawn, tendering for disposal is complete.

There is nothing new in this the railways have been doing it since the first coal trucks were hauled by horses, the difference now is the old stock does not get re-purposed for engineering or departmental trains

Back later - I have a TV programme to watch on catch-up.

I watched this programme.  And, like most current affairs bulletins, it only showed one side.

Yes there are many trains/carriages holed up in sidings everywhere, but most are no longer compliant with the TSI-PRM.  (Technical Standard for Interoperability - Persons of Reduced Mobility - if memory serves).

And Yes there are dozens of "shovel-ready" schemes waiting for the go-ahead - but no mention of the ones that have recently completed or are being shovelled right now.

I watched it, and noticed an effect of HS2 that I hadn't anticipated, namely making large numbers sound very small. So that bottleneck in Manchester, needing presumably a new double tracked alignment with bridges over the Rochdale Canal and the River Medlock plus moving part of Piccadilly station slightly to the right  can be done for "less than a billion pounds". That now sounds cheap. Not long ago, it would have had the transport secretary spitting tea over the ministry wall, and given the Chancellor a fit of the vapours.