Use the five spares (plus the two currently reduced to bumbling between Manchester and Blackpool) to boost capacity on PMH-CDF» services, then send a suitable number of displaced 158s (not all of them!) up north to counter the incessant bleating emanating from the north west about overcrowding.
The North West has actually seen a reduction in capacity in the same period that rail growth has grown by 33% via the following:
* 3 car 185s replacing larger 4 car 220s on Manchester to Scotland routes, which only became available after
DfT» told
TPE▸ to terminate Windermere services north of Preston instead of running them to Man Airport to increase capacity on Arriva CrossCountry routes.
* Arriva CrossCountry predominately using 4 car 220s on Manchester-Birmingham services that were mainly 5 car Voyagers under Virgin.
* 2 car 170s running what was 2 and 3 car 156 or 158 routes on Manchester-Hull and South TPE.
* 3 car 185s running what was between 2 and 5 car 158s on Liverpool-Scarborough and Manchester Airport to Middlesbrough/Newcastle.
(Both 170s and 185s have less capacity per carriage than a 158)
* Mainly 2 car 158s replacing what was mainly 3 and 4 car 158s and 170s on Liverpool-Norwich.
* 10x150s replacing 10x158s due to a West Yorkshires Metro deal with Northern.
* 102 seater 142s from the Arriva Trains Northern area replacing the 120 seater old-First North Western 142s.
The one place where an increase in capacity has been seen is on London services through a more frequent service. However, this was a controversial move by Virgin as it inolved other operators having to cut back well used commuter services to allow Virgin more paths.
And how many of these instances relating to the north west has the national media actually reported, compared to how much coverage the arrival of 142s at
FGW▸ got?
Click on the map to explore geographics
