ORR concerned at lack of Pacer replacement program

[whole diary]

[inspector_blakey]

Thanks for putting me straight re the HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units)) acceleration (and for pulling the thread back round onto topic!)...I remember thinking that if a train couldn't hit 125 between Didcot and Swindon then it must have trouble doing so almost anywhere else.

[BPWuser]

Went on 144001 out of Leeds a couple of weeks ago. This unit had obviously been recently refurished as the inside was very smart, so not all of Northern's units are in a poor state.

The train was absolutely rammed. It was almost like a stunt, how many people can you get into a 144 and still run a service!

[northwesterntrains]

The train was absolutely rammed. It was almost like a stunt, how many people can you get into a 144 and still run a service!

A lot of Pacers are like that in the Northern area at peak times, some even like that at off-peak.  There's supposed to be a number of new 4 and 5 car Pacer diagrams starting in December, with the 5 car 144s being on Manchester Vic-Halifax-Leeds services.

I tried to do a MediaCityUK to Cheshire journey involving Metrolink and Pacers on the same day as an England cricket match was on at Old Trafford.  That was a nightmare. 

The first tram at MediaCityUK was too full to accept everyone, so I waited for the next one which picked up everyone at MediaCityUK but was equally overcrowded by the time it got to Exchange Quay.  I then alighted that service at Cornbrook and squeezed on an Altrincham service (it wasn't full to maximum capacity but people standing seemed reluctant to move down the tram.)  A few people alighted at Trafford Bar.  There was around room for 30 extra standees by the time it got to Old Trafford but there were around 3000 waiting to board so about 50 people boarded and oxygen was in very short supply.  About 100 had been allowed on the platform and the Police were holding the rest behind the platform.  At Altrincham the next train was a 4 car Pacer but with the rear unit locked out-of-use, despite there being around 80 people on board and around 200 waiting to board the guard didn't rush to unlock the rear unit so the front unit got dangerously overcrowded.  The guard did unlock the rear unit eventually.