HSTs are not at all suited to regional work. Although their top speed is much higher than any Sprinter their acceleration is not great, making stop/starts on them inefficient (not to mention the fact they'll need *major* refurbishment to continue in service).cwathen wrote:Is it definite that the HSTs are going altogether? Last I heard they will be phased out on the newly electrified sections of the GWML which means things like an HST from PAD-BRI will be a thing of the past but HSTs will still be retained for services like PAD-PLY/PGN/PNZ where the western part of the route will not be electrified? I would also have thought it would make sense to displace the rest (possibly in a 5 carriage formation) onto longer distance regional routes such as BRI-PNZ and CDF-PGN which are currently often run by a couple of 150's coupled together and are screaming out for something better on such a long journey - the displaced sprinters released could then be used to strength local services which often lack on frequency and/or capacity.Pete wrote:The Class 800s are due to start replacing them in 2017 so I'd have thought it'd be acceptable as they're mid way through being removed.
There are rumblings about the Mk 4 carriages that'll get punted from the ECML by the 801s being redone and pulled by a new generation of diesel locos (possibly an off the shelf Bombardier TRAXX). They can't use the Class 43s as the electrical system is incompatible.
And that's only FGW services, HSTs still see heavy use on non-electrified routes by every other operator that runs them. Apart from the EMT sets which still have the original interiors and 2nd generation VP185 engines, all other HSTs underwent major refurb to include new MTU engines in the power cars in the late 2000's
It would seem a bit odd to have done the MTU programme on the Class 43s and full refits of the MK3s for only 12 years or so of further use which really isn't a long time in train terms - if they were all going to be phased out by 2020 due to DDA then you would've thought that the original Valenta engines could have undergone some sort of overhaul to make them soldier on until then?
Although EMT HSTs still have the original IC70 seating they are not by any means the original interior. The lighting has changed (for the worse), the upholstery and carpets have changed several times, the layouts have been changed and they've also been repainted (internally as well as externally) in the last 5 years. GC HSTs also have their original seat frames.
The Valenta engines were seriously unreliable by the end of their lives. The MTU programme was done on the basis of a 12 year service life payback; the VP185 programme (as Midland Mainline did) was based on an 8-10 year life. ROSCOs aren't daft, they'll have done the sums!