Electrification - where the trains are going

This just in from a Mr Saltaire...

I wondered if Eye readers might appreciate a quick and dirty breakdown of what today's announcement means in rolling stock terms?

This taken from the Departments 'The Case for Electrification' published today:

• 319s cascaded from Thameslink to GW Thames Valley in December 2016

• 165s cascaded from GW Thames Valley to GW Bristol area (probably Cardiff – Portsmouth) in December 2016;

• DMUs from Bristol area that are freed up when 165s are parachuted in, to be cascaded to Northern to boost capacity in December 2016;

• New four car EMUs to be procured to operate Manchester – Scotland TransPennine Express services, delivery 2013;

• Class 185 DMUs freed up when new EMUs enter service to be used to strengthen existing 185 operated TPE services in 2013

• 319s cascaded from Thameslink to Northern electrified routes in 2013 (or earlier);

• Super-duper express replacing HSTs across all the GW from December 2016
  

• HSTs freed up for the Voyager replacement project (tee hee);

• Pacer replacement project, starting with Northern at franchise renewal in 2013 and continuing with ATW in 2018.
  

By that time, we should be into long (15 year) franchises, allowing the TOCs to commit to new trains with some forward thinking.

Unless of course the Tories turn the juice off...

UPDATE: This from Muttley...

A few things I've noticed about the electric news ....

• The Electrification document states in para 57 that the Super Express Programme was started in 2005. Was it? Wasn't that the Intercity Express Programme? or HST2? Note the document makes no mention of IEP, political spin to distance the DfT from the millions already wasted? Modern Railways consultancy feature reckons over £15m so far. Maybe 3rd time lucky for the Class 666's, the Super Express Programme Train is Coming!

• Para 18 contains a good line: "Experience around the world shows that a well designed, constructed and maintained electric railway will be more reliable than a diesel railway." Ouch! No examples within the UK exist? Is that a future warning to NR?

Ceefax this morning had another solution to the question of what to do with the Severn Tunnel and a few others:


I look forward to travelling though Box Cutting!

Extraordinary - The Fact Compiler didn't realise such old technology still existed. Does Ceefax host blogs?

UPDATE: This from Dreadnought...

I have heard that rather than procure new stock for the TPE Manchester-Scotland service the intent is to use Class 350s from the existing fleet.

One option is that these would be found by using an Outer Suburban version of the Hitachi Sooper-Dooper Express on some of the fast Northamptons.

Could just be a load of 'Cobblers' though!