Poor railhead conditions

[whole diary]

[phile]

And how/where would the Voyagers be maintained? Back at XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) every night?

And where would the EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) Drivers come from with Voyager knowledge ?

[John R]

Maintaining a few Voyagers for EMT^» (East Midlands Trains - about) at Central Rivers would hardly be out of their way. And similarly, it would be relatively easy to train the required number of drivers.

But having said that, unless the financials were strongly in their favour, I can hardly see EMT giving up their HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))'s for Voyagers, purely to enable XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) to retain a service west of Exeter on a few days a year. I suspect passengers would regard them as an inferior product too, unless the interiors were refurbed (=more cost).

It does beg the question though, and digressing away from the original topic, as to what is going to replace the Midland HST's post 2019, given the delay in completion of the MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about) electrification north of Kettering to 2023.

[IndustryInsider]

It does beg the question though, and digressing away from the original topic, as to what is going to replace the Midland HST^▸ (High Speed Train (Inter City class 43 125 units))'s post 2019, given the delay in completion of the MML^» (Midland Main Line. - about) electrification north of Kettering to 2023.

There are several options, none of which are ideal.  The last RAIL magazine had an article suggesting the use of a HST power car with Mk4 coaches.  Personally I think the easy option of just allowing some HSTs to continue beyond the 2019 deadline will be what happens - we know the SoS for Transport has that power if they wish to use it.