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For those lacking previews, and the click-averse, I will bring that forward:

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There are also 8 daily round-trip Robert Qs between Pearson and London which is worth mentioning considering how close the line runs to the airport.
 
In regards to this 6 hour delay of not being able to release the emergency brake, could they not have sent a rescue train and couple it to the end of the train to allow passengers to disembark the train with the problem without getting off on the bridge?
I guess if there was a locomotive on each end you couldn't do that without cutting one locomotive from the train.
It's unfortunate that these issues take so long to dispatch crews to try to repair the issue even when it's so close to MMC.
Is the lack of will to resolve the issue quicker a result of incompetence or complacency?
 
In regards to this 6 hour delay of not being able to release the emergency brake, could they not have sent a rescue train and couple it to the end of the train to allow passengers to disembark the train with the problem without getting off on the bridge?
I guess if there was a locomotive on each end you couldn't do that without cutting one locomotive from the train.
It's unfortunate that these issues take so long to dispatch crews to try to repair the issue even when it's so close to MMC.
Is the lack of will to resolve the issue quicker a result of incompetence or complacency?

Certainly, if a train is stuck on a bridge, the safest thing is to not let anyone get off. And a bridge is a very awkward place for mechanics to address mechanical problems.

The explanation may have been garbled however. Trains do not have "emergency brakes" per se. But any number of mechanical things connected with the brakes could fail, in a way that would be difficult to correct while on a bridge, and in a way that argued against moving the train."We have a mechanical problem" is about as detailed an explanation as anyone would understand, and "we don't know how long it will take to fix" was probably the most truthful answer at the time, especially if the defect was unusual...

How long passengers should remain cooped up on a well-stocked train with working toilets is a matter for debate.... but in a major city in good weather, first responders likely would have had adequate access if needed, so other than sympathising with the inconvenience, I'm not sure there is much of a concern here. Just a worst-case scenario that came to life.

- Paul
 
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I know the eventual plan is they completely replace the Renaissance fleet. Am I right that once they get the last ones,the plan is to replace all the Corridor fleet? In other words, only those will be on those routes? When is the last one supposed to arrive? Is it on schedule?
 
A clear result both of privatization, but also creating a needlessly confused, disorganized system of managing both rail infra and service.

Not unique to the rail sector or to Britain, but a clear offshoot of the Thatcher/Reagan era of 'government is the problem' and then setting out to be certain it was by a mix of under funding and bad policy.
Imo its the latter. We saw what Japan has done through privatization of JR. It is now one of the best run rail networks in the world. It's how people use their resources which define success.
 
Imo its the latter. We saw what Japan has done through privatization of JR. It is now one of the best run rail networks in the world. It's how people use their resources which define success.

There's truth in this; but I think its also important to denote a very different corporate culture in Japan vs most Anglo-saxon countries.

That, and the reasons for privatization play into how things unfold.
 
There's truth in this; but I think its also important to denote a very different corporate culture in Japan vs most Anglo-saxon countries.

That, and the reasons for privatization play into how things unfold.
Which shows we could take a page out of them instead of blindly boasting as being the alpha society.
 

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