Ivo
Established Member
This is more of a game than anything, unless you want to take it further as has been done on Page 4! I can see this appealing to such characters as MattE2010, tbtc, The Walrus, Greenback and others, besides myself of course.
Suppose you received a sudden windfall of £250m (I don't know where from, winning Euromillions every week for several consecutive months maybe). With this money, you decide to enter the rail market on an Open Access basis. You have to determine the route you wish to follow, and also all stations along the route that you would intend to serve, whilst also considering the likely concerns and competition from existing TOCs/FOCs (whether or not this is possible I don't know, but for the purposes of this thread you can choose to haul freight instead). You also have to consider access charges, fuel costs (you could use this recent thread as a guideline perhaps) and leasing costs of your preferred stock, as well as of course whether such stock is available for your planned route, in order to be able to determine whether the service was both appropriate and viable.
An unrealistic example of such a route, which has not been verified for costs or paths...
BRIGHTON to BOURNEMOUTH, including services to EASTLEIGH and FAWLEY
This service runs every two hours on Saturdays only, departing Brighton at 09:50, 11:50, 13:50, 15:50 and 17:50 and Bournemouth at 09:35, 11:35, 13:35, 15:35 and 17:35. It serves Brighton, Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Barnham, Chichester, Havant, Fareham, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst and Bournemouth, and uses Class 460 stock. A connection is available at Southampton Central to a local service, run with Class 158 stock, serving Fawley, Hythe, Marchwood, Totton, Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway and Eastleigh.
As you can probably tell, there are all sorts of problems with this one. First of all, it only runs on one day a week! The stock is idle for six days out of seven, which means that leasing it is a waste! Also, the extra service runs on a line which is currently not available for passenger use, and the two combined cause extra congestion through an already jammed Southampton tunnel. Also, using 460s is a waste because of their unnecessary bulk and also impending break-ups, which cast doubt over their worth for a route such as this. Further, I don't believe that Southern or South West Trains would be best pleased, although CrossCountry and First Great Western will most likely be uninterested for the most part. There would also be problems in Portsmouth, where people would suggest that Southampton is getting unfair priority in that it has the proper service whereas Portsmouth travellers have to change at Fareham. The list goes on, and I haven't even come to paths or costs yet.
Anyway, enough of that, what would you all think? Are there any out routes out there (I will post one eventually, assuming the thread is popular enough) that anyone would honestly dare to try if they had the money to do so?
P.S.: The poll is from a thread that has been merged into this later on. It is not mine.
Suppose you received a sudden windfall of £250m (I don't know where from, winning Euromillions every week for several consecutive months maybe). With this money, you decide to enter the rail market on an Open Access basis. You have to determine the route you wish to follow, and also all stations along the route that you would intend to serve, whilst also considering the likely concerns and competition from existing TOCs/FOCs (whether or not this is possible I don't know, but for the purposes of this thread you can choose to haul freight instead). You also have to consider access charges, fuel costs (you could use this recent thread as a guideline perhaps) and leasing costs of your preferred stock, as well as of course whether such stock is available for your planned route, in order to be able to determine whether the service was both appropriate and viable.
An unrealistic example of such a route, which has not been verified for costs or paths...
BRIGHTON to BOURNEMOUTH, including services to EASTLEIGH and FAWLEY
This service runs every two hours on Saturdays only, departing Brighton at 09:50, 11:50, 13:50, 15:50 and 17:50 and Bournemouth at 09:35, 11:35, 13:35, 15:35 and 17:35. It serves Brighton, Hove, Shoreham-by-Sea, Worthing, Barnham, Chichester, Havant, Fareham, Southampton Central, Brockenhurst and Bournemouth, and uses Class 460 stock. A connection is available at Southampton Central to a local service, run with Class 158 stock, serving Fawley, Hythe, Marchwood, Totton, Southampton Central, Southampton Airport Parkway and Eastleigh.
As you can probably tell, there are all sorts of problems with this one. First of all, it only runs on one day a week! The stock is idle for six days out of seven, which means that leasing it is a waste! Also, the extra service runs on a line which is currently not available for passenger use, and the two combined cause extra congestion through an already jammed Southampton tunnel. Also, using 460s is a waste because of their unnecessary bulk and also impending break-ups, which cast doubt over their worth for a route such as this. Further, I don't believe that Southern or South West Trains would be best pleased, although CrossCountry and First Great Western will most likely be uninterested for the most part. There would also be problems in Portsmouth, where people would suggest that Southampton is getting unfair priority in that it has the proper service whereas Portsmouth travellers have to change at Fareham. The list goes on, and I haven't even come to paths or costs yet.
Anyway, enough of that, what would you all think? Are there any out routes out there (I will post one eventually, assuming the thread is popular enough) that anyone would honestly dare to try if they had the money to do so?
P.S.: The poll is from a thread that has been merged into this later on. It is not mine.
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