(20 Nov 2023, 9:02 pm)deanmachine wrote I don't think the Northern Connect thing was ever really going to work with the current stock we have in the North East, even Express Sprinters only top out at 90mph, it would've been a right pain to try and path something that slow along the ECML every hour.
Yeah agreed, hopefully it might be the sort of route to look at for electric battery vehicles, when the tech comes in. Use the wires from Newcastle to Ferryhill and then run on battery for the short'ish section from Ferryhill down to Middlesbrough.
The Morpeth / Ashington services are the same and are going to be self contained in the future as far as I'm aware aswell, the extra acceleration on those would help on the sections on the ECML. Would help with going green aswell, rather than having diesel trains running under wires.