(05 Feb 2016, 5:33 pm)South Tyne Lad wrote The LED Destination Screens are being fitted to all Heaton 156s as part of there PRM-TSI Modifications ( DDA for trains ) aswell as a accessible Toilet, Door Release alarms, Passenger Info Screens -
New Carpets, and Accessible Handrails.
Whilst the Tyne Valley is shut between Riding Mill and Hexham, The 156s allocated to Tyne Valley Diagrams will be used on other diagrams instead of 142s and so the 156s everyones seen the past few weeks is because of the Tyne Valley being cut in half and is not counted as rare
I can definately confirm the former is not the case as the carpets are the same as when Northern's refresh programme took place whilst from my experiences, I have not seen any new accessible handrails.
Got to say the text on the LED blinds are too small, whilst they are an improvment on the current roller blinds(which often are too hard too see cos of dirt covering the screen), I feel they could be better and should be more like ScotRails are, bold and clear and be able to scroll so having a destination of "Newcastle Cent"(which does not even fully fit) does not look right too me. Dread too think what they put for Middlesbrough for example!