(29 Jul 2020, 6:16 pm)James101 wrote I agree the interdecks are the right choice for the X10 right now. Just hope it works out for GNE as it’ll be hard to spin a future downgrade to buses should the need occur.
I'd imagine this is likely one of the biggest worries about the X9/X10 at the moment. Going forward, post-Covid, will it be able to justify new coaches a few years down the line once these ones start showing their age (bearing in mind they're already 5)?
I'd suspect not, and I also think it unlikely that they'd find 7 in good enough nick on the second hand market as they have this time around. So then it's back to deckers, and I wouldn't like to think what's going to be on the market then - a 1.2 litre engine from a Corsa with 10 turbochargers trying to power a decker seems likely going from the trends of the past decade.
Of course, I definitely believe the coaches going on will improve reliability and it's what the service has been crying out for for years. It's just whether post-Covid there will be sufficient passenger numbers to justify similar investment in the future, especially given the improving rail network along the same corridor.