Imagine there’s no problem, it’s easy if you try
Pan Up
Despite having 20 years’ warning, it seems pretty certain the HST sets on the Midland main line won’t be made disabled compliant by the cut-off date, which is 2½ years from now. The franchise renewal is complicated by the upgrade programme and Thameslink, so if it was me I would be looking for a nice, easy direct award but with some real improvement on the way to electrification.
OPTION HST
The easy way out is to fit power doors and passenger information systems to the existing HST sets, but politically this is very bad as you would just be patching up a 1970s design. The Mk 3s are getting a bit old now, they have had numerous corrosion repairs and the bogies must have a finite fatigue life (even if nobody knows what it is). Ride is not what it was, thanks, in part, to extended maintenance periods, and the air conditioning is expensive to maintain.
Taking all that into account, and the fact the Government likes new trains, it would be a brave rolling stock leasing company (ROSCO) that invested the £500,000 per vehicle needed (it’s not just the doors) to bring them up to scratch. There are 108 vehicles involved, so the bill would be about £54 millio…
