Is Lumo The Ryanair Of Rail?
Someone had to draw the comparison between Lumo and Ryanair and it was The Times, that used a headline of Lumo, The Ryanair Of Rail, Gets The Green Light On East Coast, for their article about the new London and Edinburgh rail service in their article today.
But how alike are the two business models?
Standard Planes And Trains
The Boeing 737 and the Airbus A 320, as used by Ryanair and easyJet are the two workhorses of short haul airlines.
It can also be said, that Hitachi’s AT-300 train is becoming the workhorse of long-distance rail services in the UK.
Customised Interiors
Ryanair and easyJet do customise the interiors of their aircraft to a certain extent and from pictures on the Internet Lumo appear to have done the same.
If you look at the widths of the planes and trains on Wikipedia, you find these values.
- Airbus A 320 – 3.95 metres
- Boeing 737 – 3.8 metres
- Class AT-300 train – 2.7 metres
Dividing by the number of seats across, which is six for the planes and four for the train gives these figures.
- Airbus A 320 – 0.66 metres
- Boeing 737 – 0.63 metres
- Class AT-300 train – 0.67 metres
I know there is an aisle down the middle, so let’s say that it is 0.60 metres. This gives these spaces for each seat.
- Airbus A 320 – 0.56 metres
- Boeing 737 – 0.53 metres
- Class AT-300 train – 0.53 metres
I think that is adequate space for a designer to do a good job.
This picture shows the interior of a Great Western Railway Class 802 train, which use a similar body shell to the trains used by Lumo.
Note.
- The aisle looks to be similar in width to a seat.
- There is a bag shelf above the windows and lots of coat hooks.
As both Lumo and Great Western Railway are both First Group companies, is it likely that the interior dimensions are similar, so that standard trolleys could be used and training could be eased and shared between companies in the group.
This picture shows a trolley fitting in between the tables on a Great Western Railway service.
I suspect, if they design everything together, Lumo could make best use of a narrow aisle to give the seats a bit more width.
This last picture shows TransPennine Express Class 802 train at Willesden Junction station.
Note how the lower part of the side of the train is curved. Is this to get a bit more room for the seat squab?
Passengers Per Metre
This is only a rough calculation and shows typical passengers, fuselage or car length and passengers per metre.
- Airbus A 320 – 164 passengers – 37.57 metres – 4.4 px/metre
- Boeing 737 – 160 passengers – 37.0 metres – 4.3 px/metre
- Class AT-300 train – 96 passengers – 26 metres – 3.7 px/metre
Passenger density in the train is about fourteen percent less.
Toilets
In The Definitive Seating Layout Of Lumo’s Class 803 Trains, I said this.
This article on Economy Class and Beyond is entitled Enter Lumo – The New East Coast Railway Competitor.
It contains a drawing from Lumo, which shows the layouts of the seats on the train.
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- Coach A – 44 Standard seats – 8 Priority seats – 2 Wheelchair spaces – 2 Tip up seats – Accessible toilet – 56 Total seats
- Coach B – 84 Standard seats – 12 Priority seats – Bike store – Toilet – 96 Total seats
- Coach C – 84 Standard seats – 12 Priority seats – 96 Total seats
- Coach D – 84 Standard seats – 12 Priority seats – Bike store – Toilet – 96 Total seats
- Coach E – 52 Standard seats – 8 Priority seats – 2 Tip up seats – Accessible toilet – 62 Total seats
Note.
-
- This is a total of 406 seats.
- Judging by the position of the tip-up seats they are for staff and perhaps emergency use, if say a coffee gets spilled on a seat.
- Each car has a pair of tables, where four can sit. As Lumo’s business model allows early booking, if you and your partner want to take the kids to see granny on her birthday, you should be able to get a table, by booking early.
- There are two bike stores in Coaches B and D.
These are some further thoughts.
Toilet Provision
I was on an LNER Class 800 train earlier this week and needed to go to the toilet.
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- I wasn’t sure which way I needed to go, as I couldn’t see a sign pointing me to the toilet, but in the end I struck lucky.
- You don’t have that problem with Lumo’s trains, as there appears to be a toilet at both ends of the three middle coaches, either in your car or the next.
- If you’re in one of the driver cars, there is an accessible toilet at the blunt end.
I don’t think anybody will argue with the toilet provision on Lumo’s trains.
Typically a Boeing 737 or an Airbus A320 will have two toilets for about 160 passengers.
Lumo’s trains have two accessible toilets and two ordinary ones for 406 passengers.
Ease Of Boarding
If you want to catch a train at virtually any station in the UK, in most cases, you just turn up something like fifteen minutes before the departure time, present your ticket and get on the train.
Planes used to be like that in the UK, but they aren’t any more.
Catering
In the article in The Times, Matt Lee, who is Lumo’s customer experience director, said they have been free to develop their own systems. He says this about the catering.
Catering will be a Deliveroo-style service: passengers can order M&S or Pret sandwiches in advance and have them delivered to their seat. “We are a testbed for other FirstGroup train operators.
Will they do gluten-free?
Luggage
Lumo have a luggage courier service called LumoLuggage.
Service Expansion
Suppose an airline or a train operating company wants to run additional services to add capacity to a route.
With an airline, they will need to obtain additional take-off and landing slots to fly the route.
But Lumo are running five-car trains on a route, where all the stations can handle nine-car trains and possibly a pair of five-car trains.
So Lumo just add extra cars to the fleet, so that they match the number of cars running on the route to the demand.
The only costs to increase the capacity are those of the extra cars and a proportionate number of extra staff.
Conclusion
I can see this service model being copied by other train operators in other countries.
I’m looking forward to going North on Wednesday.
Pfizer Booster Dose Offers Exceptionally High Levels Of Protection Against Covid And All Variants, Study Shows
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Independent.
The title says everything except that the protection is 95.6 % from a study of 10,000 people.
How are the anti-vaxxers going to explain that one away?
Perhaps if the old one-two works in boxing, it also works with vaccines.
I Had My Covid-19 Booster Jab Today
I had my second Covid-19 vaccination on April 19th.
Yesterday, I received a text message and an e-mail inviting me to book a booster jab.
I was able to book the jab for 9:45, this morning, when I had it in a local pharmacy.
There seemed to be a big difference in attitude this time. For the first two jabs, there was a positive almost happy atmosphere, but today it was much more subdued, with everybody waiting looking almost miserable.
Could it be, that everybody getting fed up with the covids?
Enforcement Of Covid-19 Vaccine Passports Comes Into Effect In Scotland
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on ITV.
I am going to Edinburgh on Wednesday and thought I had better check if I needed a Covid-19 passport.
This paragraph describes where I will need one.
The policy will now be enforceable for nightclubs, strip clubs and unseated indoor events with more than 500 people, unseated outdoor events with over 4,000 and any event with more than 10,000 people.
As I’m only likely to have lunch with less than five fully-vaccinated friends, I’m fairly certain I won’t need one.
I’m also certain at my age, I won’t be visiting any strip clubs.
And given the going on you get with hypodermics in the average night club, I wouldn’t visit any of those if you paid me thousands of pounds.
It should be remembered that my family has issues with identity cards and their cousins.
My father ceremonially burned his wartime one, when he found it around 1955 and gave me a warning about ever letting governments introduce them.
Basil Crop Hits The Roof At Scunthorpe Vertical Farm With Artificial Sun
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
It is a fascinating article about how basil is farmed vertically in Scunthorpe.
- Much of the crop goes to UK supermarkets.
- The grower has now teamed with Ocado to build the largest vertical farm in the world.
- The grower is also growing rosemary, chard and spinach. Although the latter looked a bit sad.
- He has also experimented with turnips and carrots and hopes to move on to soft fruits and cut flowers.
Surely, the only way is Up!
Is the farmer feeding the crops carbon dioxide captured from the massive Keadby gas-fired power-stations in the area?
That way we can generate our electricity with added CO2 and eat it.
I know of a tomato grower, who uses a gas-powered combined heat and power boiler to heat his greenhouses, where the CO2 is fed to the tomatoes and any electricity he doesn’t need is sold to local consumers.
If we can eat all the CO2, why not go fracking for the gas? The only losers would be the Qataris and Putin.
Railfreight Goes Back To Diesel As Electricity Costs Soar
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railnews.
This is the first paragraph.
Some rail freight operators have abandoned electric traction, at least for now, because the price of electricity has been rising sharply. The electricity tariffs include a 40 per cent renewable energy tax, and following the latest rises diesel traction is now cheaper. The drivers’ union ASLEF is calling for the government to intervene, but Freightliner has already taken action.
This quote from the article is from ASLEF General Secretary; Mick Whelan.
Moving freight by rail rather than road is, inherently, a carbon-efficient mode of transport and an environmentally-friendly way of doing business. Electric-hauled freight services reduce emissions by 99 per cent; even moving goods by diesel traction reduces emissions by 76 per cent.
It looks to me, that a reputable and trusted environmental economist could come up with a compromise price and possibly a solution to improve the situation.
Possible solutions could include.
- Use of Biodiesel or Hydrotreated Vegetable Oil
- More energy storage.
Surely, though, the long term solution is hydrogen-powered locomotives. or dual-fuel locomotives, as I wrote about in Freightliner Secures Government Funding For Dual-Fuel Project.
The Final Crossrail Station Oversite Has Been Handed To The Developer
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
This is the first paragraph.
The last of the Elizabeth line stations to have a building built above the station has been handed over to the developer, Grosvenor for an office development. The site, at 65 Davies Street will sit above the back of Bond Street station where a classic Edwardian style brick building occupied by the University of Arts had been based.
I went today and took these pictures.
It doesn’t look it, but the building should be ready by the end of 2023.
I used to visit this area regularly from the age of about fourteen. My uncle; Dick had a newsagents shop at the back of Bond Street station at 2 Weighhouse Street and I used to come up to see him and his wife; Rene.
Report Finds London North Eastern Railway Can Aid UK’s Pandemic Recovery
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
It is a must-read article, that discusses a report by respected consultants; Steer.
The main conclusion is that LNER services are worth £ 2 billion per year to the UK.
Could similar figures be attributed to other train operating companies?
Rolls-Royce Joins Boeing And World Energy For Successful 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel Flight
The title of this post, is the same as that of this Press Release from Rolls-Royce.
These are the first two paragraphs.
Rolls-Royce, working with Boeing and World Energy, has carried out a successful test flight of its 747 Flying Testbed aircraft using 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) on a Trent 1000 engine.
The aircraft flew from Tucson airport in Arizona, passing over New Mexico and Texas, with a Trent 1000 engine running solely on 100% SAF while the remaining three RB211 engines ran on standard jet fuel, arriving back at the airport three hours and 54 minutes later. Initial indications confirm there were no engineering issues, providing further proof of the fuel’s suitability for commercial use.
Until new zero-carbon technology is developed, which possibly uses hydrogen as a fuel, I believe that Sustainable Aviation Fuel is the best route that the world can take to cut the carbon emissions from flying.
The Anonymous Widower 