Future
The final withdrawal of Mark 1s from daily mainline use took place in 2005 (except for two three-car EMUs on the Lymington branch, withdrawn 2010) some 54 years since the design entered service. Mark 1s continue to be used on special charter trains, but this use is also likely to be much reduced as Mark 2 coaches released from service by Virgin West Coast become available to replace them. This will leave the preserved railways as the only places to ride on Mark 1 stock.
Due to the lack of central door locking and Mark 1 stock not meeting the latest rolling stock safety expectations various rules now (as of 2006) govern their usage. In particular vehicles lacking central door locking require a steward to be present in each vehicle. Train companies are also recommended to run Mark 1 stock with more robust non-Mark 1 stock at either end to act as a barrier in the case of collisions.
Read more about this topic: British Railways Mark 1
Famous quotes containing the word future:
“Such is the miraculous nature of the future of exiles: what is first uttered in the impotence of an overheated apartment becomes the fate of nations.”
—Salman Rushdie (b. 1948)
“I shall soon be six-and-twenty. Is there anything in the future that can possibly console us for not being always twenty-five?”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)
“I would sum up my fear about the future in one word: boring. And that’s my one fear: that everything has happened; nothing exciting or new or interesting is ever going to happen again ... the future is just going to be a vast, conforming suburb of the soul.”
—J.G. (James Graham)