Whilst talking about Chiltern, I'm confuddled by their rolling stock strategy.
Class 165's, built around 1990, never refurbed, and generally utterly oppsed. Still used extensively on the Chiltern Mainline (Lon-Brum), and the only trains Chiltern have that can run Lon-Aylesbury line due to track sharing with the Underground.
Class 168's, built around mid 90s, refurbed in late noughties, running through another refurb programme from mis 2024, though proceeding very, very slowly. Non refurbed ones aren't in bad condition, and the refurbed ones seem to have similar (poor) reliability issues.
Loco hauled Class 3's, built around 50 years ago, but fairly new to Chilterm, probably around 15yrs? Extensively refurbed when brought into Chiltern service, and in good condition - these are the ones being phased out by the "new" trains they launched yesterday.
Wouldn't it make more sense to start to replace the old, knackered, utterly shagged 165s? With something that can run on the mainline and the Aylesbury line.