I was also thinking I know I've done a lot of thinking today what about a later version of the midland mainline so we can finally get either a 222 or a 180 in purple and a class 156 in purple and white livery
Don’t jump the gun lol we don’t know what state Midland mainline is but experience tells me expect worst hope for the best
I imagine the reason behind the 2019 date is to do with licensing. None of the other Abellio ToCs are in TSW, and the EMT logo is owned by the DfT as it's an expired franchise so easier to get hold of.
It was, but a company called Transport UK Group took over Abellio's UK assets and has a 70% stake in the WMT franchise like Abellio had previously
That's only recently happened though - the licensing deal must have been done when it was still Abellio, no?
The Midland Mainline 2019 timetable still had 156s and 222s, even the 153. Just the 180 would be missing.