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| Re: London's five-year plan (11541) | |||
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Re: London's five-year plan |
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Posted by David Fairthorne on Fri Oct 22 23:35:09 2004, in response to Re: London's five-year plan, posted by Max Roberts on Fri Oct 22 10:32:56 2004. I took a look at that figure, but the projected one on the next page is even more interestingLooking at those maps closely, I see that each line has two colours and two widths, one in each direction. Widths denote volumes, putting parts of the Central and Victoria in the lead among crowded underground lines. suggests that what we actually need to solve the problems differs from the planners solutions: Those are interesting and surprising suggestions but ... the weakness of your methodology is that overcrowding is only one factor. Others include speed, convenience, service to unserved areas, population trends, financial backing, nimby objections, and ultimately of course all decisions are political. Overcrowding becomes a serious problem when it delays an entire line. That can happen when dwell times are so long that the frequency of service has to be reduced, resulting in even longer dwell times and slower and even more crowded trains. I don't know if the Central line is reaching that stage. Typically dwell times are long at stations where many people alight and many more people try to get on board. If nearly all are boarding, or nearly all are alighting, they don't get in each others' way so much. A dramatic example of dwell time limiting capacity is London Bridge (high level), where some tracks split into pairs, to allow trains to stop at one of two possible platforms. With just one platform and there wouldn't be nearly enough platform time, and they could only run about half the service, and the full service is barely adequate. We don't need Crossrail ... no evidence for any overcrowded bits at all on the east-west axis inside the Circle Line. But the City financiers claim that it's vital to London's survival as Europe's leading financial centre, and they are threatening to take their business elsewhere if the line isn't built according to their wishes, from Heathrow to Canary Wharf via the City. The overcrowding in East London can be solved by extending Met trains to Whitechapel, and the W&C line to Stratford: Make the cross-platform interchange at Stratford with the W&C line, not the Central line Given that there are two lines from Liverpool Street to Stratford, many people choose the more crowded line for the sake of convenience. Unless both lines are seriously overcrowded, I don't see that a third line is needed. The Shenfield line is at its most crowded east of Stratford and the Central line is most crowded west of Stratford, which confirms what we already know, that many people take advantage of the cross-platform interchange, regardless of crowding. The capacity of the Shenfield line could be increased by better signalling (with shorter signal blocks) or by platform lengthening. Thameslink 2000 is needed urgently to relieve the Victoria and Piccadilly Lines from Finsbury Park to London. I doubt that Thameslink 2000 would make a big difference to the Victoria or Piccadilly line. There are easier ways to reach Moorgate and the Bank (Moorgate Thameslink would be closed) and Thameslink 2000 is no help to reach the west end. Thameslink 2000 should attract people living to the north who work in the Holborn and Blackfriars area. Also, a full service from London Bridge via Thameslink during peak hours should be a priority. The Northern line via Bank is crowded, but Thameslink 2000 takes a less popular route with no transfer to the Central line. I don't know how important the Thameslink service to London Bridge would be. Currently Thameslink cannot serve London Bridge in peak hours, due to the London Bridge (high level) bottleneck, and if Thameslink 2000 can solve that problem it's worth considering. Chelsea-Hackney should be a higher priority, to relieve the Central Line in East London, the Victoria and Piccadilly Lines in the centre, and the District and Piccadilly Lines to the west. Crossrail #2 would certainly help to relieve the Victoria and Piccadilly Lines especially in the centre. The Northern Heights project ... Plenty of capacity for this once Thameslink 2000 is activated Thameslink 2000 would run nonstop from Finsbury Park to Potters Bar; GN local services would still need the Moorgate line. |
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