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| Re: London Overground (308215) | |||
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Re: London Overground |
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Posted by David Fairthorne on Fri Sep 8 23:42:18 2006, in response to Re: London Overground, posted by Rail Blue on Thu Sep 7 08:22:10 2006. What I've achieved here is to maintain the sensible choices, to remove some silly ones, and to create an increase in service frequency. Although for best results some reconfiguration is needed in the Sutton area, something better can be achieved with existing infrastructure.But what you have also done is to add two routes; one from Victoria (east) via Brixton to Sutton and one from London Bridge to Sutton; the latter replaces a Thameslink service. And you have imposed a requirement for 4 tph on every route. So you have 12 tph stopping at Mitcham Junction, Hackbridge and Carshalton (currently 4 tph); you have 12 tph stopping at New Cross Gate, Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill and Sydenham (currently 6 tph); and you have 12 tph from London Bridge stopping at East Dulwich, North Dulwich, and Tulse Hill (currently 6 tph). All of the above seem excessive to me, especially compared with your plan for ceasing local service on the Catford loop. On the other hand, the route via Streatham Common, Norbury, Thornton Heath and Selhurst remains at 8 tph, equally divided between Victoria and London Bridge; currently 6 tph go to Victoria and 2 tph go to London Bridge. You have followed your principles logically, but it's hard to tell if that's what the people really want. Travel patterns are established over time, and there's always a political outcry whenever anyone proposes a change, but that's not a good guide. Regarding the Thameslink route, it's only a minority preference, and it wouldn't win first prize anywhere in south London. That's why I suggest running it via Tulse Hill and Crystal Palace to East Croydon, which has excellent services to Victoria and London Bridge. That would make the Thameslink route available to the many people whose trains stop at East Croydon. So my suggestion is to divide the Bedford to Brighton service into two parts; Bedford to East Croydon, and London Bridge to Brighton. That would also avoid the London Bridge bottleneck, and allow 12-car trains on the Brighton section. |
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