4-SUB 4732
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- 7 Jan 2018
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Ashford to Maidstone used to be half-hourly, even if one of those only called at Bearsted en-route.
Now, in the standard hour, you have an hourly Victoria to Ashford and an hourly Charing Cross to Maidstone East.
This creates a gap in the standard quarter-hourly Victoria to Bromley South (arguably not the priority) but also causes a massive issue for connections.
The Maidstone East to Charing Cross services leave at xx:13, with the Ashford to Victoria following behind to leave at xx:27, meaning a +46 connection. In the reverse, a Victoria to Ashford leaves Maidstone at xx:00, and the Charing Cross trains will have arrived at xx:32, so a slightly better but still dire +28.
In short, this timetable is pretty garbage.
Is it fair to say the half-hourly Victoria should return?
If the xx:55 from Victoria called at all stations including Kemsing, it would arrive at Maidstone at xx:59 the following hour, and continue to Ashford. This would leave an xx:25 from Victoria, preferably calling at less stations east of Otford, to arrive at Maidstone at about xx:24 the following hour.
This would allow the Charing Cross service, arriving at Maidstone at xx:32, to continue to Ashford with a call at Bearsted only. This pattern would result, helpfully, in any Victoria / Bromley passengers being able to make a sensible connection to a Charing Cross to Ashford train just behind.
On the up, the xx:55 from Ashford, departing at xx:27 from Maidstone East, would be all stations. This would require approximately a xx:02 Maidstone East to Victoria. The only issue here would be a need for the Charing Cross to leave Maidstone at xx:54 (or close to) but a schedule clash with the Thameslink could be avoided if the Charing Cross services did not call at Swanley (I think it sets a bad precedent to have trains between Swanley and the London Bridge side of the network) or Otford.
In all, you’d probably end up with trains having layovers at Charing Cross of around 35-40 minutes, but this is achievable in the new timetable, particularly if these services move to Cannon Street in the peaks (and interwork with another service such as the Chatham fasts).
At the other end, you’d get a layover at Ashford of about 33 minutes, but in the off-peak period this would allow coaches to be attached / detached to avoid this practice at London terminals in the peak, or you could reasonably make the Charing Cross - Maidstone - Ashford fast extend to/from somewhere such as Ramsgate. The previous Victoria to Ramsgate was obviously a long drag but the Maidstone - Canterbury and Ramsgate connectivity was positive.
You could change the lengths of the layovers by amending the timetable to make the xx:25 from Victoria the slow, the xx:55 from Victoria the Maidstone, and the Charing Cross moved by 30 minutes as well. These would all work.
Anyway, there we go. The service as it is seems almost unworkable or untenable, and going hourly between Ashford and Maidstone, as well as such bad integration of the Charing Cross.
Now, in the standard hour, you have an hourly Victoria to Ashford and an hourly Charing Cross to Maidstone East.
This creates a gap in the standard quarter-hourly Victoria to Bromley South (arguably not the priority) but also causes a massive issue for connections.
The Maidstone East to Charing Cross services leave at xx:13, with the Ashford to Victoria following behind to leave at xx:27, meaning a +46 connection. In the reverse, a Victoria to Ashford leaves Maidstone at xx:00, and the Charing Cross trains will have arrived at xx:32, so a slightly better but still dire +28.
In short, this timetable is pretty garbage.
Is it fair to say the half-hourly Victoria should return?
If the xx:55 from Victoria called at all stations including Kemsing, it would arrive at Maidstone at xx:59 the following hour, and continue to Ashford. This would leave an xx:25 from Victoria, preferably calling at less stations east of Otford, to arrive at Maidstone at about xx:24 the following hour.
This would allow the Charing Cross service, arriving at Maidstone at xx:32, to continue to Ashford with a call at Bearsted only. This pattern would result, helpfully, in any Victoria / Bromley passengers being able to make a sensible connection to a Charing Cross to Ashford train just behind.
On the up, the xx:55 from Ashford, departing at xx:27 from Maidstone East, would be all stations. This would require approximately a xx:02 Maidstone East to Victoria. The only issue here would be a need for the Charing Cross to leave Maidstone at xx:54 (or close to) but a schedule clash with the Thameslink could be avoided if the Charing Cross services did not call at Swanley (I think it sets a bad precedent to have trains between Swanley and the London Bridge side of the network) or Otford.
In all, you’d probably end up with trains having layovers at Charing Cross of around 35-40 minutes, but this is achievable in the new timetable, particularly if these services move to Cannon Street in the peaks (and interwork with another service such as the Chatham fasts).
At the other end, you’d get a layover at Ashford of about 33 minutes, but in the off-peak period this would allow coaches to be attached / detached to avoid this practice at London terminals in the peak, or you could reasonably make the Charing Cross - Maidstone - Ashford fast extend to/from somewhere such as Ramsgate. The previous Victoria to Ramsgate was obviously a long drag but the Maidstone - Canterbury and Ramsgate connectivity was positive.
You could change the lengths of the layovers by amending the timetable to make the xx:25 from Victoria the slow, the xx:55 from Victoria the Maidstone, and the Charing Cross moved by 30 minutes as well. These would all work.
Anyway, there we go. The service as it is seems almost unworkable or untenable, and going hourly between Ashford and Maidstone, as well as such bad integration of the Charing Cross.
