The sensible solution would be to scrap the triangle pathing and retime the services so there is less end of line dwells
The Airedale line timetable is quite patchy in the evening where there is only an additional Dusty Bin service (17:41), a 150 (16:45) and a 158 (18:06)
There should be one at 17:10ish to take the strain off the infamous 17:26.
EDIT: The Trains mentioned above are adding to the crowded 16:26, 16:56, 17:26, 17:56 and 18:26.
At the very least these evening peaks will need running as 2x3, but frankly for much of the day every day 6 cars wouldn’t go amiss.
Remember the capacity of the Bradford and Ilkley lines is to be increased by 20% with no extra paths simply by removing some seats from the 333s, increasing overall capacity of each train from 467 to 558.
The problem with this is that there seems to be quite a difference in how morning and evening commutes go. In the mornings, especially on the Wharfe services many people ignore the centre seats in favour of standing. However in the evenings more people seem more determined to sit on their way home, so don’t be surprised to see future headlines talking about the reduction in capacity in the evenings!!
Personally I’m not keen, if the existing seats were replaced by (tin hat on) ironing boards more people might be inclined to sit rather than stand if a tad more leg room was available. Given people’s reluctance to stand down corridors rather than in vestibules, I’m expecting fun and games with the extra standing room. And that’s before the bikes, suitcases, shopping come into play.
Shipley CAN be lengthened, but 2 of the 3 'inner' platforms (2 and 5) can only be made 6-car before you'd have to start doing some serious realignment. The 3rd inner platform is already long enough for a Mk4 set, so not a problem. Platform 2 is the problem, being on the busiest arm of the triangle from Leeds to Skipton. If that service goes 6-car all day, the diagrams will have to be rewritten but that's happened before (they were tweaked when the electrics started) and the sky didn't fall in. It'll be reyt, as we say round here!
Not only is P2 a problem for lengthening, think of the guards who would have to spend even longer checking the length of a 6-car train before releasing the doors. It does need doing however, as do the others. I’m slightly surprised that there has been no talk of doing P4 though in time for the extra VTECs, it would be by far the easiest and would prevent any future conflicts working services both ways on P3.
At least you don't use the 07:48 Ilkley to Bradford and the 16:16 Bradford to Ilkley. It's going to be a disaster with 3 schools having pupils that go on these routes (me being in that category) the 07:48 in particular where they have been putting a Dusty Bin on which is rammed at Baildon.
To be fair, if the school kids who used these services didn’t spread themselves quite so far and wide, and stopped constant roaming up and down the train 3 cars would probably just about suffice. However as the other services, including the Bradford-Skiptons are far more populated it would mean separating out the Bradford-Ilkley from the rest of the services. Personally I wouldn’t be surprised to see the bulk of the 331 services sticking to the Leeds-Skipton / Ilkley services with the 333s being concentrated more on the remaining Bradford runs, possibly switching to 1x331s later in the evenings / Sundays etc?
