District Line to Olympia

[Enthusiast]

I visited Olympia yesterday for the Great British Beer Festival. Arrived at Embankment expecting there to be no Olympia service at all (as is usual for the GBBF) and planned either to go to West Brompton then Overground to Olympia or simply walk from West Kensington (depending how I felt, how hot it was etc.). Imagine my surprise when I saw the train indicator at Embankment with a direct service terminating at Olympia. It wasn't a one-off as there seemed to be a service about every eight minutes or so (which was still running when I returned at about 6pm, my train terminating at Tower Hill). I know there were problems between Plaistow and Dagenham yesterday, so was Olympia used to terminate trains to help cope with that? I noticed there were no through trains from the "main line" to Wimbledon that I could see.

 

[AlbertBeale]

I visited Olympia yesterday for the Great British Beer Festival. Arrived at Embankment expecting there to be no Olympia service at all (as is usual for the GBBF) and planned either to go to West Brompton then Overground to Olympia or simply walk from West Kensington (depending how I felt, how hot it was etc.). Imagine my surprise when I saw the train indicator at Embankment with a direct service terminating at Olympia. It wasn't a one-off as there seemed to be a service about every eight minutes or so (which was still running when I returned at about 6pm, my train terminating at Tower Hill). I know there were problems between Plaistow and Dagenham yesterday, so was Olympia used to terminate trains to help cope with that? I noticed there were no through trains from the "main line" to Wimbledon that I could see.

I'd have thought that when they can't run Districts east of Aldgate, and hence turn at Tower Hill (so needing to thin out the service given the single reversing platform at TH), then they need to run as many as possible to their normal western destinations, in order to diminish the service to those destinations as little as possible. So turning some at Olympia seems strange (if the signal failure out east was indeed the reason for the Olympia services). So was it, rather, that they had specifically scheduled some Olympia trains for the GBBF? (Though the normal Olympia service runs just from High St Ken ... so that doesn't make much sense either.) Also - an 8-minute-interval service to Olympia is unheard of...

On the other hand, I was on the trunk section of the District one day recently - a normal weekday when there wouldn't normally be any Olympias at all - when there was disruption on one of the western branches. On that occasion, there were odd ones from the trunk going to Olympia - which did make sense so as to have somewhere to turn them and maintain the frequency in the centre.

 

[357]

All westbound trains seemed to be going to Olympia during the disruption yesterday, it seems to be a standard contingency plan.

 

[Enthusiast]

Also - an 8-minute-interval service to Olympia is unheard of...

I couldn't say for sure it was an eight minute service. But it was certainly more frequent than anything I've seen before (which is usually one train shuttling between High Street Ken - Earls Court - Olympia. When we arrived at Olympia we had to wait for the previous train to pull out nd by the time I'd negotiated the construction site outside the station my train was about to depart. The GBBF hasn't been held since 2019 and there was certainly no Olympia service then and I don't believe it has been served since about 2014. I'd got quite used to walking from West Kensington.

All westbound trains seemed to be going to Olympia during the disruption yesterday, it seems to be a standard contingency plan.

There were definitely Ealing trains (when I arrived at Embankment the running order was Ealing, Circle, Olympia). But I didn't see any Richmond or Wimbledon signed. There was quite a crowd at Earls Court and I thought they were going to invade my train. But only a handful got on so the others must have been waiting for the other western destinations.

 

[Basil Jet]

I am surprised that the Olympia platform on the end of a 600m single track can handle a train every 8 minutes. The turnaround time is presumably the time to walk the platform and nothing more.

 

[Dstock7080]

Because of the cable vandalism at Barking on Thursday afternoon, special services were operating:
Olympia-Plaistow 11 trains 10min
High Street-Ealing 3 trains 20min (from 11.00 Tower-Ealing)
High Street-Richmond 3 trains 20min
Edgware Rd-Wimbledon usual 10min
these all sourced from the western stabling facilities.
Upminster-Dagenham East 4 train 7min

 

[Enthusiast]

Thanks, Dstock. Seemed a decent enough service to me! They should do it more often.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Because of the cable vandalism at Barking on Thursday afternoon, special services were operating:
Olympia-Plaistow 11 trains 10min
High Street-Ealing 3 trains 20min (from 11.00 Tower-Ealing)
High Street-Richmond 3 trains 20min
Edgware Rd-Wimbledon usual 10min
these all sourced from the western stabling facilities.
Upminster-Dagenham East 4 train 7min

Thanks for the explanation.

Though I'm not sure I see the logic of sending so many to Olympia when the problem is in the east. But maybe it's easier/better to have a standard pattern with fixed pairs of destinations, rather than divide the trunk service 3 ways at Earls Court, if there are problems? Or is the reason that sending more to Ealing and Richmond, on longer journeys, would mean a lower frequency on the trunk section, which would cause more difficulties than having only 3 tph on those branches? I presume there's a reason!

 

[rebmcr]

Thanks for the explanation.

Though I'm not sure I see the logic of sending so many to Olympia when the problem is in the east. But maybe it's easier/better to have a standard pattern with fixed pairs of destinations, rather than divide the trunk service 3 ways at Earls Court, if there are problems? Or is the reason that sending more to Ealing and Richmond, on longer journeys, would mean a lower frequency on the trunk section, which would cause more difficulties than having only 3 tph on those branches? I presume there's a reason!

Those services are fully segregated (therefore unable to disrupt each other further), thanks to the grade-separated crossovers immediately east of Earl's Court.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Those services are fully segregated (therefore unable to disrupt each other further), thanks to the grade-separated crossovers immediately east of Earl's Court.

Yes - I can see the advantage, in times of disruption, of trying to keep the service in separate, non-conflicting sections.

However, although the pattern of services described above (with all trunk trains going to Olympia, and ones from the High St Ken direction serving all 3 western branches) can indeed avoid any conflicting movements when east of Earls Court, at least when heading westbound, it doesn't stop conflicts when heading eastbound. The trains from Olympia have to join the track used by trains from Ealing/Richmond, before the Earls Court platforms, and then have to "switch sides" on the level with the eastbounds from Wimbledon before the route to High St diverges. So there are as many conflicting movements as there would be if some of the trunk trains served the main western destinations as well as Olympia.

Still - whatever the logic, I bet people living by Olympia were unexpectedly happy!

 

[Craig1122]

Thanks for the explanation.

Or is the reason that sending more to Ealing and Richmond, on longer journeys, would mean a lower frequency on the trunk section, which would cause more difficulties than having only 3 tph on those branches? I presume there's a reason!

With fewer trains available this will be the correct explanation. 3tph to Ealing/Richmond will be inconvenient and probably over crowded at times but should just about provide enough capacity.

 

[Dstock7080]

I couldn't say for sure it was an eight minute service. But it was certainly more frequent than anything I've seen before (which is usually one train shuttling between High Street Ken - Earls Court - Olympia.The GBBF hasn't been held since 2019 and there was certainly no Olympia service then and I don't believe it has been served since about 2014.

Back in the early-80s for major events such as GBBF, Horse of the Year etc a 3-train shuttle from High Street, providing a 7½min service was run, crew operated of course!

3tph to Ealing/Richmond will be inconvenient and probably over crowded at times but should just about provide enough capacity.

With the Piccadilly suffering a signal system failure at Northfields during Friday this greatly added to the amount of passengers heading to/from Ealing for Elizabeth Line to Heathrow, until they required track access at Northfields which then suspended the Ealing service each time.

 

[Enthusiast]

Still - whatever the logic, I bet people living by Olympia were unexpectedly happy!

As was I and many of my fellow real ale aficionados.

Than you, dstock, for the additional info. I can't say I've ever been to Olympia when anything other than a 20 min service prevailed. A 7½min service would certainly be useful on event days but I doubt it will ever be resurrected. The last time I used Olympia (for the 2019 GBBF) was the evening of a major power outage in London and no trains ran from there for over an hour. Fortunately one of my fellow drinkers had left a little earlier and sent me a text explaining what was going on. Regrettably I had to remain in safety within Olympia drinking more beer until normal service was resumed. I seem to get all the bad luck!

UK power outage 9 August 2019 - Ashden Climate Solutions

Questions raised about the operation of the UK’s national grid and generation facilities.

ashden.org

 

[CyrusWuff]

The exhibition "service" to Olympia has generally been a bus service that runs from Earl's Court (Warwick Road) - Olympia - West Kensington - West Brompton - Earl's Court since the all day District Line service was withdrawn.

Usually starts around 0800 and runs up to every 7-8 minutes until an hour or so after the show ends. For this year's GBBG, that was every 15 minutes until 1900 from the 2nd to the 5th of August.

 

[Dstock7080]

The exhibition "service" to Olympia has generally been a bus service that runs from Earl's Court (Warwick Road) - Olympia - West Kensington - West Brompton - Earl's Court since the all day District Line service was withdrawn.

Usually starts around 0800 and runs up to every 7-8 minutes until an hour or so after the show ends. For this year's GBBG, that was every 15 minutes until 1900 from the 2nd to the 5th of August.

Not even sure why they bother these days, neither official TfL, Olympia or GBBF websites mention it. Announcements and signage at Earl’s Court station advise travelling via West Brompton.

 

[Magdalia]

Because of the cable vandalism at Barking on Thursday afternoon, special services were operating:
Olympia-Plaistow 11 trains 10min
High Street-Ealing 3 trains 20min (from 11.00 Tower-Ealing)
High Street-Richmond 3 trains 20min
Edgware Rd-Wimbledon usual 10min
these all sourced from the western stabling facilities.
Upminster-Dagenham East 4 train 7min

Presumably the availability of rolling stock and traincrew are constraints here, with lots of both marooned at the Essex end of the line.

 

[Dstock7080]

Presumably the availability of rolling stock and traincrew are constraints here, with lots of both marooned at the Essex end of the line.

Rolling stock yes but Upminster and Barking staff were drafted to the west-end

 

[Mikey C]

It's always surprised me that the passenger numbers generated by GBBF doesn't justify running the Olympia Shuttle anyway. It would be interesting to know which events they do run the shuttle for!

 

[Dstock7080]

It would be interesting to know which events they do run the shuttle for!

No weekday events, only weekend and Bank Holiday Mondays (Saturday service).
When Lillie Bridge sidings finally close there will be no use for the connection.

 

[D365]

No weekday events, only weekend and Bank Holiday Mondays (Saturday service).
When Lillie Bridge sidings finally close there will be no use for the connection.

Remind me what the plan is - is the site being redeveloped? Will the sidings be replaced elsewhere?

 

[Dstock7080]

Remind me what the plan is - is the site being redeveloped? Will the sidings be replaced elsewhere?

Lillie Bridge to close.
6 new berths at Parsons Green
6 new berths between Turnham Green and Gunnersbury.
Whiteley’s siding to become road vehicle access and Olympia access ramp to be only engineering siding.

 

[dlj83]

Will Olympia remain weekends only after Lillie Bridge closes?

Or is closure the intention?