I posted a while ago that the concerns that I had in running Thameslink onto Great Northern routes would have been similar to what London Underground had in the 1970s with the Bakerloo Line at Baker Street, where the traditional Bakerloo Line (ex Baker Street & Waterloo) converged/diverged to and from the Stanmore Branch (ex Metropolitan Railway) causing delays.
Instead of reopening the Canal Tunnels, I feel that it would have been better for a new diverging route from Luton Airport Parkway to to link up with the East Coast Mainline/Great Northern (subject to geographical terrain), rather than having it converge/diverge in Zone 1. Unsure if there was a thread regarding an eastward link from Luton Airport Parkway a few years ago or not, although I seem to remember one being to seriously penetrate the vicinity of the terminal buildings at Luton.
I am in agreement and support Bramling's concerns regarding the implementation of the present Thameslink service. I believe it needs to be stripped back to the established Brighton - Bedford Midland limited stop every 15 minutes, with 2 trains running via Redhill, and build it around that. Also, I would be in favour of transferring the Wimbledon & Sutton loop to London Overground and revise it to run West Hampstead Thameslink or Kentish Town - Mitcham Junction - Sutton - Wimbledon - Blackfriars every 15 minutes, doubling the frequency from the present every 30 minutes.
Its like saying a broken down train on the Exmouth line decimates the service out of Paddington for hours at a time. I just don't get it. If its bad for Thameslink, what on earth is going to happen to Crossrail when its up and running - surely the same problems on one side of the centre will decimate the other side to the same extent?
Great Northern services before the shambles were always very busy at all times of the day. It seems to me that the shambles has completely destroyed the leisure market. I suspect the number of travellers from places like High Barnet and Cockfosters is significantly up though.
It looks to me as if GTR have not properly planned a series of service recovery / service split scenarios to deal with problems north or south of the Thames so as to avoid a total service collapse. You can't plan every scenario in advance but some are entirely predictable based on past incidents / known asset weaknesses. I suspect GTR were / are so overwhelmed with problems / failings that efficient service recovery was not able to be considered in the mad dash to introduce the May timetable. Controllers and signallers are now learning the hard way with passengers suffering all of the inconvenience.
Crossrail, in theory, should be less risky. TfL / MTR have deliberately split the service into two independent groupings - Shenfield to Paddington and Abbey Wood to H'row / Reading. Clearly the services overlap in the core but a problem on the GEML should not overly affect services to Abbey Wood or Reading. Similarly one of the usual woes on the GWML like signalling or suicides should not cause the Shenfield service to keel over. Obviously time will tell if reality aligns with the theory. There will be failures on Crossrail and I expect the media will be salivating at the prospect of declaring "Lizzie Line service disaster" or some such overblown nonsense. We all know that day will come as do TfL and MTR and I am sure they have some sort of plan to cope with whatever fallout there is.
MTR / TfL have the relative luxury of introducing a new service so can set a separated service pattern through the core from day one. GTR have inherited service patterns built up over many years and have had to fudge the service pattern / timetable to try to accommodate a myriad of political and stakeholder demands. If they could have started with a clean sheet of paper and a different design of railway facilities (including sidings and turnbacks) I suspect the Thameslink service would look vastly different to the one we have today with only an overlap in the core and services turned back north and south of the core to give more insulation from disruption "pollution". There certainly would not be crazy services like Peterborough to Horsham or Bedford to Brighton.
I caught the 2231 from St Pancras to Stevenage tonight. Admittedly it was a 12 car 700 but I've never seen a train at this time on a Friday evening so quiet. I'd say everyone on board would've fitted into a 4 car train. I know it's August but it's also a Friday night - usually plenty of people travelling on services at that time.
I've said it before but GTR have completely destroyed the leisure travel market on GN.
I suppose when the full Thameslink service comes online, the major issue at Brighton is somewhat mitigated by the fact the other Cambridge trains will be coming from Maidstone. So it will only be the fasts or the stoppers that will be screwed, not both. Until the driver from Brighton gets off at Finsbury Park to relieve the train behind that comes from Maidstone!
Unfortunately once something to Cambridge gets screwed, everything does, as the section between Hitchin and Cambridge is highly time-sensitive to get the fasts, semi-fasts and stoppers to all fit in. I remain firmly of the belief I've had since the start - without dealing with this somehow, the full timetable just can't work when many of these trains are starting so far away. Hard enough for it to work with everything starting at KGX, but with Brighton and Maidstone, impossible. At the very least they needed to put in passing loops (eg. at Royston) so a stopper can get out of the way of a fast if delayed.
More fun - looks like they've cancelled the last train tonight from London to Cambridge, yet again. Incredible.
The DOO cameras on a 700 face inward so, believe it or not, the driver can't see anyone beyond the last set of doors who may be walking or running up to try and board. The driver literally cannot see them until they appear at the door. Its definitely not the drivers fault if they were closing the doors before people out of shot of the cameras were still walking up the platform. Of course on the platform based DOO cameras the driver could see so with a 465 eight car at Strood the driver would have seen them.
Its the same at Blackfriars and City Thameslink when people are running up from the entrance at the back of the train. The driver is literally blind to this. And to think the local ASLEF DCC sold out platform dispatch at these busy locations for a couple of extra quid.
Is it because it's now often quicker to walk?Trespass incidents are all over the place right now.
What I'm struggling to comprehend is a problem in or near Brighton ( or anywhere south of the the river come to that) totally decimates for hours the service on the Cambridge line through Baldock - this never used to happen before - as in previous post if they run more and more trains through the tunnels north and south these compound problems will only get worse and worse. I really don't know what the answer is but it needs a radical rethink. Even if they trained and had all the drivers, I still think whatever problem occurs ( broken points, trespassers, wrong leaves on the line etc) will decimates the service on the other side of the river (miles away).
Its like saying a broken down train on the Exmouth line decimates the service out of Paddington for hours at a time. I just don't get it. If its bad for Thameslink, what on earth is going to happen to Crossrail when its up and running - surely the same problems on one side of the centre will decimate the other side to the same extent?
This has been happening to passengers travelling from Bedford to/from London ever since Thameslink began. The fundamental weakness of the whole Thameslink concept is that the trains which form services north of central London start and terminate in Brighton or somewhere else in third-rail land, where the infrastructue is clapped out and there's little or no spare capacity on the network. Couple this to the fact that for Brighton-line passengers there's little or no alternative way for them to get home, meaning that the train operator is forced to send trains south even if the line is blocked by trespassers or badgers.
Thameslink (and FCC before) steadfastly refuse to split the service in two either side of the Core, even in times of serious disruption, because they havent sufficient drivers in the right places or (apparently) capacity to terminate & turn trains. Had they not sacrificed the bay platforms in the old Blackfriars Station during the vanity project rebuild, it would have been a suitable candidate. Similarly, had St Pancras not been handed over to Eurostar, there would have been capacity there. Its a complete planning cock-up, overseen by incompetents and idiots.
I wonder how long they're going to manage stay in denial for. You'd have thought there might have been a point where they'd feel more embarrassed about continuing to lie through their teeth than about fessing up.
Actually surprised that with a few cancelled Cambridge stopping services, stop orders (on Peterborough services) have filled the gaps. An hourly service is poor, but at least there haven't been the two hour gaps there otherwise might have been.
Can’t help but smile ... the old GN Saturday service was 2tph to most destinations, 4tph at Stevenage and Hitchin. The original Thameslink Programme deliverable was 4tph to Cambridge and 2tph to Peterborough. Yet we’re happy just not to get 2-hour gaps achieved through slower journeys as a result of extra stops!
Those who have run this railway over the last few years have a hell of a lot to answer for.