That would be a significant reduction in capacity.
On the contrary, it makes use of capacity that would otherwise be wasted, to provide well over a hundred million pounds of income to the railway. And, also, it does so largely without affecting the EMR trains when running to time (which it does, in the main)
I'm convinced that if this were being run by a single operator, a way would be found to better balance providing a faster service to Leicester and Sheffield without having slower trains criss-crossing onto the main line adding several minutes to the schdule in the process with as high risk of delay minutes when things go wrong. If hundreds of millions of pounds are coming in as claimed, why aren't we investing in grade seperation to improve the traffic flows at West Hampstead and at Harpenden.
There is nothing mnore frsutarting for the Intercity traveller for their train to be frequently slowing down south of Bedford because it is catching up slower trains in front or having to come to a halt because a train is crossing its path ahead.
Why were millions spent on raising speed limits to 110mph Crickelwood to Elstree and 125mph on to St Albans with some 115mph on towards Harpenden when in reality, the trains may as well stick to 90-95mph max on that stretch, because TL is limited to 100mph and the even slower average speeds negiotiating those junctions. Probably the only section of OLE worth upgrading for higher speeds is from Harpenden towards Bedford - forget the section south of Harpenden.
Someone has said the Sheffield and Nottingham timings are now unmovable due to the TL and Corby's ahead and behind, so what caapcity is there now to run additional services in future? Is the MML now be at capacity south of Harpenden? It does concern me that the infrastructure can just about cope with todays service pattern. Never mind any future improvements.