London Zone 1, 2 and 3 - woeful timetable?

[bakerstreet]

Ok so it's Sunday afternoon, dark, cold, windy with heavy rain - and this may have a bearing on my question.

But on FCC Thameslink between London and stations towards Kentish Town, West Hampstead Th, Crickkewood, Hendon, Mill Hill etc, doesn't a busy corridor like this deserve more than 2 trains an hour on a Sunday considering the corresponding jubilee and northern line tubes are rammed and running every few mins?

Build a reverser at Elstree?

 

[Cherry_Picker]

What impact would this have on stations further north when passengers don't have the alternative of the underground?

 

[bakerstreet]

What impact would this have on stations further north when passengers don't have the alternative of the underground?

Not sure I care - it's now snowing!

Seriously though - they also only get 2 trains an hour - so I'm proposing no change to them but an additional 2 trains to give a 15 minute inner London service between say Elstree and St P high level or Elstree to Elephant or wherever they could reverse to the south.

 

[nicobobinus]

Why doesn't First Capital Connect run more than 1-2tph on the Enfield Chase line on Sundays? And 2tph round the Sutton loop? Because existing (TfL) infrastructure is in place to mop up the crowds from those areas, the TOCs can be lazy and leave them as is.

I hate the wait on the exposed platforms at [stn]MIL[/stn] on a cold evening, a half hour wait with the roar of the M1 leaves me asking the same question - with wishful thinking. But 2tph of 8 coaches copes fine most of the time, so I don't see what incentive they have to improve the services.

edit: from memory, do FCC not run 2tph semi fast calling at West Hampstead and Elstree & Bwood on Sundays, giving them 4tph? edit 2: on checking, apparently not.

 

[bakerstreet]

Why doesn't First Capital Connect run more than 1-2tph on the Enfield Chase line on Sundays? And 2tph round the Sutton loop? Because existing (TfL) infrastructure is in place to mop up the crowds from those areas, the TOCs can be lazy and leave them as is.

I hate the wait on the exposed platforms at MHB on a cold evening, a half hour wait with the roar of the M1 leaves me asking the same question - with wishful thinking. But 2tph of 8 coaches copes fine most of the time, so I don't see what incentive they have to improve the services.

edit: from memory, do FCC not run 2tph semi fast calling at West Hampstead and Elstree & Bwood on Sundays, giving them 4tph?

Not sure they stop at Elstree - I THINK first stop is St Albans.

I'm more interested in Kentish-w hampstead-Cricklewood-Hendon-Mill Hill.

And I'm afraid we're down to 2tph, 4 cars only. !

 

[Simon11]

Well I was looking at travelling up to Portsmadog next Sunday, however they only have one service during the day which leaves Sunday evening..... So much for making a day trip of it!

 

[nicobobinus]

Not sure they stop at Elstree - I THINK first stop is St Albans.

I'm more interested in Kentish-w hampstead-Cricklewood-Hendon-Mill Hill.

And I'm afraid we're down to 2tph, 4 cars only. !

Yeah, I had a look at the timetable and you're right. 2tph of 4 cars all shacks south of Snorbans is a bit stingy on a route like that. Last time I used it on a Sunday was in summer though, so maybe numbers warrant 8 cars then or I just got lucky.

 

[Bald Rick]

Mill Hill Bway and south thereof is hardly used in the week with 4 an hour, so with a nominal 2 track railway on the Sunday, it's the obvious call. Especially as all the stations have relatively good tube and/ or bus connections.

 

[bakerstreet]

Mill Hill Bway and south thereof is hardly used in the week with 4 an hour, so with a nominal 2 track railway on the Sunday, it's the obvious call. Especially as all the stations have relatively good tube and/ or bus connections.

Or to look at it another way - there's only 4 trains an hour each weekday and only 2 per hour on Sunday which is WHY it's hardly used. Who'd risk it?!

I remember during the late 70s when the BR Chiltern Line from Marylebone had almost no trains and no passengers but which came first?
Did the lack of passengers lead to a poor service or vice versa?
Same with Silverlink v London Overground. Silverlink offered 3 trains an hour on NLL down to sometimes two at weekends. But look at the increase in ridership now the service has improved to every 10 mins throughout 7 days.

 

[Mr Spock]

Why don't you just contact FCC and tell them when you want to travel and ask them to stop the next train for you.

 

[bakerstreet]

Why don't you just contact FCC and tell them when you want to travel and ask them to stop the next train for you.

Mr Spock. Ouch.

 

[Mr Spock]

Mr Spock. Ouch.

Sorry about that its just that I think most of us would like a better service from our "home" station but know we won't get one so work around whats available.