Direct Eastbourne to London Bridge back for commuters.

[PGAT]

I’d imagine it’ll be similar to the current Vic services. I doubt it’ll stop at Berwick or Glynde, and one of Cooksbridge or Plumpton, maybe both. I can’t see it skipping Gatwick as I don’t think anything does now in the peaks does it? I’d back skipping Gatwick tho on some peak Vic services.

The equivalent London Bridge services from Littlehampton and Bognor Regis skip Gatwick so I would expect this one to do the same. I could see them stopping at Berwick and Glynde to sweep up as many passengers as possible to then speed up the Victoria service

 

[Hophead]

The 2018 17:03 Arun Valley service ran fast from East Croydon to Three Bridges, though obviously didn't use Platform 5 (down fast) at that station.

 

[NSE]

The equivalent London Bridge services from Littlehampton and Bognor Regis skip Gatwick so I would expect this one to do the same. I could see them stopping at Berwick and Glynde to sweep up as many passengers as possible to then speed up the Victoria service

Ah that sounds interesting, I’ll have to take a ride on one of those. I did like running non-stop through Gatwick. In which case hopefully this one does the same.

 

[norbitonflyer]

Article.



Interesting that it runs Monday to Thursday. Is that the first such example of a proper change to timetabling principles to not be "SX" but instead to be pandering more to the ****s? (Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays).

Why not a Friday as well? Is it replacing an EBN>VIC service?

The lack of the Friday running is unusual tbh

Not that unusual. see the FX class 701 diagram (2J92, 0752 Surbiton to Waterloo) for example

And post #2 cites four other examples

 

[stadler]

How ridiculous that this had been brought back. This service has just been reintroduced to make the local MP happy. That is probably the only reason.

What is this obsession with every town wanting direct services to everywhere. Eastbourne already has an extremely good service to London Victoria every thirty minutes. If you want to go to or from London Bridge then you have an extremely easy and convenient same platform or cross platform interchange at Haywards Heath for a connecting Thameslink train. The connections are very good and only involve waiting about five or ten minutes in most cases. You can also change at Gatwick Airport or East Croydon if you prefer.

This once a day in each direction train will only benefit a small amount of people that can time their travels around this service. Not everyone can time everything around one train. A frequent service with good connections (as already exists) is far more convinient.

A lot of work was done simplifying the Brighton Main Line services and now they are adding more stuff like this and complicating it again. This will will no doubt mean more delays (due to conflicting junction moves) whenever anything else is delayed or disrupted. It is much better to keep a simple timetable.

 

[Baji]

Wouldn’t it be better for the 17:33 London Bridge to Littlehampton service to split at Haywards Heath with the rear portion heading to Eastbourne (from 8 coaches to Littlehampton and rear four to Eastbourne)

 

[PGAT]

Wouldn’t it be better for the 17:33 London Bridge to Littlehampton service to split at Haywards Heath with the rear portion heading to Eastbourne (from 8 coaches to Littlehampton and rear four to Eastbourne)

That would certainly be a performance risk on the Brighton mainline and might not be possible to fit in the timetable. It’s probably only worth considering when demand picks up considerably and each branch can justify 2+ extra trains.

Where we currently stand there is sufficient demand to satisfy two 8 car return journeys that don’t operate on Fridays.

 

[30907]

How ridiculous that this had been brought back. This service has just been reintroduced to make the local MP happy. That is probably the only reason.

What is this obsession with every town wanting direct services to everywhere. Eastbourne already has an extremely good service to London Victoria every thirty minutes. If you want to go to or from London Bridge then you have an extremely easy and convenient same platform or cross platform interchange at Haywards Heath for a connecting Thameslink train. The connections are very good and only involve waiting about five or ten minutes in most cases. You can also change at Gatwick Airport or East Croydon if you prefer.

This once a day in each direction train will only benefit a small amount of people that can time their travels around this service. Not everyone can time everything around one train. A frequent service with good connections (as already exists) is far more convinient.

A lot of work was done simplifying the Brighton Main Line services and now they are adding more stuff like this and complicating it again. This will will no doubt mean more delays (due to conflicting junction moves) whenever anything else is delayed or disrupted. It is much better to keep a simple timetable.

Are you suggesting that all the peak hour extras should be withdrawn, then?

 

[whale]

Interesting, the WTT for 3I96 has it sitting at one of the stops between Mitcham Junction and Sutton for 10 minutes, arriving into Platform 2 at Sutton just after the 0758 departs, and then departing as 2W96 to London Bridge via Streatham as it does now (but from P2 instead of P1).

Just speculating here, but considering it doesn't appear to be a permanent alteration, could there possibly be an issue preventing use of the crossover from the down to up line outside Sutton (given it is the only service normally timetabled to use this crossover), meaning it needs to start from Platform 1, which would explain the need for it to temporarily run down to Epsom to turn around. Platform 4 is also occupied during this time so the use of P4 wouldn't be an option either.

Edit - A better use of 3I96 might be to send it around the Wimbledon loop (it wouldn't conflict with anything at Streatham Junction or on the single line through Wimbledon), and possibly start 2W96 further back at Sutton Common, which I imagine would be a useful extra service for Sutton Common and West Sutton! It wouldn't be able to start at Tooting or Wimbledon and serve all stops as it wouldn't be able to get back to Sutton in time to meet the path of 2W96, although maybe an option is to have it start at Wimbledon and run non-stop to Sutton Common, which would provide a potentially very useful fast service from Wimbledon to Sutton right in the middle of the peak time, and could be particularly useful for some of the many schools in the area.

The 451 points at Sutton have been out of use for months now and are locked normal, which is exactly what you describe. Those alterations appear to be a work-around for this.

 

[PGAT]

The 451 points at Sutton have been out of use for months now and are locked normal, which is exactly what you describe. Those alterations appear to be a work-around for this.

For a short while that train turned around at Belmont instead of Epsom, starting from Platform 3

 

[LA50041]

Interesting, the WTT for 3I96 has it sitting at one of the stops between Mitcham Junction and Sutton for 10 minutes, arriving into Platform 2 at Sutton just after the 0758 departs, and then departing as 2W96 to London Bridge via Streatham as it does now (but from P2 instead of P1).

There is no possible move from Mitcham direction into P1 at Sutton, and P1 is not a reversible so that would be impossible anyway. The only route for a train from Mitcham to go back the same way is via P2

 

[PGAT]

All stops between Plumpton and Eastbourne as expected, but no stop at Wivelsfield

 

[Harlequinuk]

Likely to get it off BML quickly for the next down fast