Could there ever be a Victoria-Catford Loop service?

[Sad Sprinter]

Commuting in this part of the world, I find Victoria to be a much more useful terminus than Blackfriars. Although I admit in the peaks the through Thameslink services to the Catford Loop are always very busy. Could a regular all day stopping service to Victoria ever be possible?

 

[cle]

I've lived on this route, and similarly to the other mixed lines (eg Dartford ones) - I think it's cleaner to have 4tph+ to a single terminus, vs sprays of 2tph to random ones. Anybody sane would prefer a uniform 10 minute service to a single place, like Greenwich used to have. But Greenwich had both LB and CSt - so was very well-optioned.

It's a struggle even getting Catford to 4tph all day/week - to Blackfriars, let alone the core.

If Victoria - Nunhead core went up (in local service - to 4tph) - I would send all via Sidcup or Bexleyheath. And augment 2-4tph to LB.

Of course there are the fast services also, and some do call Crofton Park and Bellingham, not Catford interestingly - but minimal.

Then again, there is not a single 1m+ usage station on the Loop, even Nunhead doesn't scrape it - with higher service.

 

[brad465]

The easiest thing to do would be make Victoria-Gillingham services call at more stops along this line; a few peak services call at Bellingham and Crofton Park in the relevant direction so wouldn't be a huge addition, and most up services get stuck behind a TL stopper anyway (especially in the up direction), so wouldn't actually be any slower overall with extra calls. I think the frequency would need to be 2tph all day for this though, rather than just in the peaks. The service certainly wouldn't be able to call all stations either, although the ones on peak services happen to be the busiest on the line.

 

[NorthKent1989]

I do think there is scope for the Vic-Gillingham to make calls at Catford & Bellingham, with Crofton Park calls in the peak.

Catford and Bellingham are busy stations.

Interestingly, around the time the ELL was extended from Surrey Quays to Clapham Jnc replacing the old LB-Vic SLL service in 2012, a proposal was made to partially restore the SLL service to run from Victoria to Bellingham as the new terminus, it did seem that this service would go ahead at some point in 2013/2014 but it never went ahead as I think the long term goal is to have the Clapham Jnc-Surrey Quays go 6tph.

 

[30907]

Making Victoria-Lewisham 4tph would be the best use of resources.
Bellingham and Catford have nearby alternatives to Charing Cross for the West End; Beckenham Hill and especially Ravensbourne are still pretty quiet, which leaves Crofton Park. Ideally TL should go 4tph all day, but alternatively you could stop the Gillinghams there as has been suggested (ideally have them 2tph and sort the pathing issue!).

 

[cle]

Making Victoria-Lewisham 4tph would be the best use of resources.
Bellingham and Catford have nearby alternatives to Charing Cross for the West End; Beckenham Hill and especially Ravensbourne are still pretty quiet, which leaves Crofton Park. Ideally TL should go 4tph all day, but alternatively you could stop the Gillinghams there as has been suggested (ideally have them 2tph and sort the pathing issue!).

Vic-Lewisham is indeed best... Hayes was also mentioned as it certainly can handle the extra traffic via the other lines, which have more complexities. It helps Londoners too - and it's busier than the Catford Loop, traffic-wise.

And won't be on the Bakerloo for 15-20 years I am sure.