District to Olympia

[Mojo]

From December, the District line will no longer serve Olympia on weekdays, except when events are on. Instead there will be extra trains on the Wimbledon branch.

 

[anthony263]

Read about this on the district dave forum back in february. There was a bit of confusuion about whether or not this was going ahead.

Off peak the trains can be quite however the line is busy during the peaks so i think not having a peak hour service may be a mistake.

 

[Oracle]

My old colleague has just posted on DD's:

Monday to Friday Olympia service to be withdrawn from December 2011 WTT change - confirmed in a TfL Press Notice dated today.

It will still operate at weekends and during major events (at Olympia) MF.

Though this may in fact just be a consultation!

 

[313103]

Oh wonderful means even more passengers on our already overcrowded Overground and Southern services on the section between West Brompton and Olympia.

So much for forward thinking in transport. Now all im going to get is how do i get to Earls Court and the suchlike. I hope that TFL put up advertisements at least 6 months in advance rather then two weeks before it actually takes place. I also wonder whether they have been in contact with LO & Southern about these changes, and the affects it will have.

How having extra trains on the Wimbledon branch is going to help people going to Olympia baffles me, Wimbledon is in the complete opposite direction. Perhaps there is joined up thinking after all!

 

[Mojo]

Well from May the frequency of LOROL is doubling from 2tph (3tph including Southern) to 4tph (5tph) so it will be a bit easier on the overcrowding front. Will make it a bit harder to get from central London to Olympia though.

 

[Tubeman]

It's a very useful reversing point for service recovery / reformation too... which currently can't really be used because there's a train in the single platform at Olympia for the majority of the time (10 minutes out of every 15)... The only other decent west to east reversing point west of Earl's Court is Parson's Green, but that's still about a 25 minute round trip from Earl's Court and requires the train to be detrained in the platform at PG, causing further delay.

I'm sure there'll be outcry from the Olympia residents, as it is well patronised by commuters in the peaks. It is often an irritating service though, the train leaves Olympia on time only to then wait in the tunnel approaching Earl's Court for 2 or often more minutes for a late-running train or trains ex-West Kensington to overtake. In my driving days I routinely knew of that one stop to take up to 10 minutes.

I guess a lot of London-bound Olympites will just change at Clapham Junction and travel on to Waterloo now...

 

[transmanche]

How having extra trains on the Wimbledon branch is going to help people going to Olympia baffles me, Wimbledon is in the complete opposite direction.

I don't think the change is designed to improve the Olympia service, but to improve the Wimbledon service. The TfL press notice says there will be five additional morning peak services on the Wimbledon branch - where the extra capacity will be very welcome.

They obviously hope that Olympia-bound passengers won't mind travelling via West Brompton or Shepherds Bush to use the improved LO service.

 

[jopsuk]

I guess part of the problem is that the junctions either side of Earls Court could really do with being flying junctions- though of course space makes this somewhat tricky- much like many of the other junctions on the Sub Surface lines. The numerous flat junctions are hell for capacity.

 

[DavyCrocket]

Whilst Olympia can be useful for it, it is rarely used as a reversing point for late running trains.
There would be nothing to stop it being used for such come December.

And the Wimbledon passengers make the most noise. They have already had one Olympia train sent to Wimbledon on one of the newer timetables

 

[Tubeman]

I guess part of the problem is that the junctions either side of Earls Court could really do with being flying junctions- though of course space makes this somewhat tricky- much like many of the other junctions on the Sub Surface lines. The numerous flat junctions are hell for capacity.

They are! The only real conflict at grade is the Edgware Road trains ex-Wimbledon departing platform 2 crossing the paths of City trains departing platform 1 (or vice versa).

Therefore the only omission that would make it really slick is a diveunder being formed in what is colloquially known as 'The yard', which is now just the through track to the City ex-platform 2, but was once a siding between the westbound and eastbound roads.

If the track ex-platform 2 dived down like the track approaching platform 4 does and passed under the track ex-platform 1 before heading up toward High St Ken, then the Wimbledon branch could be completely segregated.

In this case, all City trains would originate from Richmond or Ealing, and all trains ex-Wimbledon would head towards Edgware Road or High Street Ken. Earl's Court would no longer be a 'junction' station, merely a through station for two segregated routes providing cross-platform interchange. High St Ken has 2 reversing bays which would allow an intensive service between there and Wimbledon, with every other train running through to Edgware Road (I'd argue through to Barking as a diversion of the H&C Line).

So with the demise of the Olympia shuttle, I'd only envisage five services on the non-Metropolitan SSR routes:

District

Richmond - Upminster
Ealing - Upminster

H&C (would need re-naming!)

Wimbledon - High St Ken
Wimbldeon - Barking via Edgware Road

Circle

Hammersmith - Edgware Road via Circle (enhanced due to removal of Tower Hill reversers)

...There are currently five distinct services on the District Line alone

 

[bengolding]

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/20357.aspx

From Dec 2011, TfL will withdraw the weekday District Line shuttle from Earls Court to Keinsington Olympia, as apparently few people use it and it causes congestion at Earls Court. Removal will increase the number of Wimbledon and Ealing Broadway services, with customers expected to use buses or Southern/Overground services. This will be fun when there are major exhibitions or shows at Olympia.

Sad to see Kensington Olympia being downgraded further, a few years after it lost its Intercity service.

 

[SWT_USER]

I thought trains were still going to run there on event days?

 

[jopsuk]

Weekends and event days.

Though that's not say that they won't end up completely withdrawing and cutting off the branch completely.

 

[swt_passenger]

I thought trains were still going to run there on event days?

Yes they are, but only for the major 'crowd pullers', and only from 1000 onwards. It's all covered in the fairly detailed report at the linked page...

 

[Schnellzug]

more improvements from Transport for London. I suppose this is in order to save a little bit of money to go towards the New Bus For London, is it.

 

[Eagle]

The shuttle will still operate during the peaks, at weekends and during events.

Bear in mind that suburban NR services at Kensington Olympia have in the last few years increased in frequency immensely (and are set to increase further according to TfL's plans).

 

[SWT_USER]

more improvements from Transport for London. I suppose this is in order to save a little bit of money to go towards the New Bus For London, is it.

If it improves Wimbledon services then it is a good move. I change at Earl's Court daily and it's not uncommon to see Olympia trains leave with fewer than 5 people on the train.

 

[swt_passenger]

The shuttle will still operate during the peaks, at weekends and during events.

To add to that - there will never be a morning peak service, because it will only operate from 1000. And this is only during the very busiest events, not any events...

 

[DavyCrocket]

The shuttle will still operate during the peaks, at weekends and during events.

It will only operate at weekends and at start/close of traffic times Monday to Friday (most likely only ex Olympia only in passenger service).
I wonder what will occur when a train is (on the rare occasion) diverted to Olympia owing to late running, as to special trains for events. Unless its a timed finish event, I won't hold my breath!

 

[philjo]

This means it will cost more to get there - I can purchase a ticket through to Zones 1&2 but that is not valid on the buses. A peak travelcard so I can use the buses is about £4 more.

It already takes longer than it used to to get to Olympia thanks to the circle line changes meaning a change at Edgware Road & again at High St Ken. What is the best route to get there now from Kings Cross - the overground does not connect with anything useful unless you use FCC from St Pancras to West Hampstead & change there.
It's a pity that the H&C line does not connect with the overground line at Shepherd's Bush.

Whenever I go there for work related events during the week the District Line train to Olympia is packed around 10am when the exhibitions open! Maybe they could just reduce it to run half hourly.

I suppose in the longer term CrossRail 2 could be routed to interchange at Olympia or extend the Battersea Northern line extension via Victoria & High St Ken possibly going on to Westfield.

 

[causton]

What is the best route to get there now from Kings Cross

Circle/H+C train to Edgware Road
District (Wimbleware) train to West Brompton
Overground to Olympia

 

[317 forever]

This means it will cost more to get there - I can purchase a ticket through to Zones 1&2 but that is not valid on the buses. A peak travelcard so I can use the buses is about £4 more.

It already takes longer than it used to to get to Olympia thanks to the circle line changes meaning a change at Edgware Road & again at High St Ken. What is the best route to get there now from Kings Cross - the overground does not connect with anything useful unless you use FCC from St Pancras to West Hampstead & change there.
It's a pity that the H&C line does not connect with the overground line at Shepherd's Bush.

Whenever I go there for work related events during the week the District Line train to Olympia is packed around 10am when the exhibitions open! Maybe they could just reduce it to run half hourly.

I suppose in the longer term CrossRail 2 could be routed to interchange at Olympia or extend the Battersea Northern line extension via Victoria & High St Ken possibly going on to Westfield.

Keeping to just one change, you could take the Victoria Line to Highbury & Islington then London Overground direct from there. However, the LO direct service only goes half-hourly, so it may be quicker changing again at Willesden Junction.

 

[dickdarlington]

Just been told about this...being in the North East, I miss out on all the LU stuff these days.

I am a bit shocked by this. Yes, it's a bit of a pathetic service, but since the Overground/Southern services have really taken off, it is an ideal commuter link onto the underground network.

Is there any reasoning for this other than the increased service capability for Wimbledon trains?

...How often is the service between West Brompton and Olympia on LO and Southern? And how many services per hour will there now be on the Wimbledon line? Will this actually (after thinking a bit more) give Olympia a more frequent (if slightly fragmented) service?

 

[Mojo]

...How often is the service between West Brompton and Olympia on LO and Southern? And how many services per hour will there now be on the Wimbledon line? Will this actually (after thinking a bit more) give Olympia a more frequent (if slightly fragmented) service?

It's every 15 Min by Overground and there is an additional Southern service with 1tph.

 

[Nym]

And it does have an auful lot to cross to get to the branch...

 

[DavyCrocket]

And it does have an auful lot to cross to get to the branch...

The actual delay that the Olympia branch trains cause to others is rather low I find.

 

[swt_passenger]

The actual delay that the Olympia branch trains cause to others is rather low I find.

What they said:

Analysis shows that the Kensington (Olympia) service delays each District line train operating to other destinations by an average of 36 seconds, directly delaying tens of thousands of passengers every weekday and causing knock-on delays to all the other daily users of the District line. This is because, with the complex track layout at Earl‟s Court junction, the Olympia service adds to train congestion with a very high number of conflicting train movements, which also then has a negative effect on the reliability of the rest of the District line (as all District line trains run through Earl‟s Court).

 

[DavyCrocket]

What they said:

Well yesterday evening the Olympia service (one train) was running 16 minutes late for about 3 hours and the rest of the trains were running about 10 minutes late and there was no significant negative impact caused by the Olympia train to the others. You could argue that trains to High Street Kensington ex Wimbledon or City bound ex West Kensington cause more bother (which they do IMHO)!

 

[Dstock7080]

Timetable from 11 December now available on the TfL website:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/88569211@N00/6388857259/in/photostream

6 passenger train departures each day M-F:
05.50 (C to ERd)
Then the description "about every 8-9 minutes" between 6am-7am is stretching it a bit, with actual departures at:
06.06 (D to HSt)
06.15 (D to HSt)
06.24 (D to HSt)
06.32 (C to ERd), with nothing then until
19.58 (D to HSt)
20.38 (D to HSt)

Just 2 passenger arrivals each day M-F:
19.48 (D ex-HSt)
20.28 (D ex-Hst)


If an Event required trains to operate M-F then only an approximate 30min service would be provided (to High Street unless annotated) at:
10.28, 10.58, 11.28, 11.58, 12.28, 12.58, 13.28, 13.58, 14.28, 14.58, 15.28, 15.58, 16.33u, 16.49, 17.23e, 17.50, 18.23e, 18.55, 19.23e, 19.58, 20.18, 20.58, 21.28, 21.58, 22.28, 23.00.
u= to Upminster
e= to Edgware Road

Some of these trips are the result of cancelling Wimbledon trains.

 

[DavyCrocket]

Are some of those C stock departures actually to West Ham, Plaistow and Barking via Baker Street (as at present) or have they been shortened?