GA West anglia trains

[J4YWG]

Can somebody tell me why is it so difficult to make a connection in the timetable on Tottenham Hale I've recently move to the areas of Enfield and I work near Stratford and so sometimes I've to catch the train to Liverpool Street and leave hackney downs to go to stratford because to leave at Tottenham Hale and catch the the 1 min earlier is mission Impossible!
Is difficult for the staff or even the drivers to them wait 30 f seconds because to make it worse sometimes they see you run and they don't give a ...

 

[JonathanH]

There are lots of things that govern how trains are timed. Not all connections can work perfectly. The Meridian Water to Stratford services simply aren't timed to connect at Tottenham Hale out of the Hertford East to Liverpool Street services, and passengers must therefore wait 12 minutes for the service which comes from Bishops Stortford.

The staff have no authority to hold trains to make 'negative' connections.

 

[306024]

There are direct trains every 30 minutes in the peak between Enfield Lock and Stratford. No change required. Hourly off peak.

 

[55002]

There are lots of things that govern how trains are timed. Not all connections can work perfectly. The Meridian Water to Stratford services simply aren't timed to connect at Tottenham Hale out of the Hertford East to Liverpool Street services, and passengers must therefore wait 12 minutes for the service which comes from Bishops Stortford.

The staff have no authority to hold trains to make 'negative' connections.

That is infuriating for Stratford passengers, all it needs is to wait 1 or 2 min that Meridian water, makes no difference to the return journey either as it normally has 7 min turnaround

 

[JonathanH]

That is infuriating for Stratford passengers, all it needs is to wait 1 or 2 min that Meridian water, makes no difference to the return journey either as it normally has 7 min turnaround

What about Cambridge to Stratford passengers who would have a connection of over 15 minutes?

The Hertford East service arrives at Tottenham Hale at xx14. That means the Stratford would have to wait from xx13 to about xx19 (or leave Meridian Water later) to enable all passengers to make connections. Connections can't be timed just for agile people who sit in the right part of the train to be able to make them.

The Bishops Stortford to Stratford train has to arrive and depart at Tottenham Hale ahead of the Cambridge to Liverpool Street train, so can't move from a xx27 departure.

If Stratford trains left Tottenham Hale at xx19, xx27, xx49 and xx57, that would hardly be ideal.

 

[robspaceman]

It’s a cross platform interchange at TH for the meridian water shuttle to Stratford: xx.15 or 16 would be fine on most occasions

 

[JonathanH]

It’s a cross platform interchange at TH for the meridian water shuttle to Stratford: xx.15 or 16 would be fine on most occasions

For someone walking with a frame sitting in coach 10, it wouldn't be. Five minutes is the official interchange time.

Even for able bodied passengers, what happens if the Hertford East train is two minutes late? There would be no authority to hold the connection.

Short cross platform interchanges with a train waiting in the adjacent platform are quite dangerous, because they encourage passengers to run, ignoring any obstacles in the way, in particular other passengers. A five minute interchange is broadly ideal.

 

[kacper]

it’s not cross platform, you have to go over a footbridge

 

[JonathanH]

it’s not cross platform, you have to go over a footbridge

It is cross platform southbound, which I think is the contention of the original poster regarding the negative connection which can sometimes be made.

Northbound there is also a negative connection time, but the footbridge makes it much less likely to be made.

 

[J4YWG]

That is infuriating for Stratford passengers, all it needs is to wait 1 or 2 min that Meridian water, makes no difference to the return journey either as it normally has 7 min turnaround

To make it more worse in the return time happens the same thing if I somehow catch the meridian water train in stratford when arrives at Tottenham Hale there is a train that comes from Liverpool S at the same time. I lost count of how many times I lost the train by 1 f seconds (if that train was 10c it wouldn't be a problem but nooo its 5c ... to later catch the one that comes from stratford 15 min later but still.. it's a pain in the a$$

 

[Instinct04]

I agree with Mooses. The Stratford to Meridian Water trains should be timed to make connections with the Hertford - Liverpool Street trains. The amount of times my train has been pulling in whilst that train is just leaving is extremely annoying.

In terms of going northbound, it’s acctually even worse. If you journey from Stratford and pull into TH at 56/26 past, the Hertford train leaves at 25, meaning you have to wait a whopping 30 MINUTES for the next one! This is simply unaccepable. The Hertford route needs more trains, at least 3tph stopping at places such as Ponders End and Brimsdown. Greater Anglia being at fault, once again.

 

[J4YWG]

I heard that they want to add to more trains but with the the stansted express I don't see how...

 

[LAX54]

Maybe some of the posters complaining should get a job with Train Planning, they will see how 'easy' it is to retime a train by 2 mins.

 

[robspaceman]

The half hourly Stratford-meridian water shuttle pretty much has its own section of track (north of Lea Bridge) & its own dedicated platform at Stratford.
So I’d be curious to know exactly what prevents it being shifted by a couple mins - other than a dogged desire for exact 15 min intervals from eg Lea Bridge. As someone who lives at Lea Bridge I’d be more than happy to forgoe exact 15 min intervals to Stratford/Tottenham hale for improved connections at the latter

 

[J4YWG]

Maybe some of the posters complaining should get a job with Train Planning, they will see how 'easy' it is to retime a train by 2 mins.

I know that everthing has a purpose with how the timetable are made, but for example as robspaceman said the meridian water has basically is own track, of course its hard to retime a train because where is a train late there is 3 behind getting late Aswell

 

[30907]

The half hourly Stratford-meridian water shuttle pretty much has its own section of track (north of Lea Bridge) & its own dedicated platform at Stratford.

Does it not interwork at Stratford with the Stortford train, or is that a misreading of RTT?

 

[robspaceman]

Does it not interwork at Stratford with the Stortford train, or is that a misreading of RTT?

yes it does- some runs behave like a shuttle and some do not, forming the next stortford service (someone else can probably explain it in more accurate terminology!)
the service on the line uses platforms 11&12 at Stratford.
I may have just talked myself into contradicting my earlier point about how ‘simple’ it would be to retime things…

 

[Magdalia]

Does it not interwork at Stratford with the Stortford train, or is that a misreading of RTT?

For most of the day incoming trains from Bishops Stortford go out to Meridian Water and vice versa.

the service on the line uses platforms 11&12 at Stratford

But these are not the only users of platforms 11 and 12. There are ecs moves from/to Orient Way, particularly in the peaks. A few Overground services use them presumably for route retention. There are booked freight paths, and there are short term planning paths.

So the service has to be planned on the basis of only using one platform, to leave a route clear for the other traffic. Given the constraints of minimum reoccupation time and minimum turnround time there is little margin for straying from a regular 15 minute interval.

 

[47421]

If this project progresses there will be a small amount of additional capacity

Ponders End loop

Ian Visits has some more details on the proposed passing loop planned at Ponders End; https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/rail-upgrade-to-increase-train-frequency-at-meridian-water-station-53005/ which includes this track layout. As others have said I can’t quite see what it will achieve...

www.railforums.co.uk

 

[JonathanH]

The half hourly Stratford-meridian water shuttle pretty much has its own section of track (north of Lea Bridge) & its own dedicated platform at Stratford.
So I’d be curious to know exactly what prevents it being shifted by a couple mins - other than a dogged desire for exact 15 min intervals from eg Lea Bridge. As someone who lives at Lea Bridge I’d be more than happy to forgoe exact 15 min intervals to Stratford/Tottenham hale for improved connections at the latter

The issue is that it needs to be shifted by 5 minutes, not a couple of minutes, in both directions, if there is a desire to make it a connection.

Obviously, the Bishops Stortford train is fixed in the timetable by its path north of Tottenham Hale. Reducing the turnaround at Stratford wouldn't be clever either.

 

[bobster1001]

There are direct trains every 30 minutes in the peak between Enfield Lock and Stratford. No change required. Hourly off peak.

Enfield Lock is a good few miles outside Enfield itself. The two stations in the town centre are Enfield Town and Enfield Chase.

 

[306024]

Enfield Lock is a good few miles outside Enfield itself. The two stations in the town centre are Enfield Town and Enfield Chase.

Well yes, but the OP didn't state exactly where they were, and Enfield Town / Chase are not relevant to connections on the Lea Valley line. Could of course use Brimsdown or Ponders End, but in the morning peak these require a 10 minute connection at Tottenham Hale for Stratford.