Northern line services

[danielcanning]

Why are there currently more Edgware services than High Barnet services? Ever since the Bank closure the frequency on the Barnet branch has tanked, often with three Edgware trains to every High Barnet/Mill Hill East service.

 

[Dstock7080]

From which station?
trains operate from Edgware and High Barnet at the same frequency.

 

[danielcanning]

From which station?
trains operate from Edgware and High Barnet at the same frequency.

Waterloo, I travel from there almost every day and I’d say that three out of four trains is an Edgware service, I’ve often had to wait over ten minutes for a High Barnet/Mill Hill service.

 

[rebmcr]

Waterloo, I travel from there almost every day and I’d say that three out of four trains is an Edgware service, I’ve often had to wait over ten minutes for a High Barnet/Mill Hill service.

That'll be sampling bias — you never see the instances of three High Barnets in a row, because you get the first one.

 

[bramling]

Why are there currently more Edgware services than High Barnet services? Ever since the Bank closure the frequency on the Barnet branch has tanked, often with three Edgware trains to every High Barnet/Mill Hill East service.

I think this is more perception than reality. However the reintroduction of a through Mill Hill service last September has caused the service on the Barnet/Mill Hill branch to become more erratic than it was before. And the presence of Mill Hill trains (which in the timetable replace Barnet trains) means there are now built-in gaps to Barnet. Get a cancellation adjacent to a Mill Hill train and that’s a 9-minute gap to Barnet.

 

[davews]

I had to wait for the third train last week before an Edgware one arrived....

 

[endicomark69@g]

I've no access to the current timetable anymore, but I can confirm travelling Waterloo to Colindale for a week last week there WERE more Edgware trains than Barnet on every trip. For a change I wasn't complaining.

Whether the "same number to each side" is the aggregated service by the time you get to Euston/Camden I won't dispute, but that might mean a greater number of Barnet trains on the service pattern to/from Moorgate and reversing.

 

[notverydeep]

I've no access to the current timetable anymore, but I can confirm travelling Waterloo to Colindale for a week last week there WERE more Edgware trains than Barnet on every trip. For a change I wasn't complaining.

Whether the "same number to each side" is the aggregated service by the time you get to Euston/Camden I won't dispute, but that might mean a greater number of Barnet trains on the service pattern to/from Moorgate and reversing.

The timetable (during the Bank Blockade) is on the TfL website: https://content.tfl.gov.uk/ttn-02-22-nor-16-jan-2022.pdf

HTH...

 

[Enthusiast]

Current departures NB Northern Line from Waterloo:

Northern toHigh Barnet via CXDue
Northern toEdgware via CXdeparting in1 min
Northern toHigh Barnet via CXdeparting in5 mins
Northern toHigh Barnet via CXdeparting in9 mins
Northern toEdgware via CXdeparting in10 mins
Northern toEdgware via CXdeparting in11 mins
Northern toGolders Green via CXdeparting in13 mins
Northern toHigh Barnet via CXdeparting in17 mins
Northern toEdgware via CXdeparting in20 mins
Northern toHigh Barnet via CXdeparting in22 mins
Northern toHigh Barnet via CXdeparting in25 mins

So, Barnet, Edgware, Barnet, Barnet, Edgware, Edgware, Edgware, Barnet, Edgware, Barnet, Barnet.

Five Edgware, six Barnet. Longest gap for a Barnet line train, 8 mins. For an Edgware Line train 9 mins.

 

[Mojo]

Current departures NB Northern Line from Waterloo:

I feel it’s worth pointing out that the information available online is slightly unreliable for the purposes of comparing destinations and the order of trains in advance.

The arrival board on the TfL website (which is where I’m guessing you’ve gotten this from, or some other website powered by the same API) has a limitation in that the train detail (ie. destination and time to arrival) seem to be based on a set run time from where they are at the location the page is opened. In the instance of Waterloo Northbound Northern line, it seems to have a time of around 10 Min from Battersea Power Station, even though the train may only have just arrived and could not be departing for more than 10 Minutes.

An example that I just observed, it had 3 trains to the Barnet branch in a row, in this order Barnet, Barnet, Mill Hill East, Edgware. Refreshing the page a few minutes later it had changed to Barnet, Edgware, Mill Hill East, Golders. What had happened is, the ‘first’ Barnet train had come
from Morden and ran as per the website, the second Barnet, and Mill Hill trains were in platforms at Battersea; the pre-set runtime says a train at Battersea will arrive in 10 Min and the 4th train, to Golders, had also come from Morden. As neither of the trains at Battersea were moving due to awaiting their departure times, but the Edgware was moving, its pre-set runtime was less than 10 Minutes so actually became the second train. The Mill Hill train was actually the first to depart (when I looked the Barnet had only just arrived so wasn’t due to depart for 12 Minutes, let alone be at Waterloo in 10 Min as the website implied).

 

[Enthusiast]

Interesting. Thanks for that. I wasn't aware how it worked (in fact I hadn't considered how it worked at all - I just assumed that it did!). With that in mind, a more reliable method might be to undertake the same exercise but as far as possible from Kennington (say Mornington Crescent to avoid complications with the Bank branch). It's 15 minutes from Kennington to MC so any departures from there (MC) in under that time should be reliable as, regardless of their origin, they should already have left Kennington. I've watched it for 20 mins or so and it seems it is - as far as the running order goes, that is. The timings are a little less reliable. At one point there were three trains all due in one minute! But they did seem to maintain their running order at MC. During that time there were three Barnets in a row followed by three consecutive Edgwares.

 

[Jamiescott1]

Northbound bank branch used to always be high Barnet branch trains between 7am and 9.30 weekdays.
Since the blockage they've scrapped this and my perception is a lot more Edgware trains

 

[Mikey C]

I thought of this thread yesterday, as High Barnet customers definitely got the better deal with the truncated service (major engineering works), with their trains all running to Charing Cross, whereas the Edgware branch trains all ran just to Euston (Bank Branch)!