On Feb 28, 10:18*pm, Chris Sanderson wrote:
On Feb 28, 5:24*pm, eastender wrote:

I've seen a note somewhere that trains starting at Highbury won't run to
New Cross, only to New Cross Gate and beyond - you have to change to a
train starting at Dalston for New Cross. Is this right and why?

E.

It would be difficult if not impossible to run the full ELL service
using just two terminal platforms at H&I - hence the bays at Dalston.
As people from H&I are much more likely to want trains along the West
Croydon/Crystal Palace branch than New Cross, the fewest people are
inconvenienced by having to change trains.


Running a five minute frequency service using just two terminating
platforms shouldn't really be a problem, several London Underground
locations manage more than this (for example the Victoria line at
Brixton). It is 'only' one train reversing every ten minutes in each
platform. The problem comes with having to allow for delays in the
services coming off the mainline through New Cross Gate, meaning that
trains have to have longer to reverse than necessary to adsorb any
delays. A way around this would be to have a flexible diagramming of
units, so a late arriving service at Highbury & Islington has its
departing service taken over by the next train available (with the
destinations of the two trains swapped). This happens a fair amount on
LU, where trains are often reformed to a different destination to deal
with delays.