In message , at 17:49:58 on Sun, 5 Jun
2011, tim.... remarked:

Many events do start at 9 am. This will require arrivals at mainline London
stations about 8.00.

Which means departures from much of the country at 6am... and
unavailable departures before that from the rest.

I don't understand this "night" peak.

AIUI about 6 million people create the normal London peak flows. Even if
all of the Olympic venues finish late it isn't going to be more than
250,000, a fraction of the normal peak so why's it a problem?

Because many Intercity routes shut down too early. On the ECML, the last
train to Newcastle is 10pm, and the next and last train (also serving
intermediate stations of course) is 11.30pm to Leeds.

People trying to get to those trains from an event typically finishing
at 10pm in the Olympic Park would miss the Newcastle one and all be
shoehorned on the Leeds one.

I'm sure the timings are similar for many other routes, which will often
be further from the Park than Kings Cross.

The railways have another solution (on top of the extra late trains) -
make tickets transferable to the morning of the next day. What I haven't
seen is any idea where those passengers will spend the night.
--
Roland Perry