"David B" wrote in message
...
West Croydon trains get 3 minutes recovery time at Dalston Junction. This
might explain slow running.

It is not 'recovery time', it is a 2 minute dwell to maintain the regular
intervals between services either side of Dalston Jn (DJ). Trains from
Highbury & Islington (H&I) run 7.5 mins apart (8 tph), south of DJ they run
at 5 min intervals (12 tph). If the dwell wasn't there trains would be
leaving H&I at intervals of 5 and 10 mins apart - and people would no doubt
be complaining about that.

I already mentioned all this in the second post of this thread, but this
planned wait will not be necessary once the 16 tph service starts, because
the 8 tph starting from H&I will integrate smoothly with the 8 tph starting
from DJ.

The timetable for Dec 10th shows that what you think of as 'recovery time'
has disappeared, as you'd expect, because the service frequency is now
balanced.

(As an aside, it's the West Croydon and New Cross services that reverse at
DJ in the new timetable, but that doesn't alter the explanation above.)

Paul S