Jonn Elledge wrote:
"Roger H. Bennett" wrote in message
Once again Thameslink has been quite successful with fast(ish) trains from
Luton to Brighton. If that could be expanded to give one or two trains an
hour from Peterborough to suitable destinations in Kent, Surrey or Sussex
I should have thought that would be useful.

I agree there should be a few paths an hour as these have been quite
successful. But I don't think every town in the south needs a connection to
either Luton or Peterborough;

I agree. And anyway it would be impractical: there are too many possible
destinations. A better target for long-distance journeys via London
would be to reduce two changes to one, by running trains across the
centre to a terminus the other side. Brussels does this, apart from
Eurostar - trains to the north start from the south station, and vice
versa.

while I do think that every bit of South London needs a direct connection
to central and northern London. Hence I think suburban services should be
the priority.

Agree again, but these trains should be frequent enough for one change
to have little effect on journey time.

Run your cross-London services on the most popular routes - but
liberally provide interchanges to maximise one-change journey
possibilities as well as direct ones.

That means Crossrail 1 needs to connect with the Piccadilly - and not
just at Heathrow.


Colin McKenzie