On Wed, 16 Jun 2004, Mark Townend wrote:

"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
...

Am i right in thinking that it's normal double track downward from
Barnes in the direction of Richmond and Reading? Doesn't that mean
that local services via Richmond have to share with mainline services
to Reading? Doesn't that suck?

Firstly, thanks for the info!

The timetable is a compromise. On the shared sections west of Barnes,
the Stopping trains have to precede the Fasts by a margin equal to the
normal platfrom reoccupation time plus the difference in running time
between the shared sections extremites, perhaps the Stopper turning off
at Twickenham or Staines. The difference in running time is the limiting
factor on capacity as it effectively freezes out regular parts of the
hour that could be used by a more frequent all stopping service.

I guess that's the answer to the last bit - no, you can't run frequent
local services here without screwing over the fast trains. Obvious, i
suppose!

tom

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