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James · September 3rd 04, 05:03 AM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.railway

(Neil Williams) wrote in message ...
On 2 Sep 2004 08:43:34 -0700, (James) wrote:

Okay, so how about getting a couple of Meridians and running them in
VXC's slot between Birmingham and Coventry (divert VXC via Solihull,
swap the 323s on the Coventry line for the 150s on the Walsall Line
and extend them to Leamington), then either direct or via Northampton
to Milton Keynes, where the train can join the Slow Lines and either
run via Bicester Town to Oxford or via Aylesbury to Marylebone?

Or how about the sensible option, which would be to continue calling
Virgin trains at Milton Keynes Central in the morning peak, but making
them a strictly-enforced set-down only (towards London) / pick-up only
(away from London) with the fare from the last proper stop being
charged if anyone boards?

The currently-planned situation is nothing short of ridiculous.

Neil

How is that sensible, given Virgin Trains' sparse ticket checks? You'd
end up with no improvement on the current overcrowding. The sensible
decision would be either not to split the Slow Line service at
Northampton, or to institute a new fast service not going to Euston.

In a way it's a pity the 390s weren't built with 3rd Rail shoes - that
way they could have rerouted the Brighton Cross-Country service via
Milton Keynes (so someone would actually use it - the current paths
via Oxford could be diverted to Portsmouth). I guess they could still
use 221s/222s, but it does seem a dreadful waste of good electric
territory.