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Old April 17th 05, 04:09 PM posted to uk.transport.london
asdf asdf is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Feb 2005
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Default Why are Silverlink Metro trains NEVER on time ?

TfL are set to direct the Silverlink Metro services soon,

Any idea how soon is soon?

and they are
seriously considering re-extending the Bakerloo to Watford and
re-assessing the Silverlink services - they consider that there is an
over-supply of service to central London between Wealdstone and Queen's
Park.


I think people here are underestimating how popular Euston is as a
destination - last time I was in the area around morning peak time
(Willesden Junction at 9:30am on a weekday), the southbound Bakerloo
trains were practically empty (even the ones that hadn't just come
from the depot), but when a southbound Silverlink turned up (7 mins
late) it was *packed solid*. Don't forget the Silverlink runs almost
non-stop from Queen's Park to Euston (a fair distance), which is handy
if you want that part of London without all the faffing around in the
Warwick Ave/Paddington area. According to CULG, the reason the
Bakerloo was cut back from Watford to Wealdstone was that almost all
passengers north of Wealdstone wanted to go to Euston.

To be honest I'd probably be happiest with the status quo, provided
they can get everything running on time. Otherwise, I think it'd be
best if the Bakerloo were cut back to Queen's Park (except for depot
access) and the Silverlink frequency were boosted to a decent level
(say 12tph peak, 6tph off-peak?). Anyone wanting the Bakerloo would
have an easy cross-platform change at Queen's Park with only a short
wait (much of the time there's a Bakerloo already waiting in the
platform). The separation of services would presumably solve the
current problems, and there would be high frequencies all round (and
to both choices of central destination).

Otherwise, I suppose another way to segregate the services would be to
extend the Bakerloo to Watford and turn the Silverlink into a Queen's
Park - Euston shuttle, but I don't think that would work as well or be
as popular.

Some services from Watford might be diverted down the West London Line.


Would they be able to stop at Willesden Junction?