On Mon, 05 Dec 2005 14:44:46 +0000, asdf
wrote:

On Mon, 5 Dec 2005 12:52:45 +0000 (UTC), marcb
wrote:

Well, the walk was an easy one. The stations on the line (esp Watford High
Street) look pretty dismal though.

I wonder if Silverlink not doing anything to make their
trains/stations more attractive is because the trains are already
crammed in the peaks, so there's no point doing anything that might
draw more passengers?

I think there are a couple of other issues - one is that they have only
a short time left on the franchise. The second is that I suspect the
current franchise did not fund any sort of substantial improvement to
what are really very big and old station structures which are way out of
proportion to the use made of them. Finally what improvements there have
been have been funded by TfL so if you can raid someone else's piggy
bank you're not going to spend your own cash when you can give to the
shareholders.

Incidentally, it was mentioned in uk.railway the other day that TfL
plan to restore the Bakerloo service to Watford Junction in 2010.
Service will be 6tph, with the extra trains required being provided by
'67 stock coming off the Vic. So expect station improvements around
then. (No word on what will happen to the Euston service, but at a
guess it will be cut back to peak hours only if not axed completely.)

This is in the latest Modern Railways and is tied in with TfL being
given the Silverlink Metro franchise to manage by the DfT. If DfT agree
I think you will see a lot of interesting things emerging. The envisaged
eventual service pattern across the WLL, NLL and GOBLIN is most
intriguing.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!