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Old February 17th 06, 08:07 PM posted to uk.transport.london
Paul Corfield Paul Corfield is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: Jul 2003
Posts: 3,995
Default Chingford line frequency

On Thu, 16 Feb 2006 18:21:59 +0000, "Clive D. W. Feather"
wrote:

A colleague of mine lives near the Liverpool Street to Chingford branch,
and is under the impression that the service has recently increased from
2tph to 4tph. He comments that the trains were previously half empty and
are now three quarters empty.

Is he correct about the increase? If so, does anyone know why One made
this rather drastic change (assuming my colleague is right about the
loadings).


Having looked at the timetable the increase is as he describes. I have
to say I had not noticed and yet I go through Walthamstow Central every
day. The improvements such as the 15 min evening service and late trains
until 0100 are all good ideas. There is, of course, no change for M-F
peaks and daytimes except that the AM peak service to Chingford was x30
to allow 2 trains an hour to run back empty to provide the x15 service
to Liverpool St. Nice to see Saturday services back to x15 after being
hacked back to x20 when One took over.

I see from other posts that the actual implementation has been a farce.
I don't use the line very much but the improvements are a good idea -
shame they are now delayed for the best of a year due to One's
incompetence. The line can be quite busy as it provides an important
link in Waltham Forest and the Clapton / Hackney Downs stops do
reasonably well. This sort of turn up and go service coupled with a very
limited Oyster Pre-Pay availability (from W'Stow) should generate more
traffic.

As an aside I looked at the service on other Lea Valley routes and it
seems that Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath and London Fields have all
gained a much improved weekend and evening service and also a more
balance peak / off peak service. Again trains typically every 15 minutes
as opposed to no service at times or just x30. I am pleased to see that
there is another attempt to provide a decent service from these stations
following the failure of the last initiative (Jazz Train?) back in the
80s under BR and the GLC?

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!