Tom Anderson wrote:
On Mon, 15 May 2006, Dave Arquati wrote:

Tom Anderson wrote:
On Sun, 14 May 2006, Paul Weaver wrote:

Edward Cowling wrote

Just about every night last week the Hammersmith & ****ty line was
either delayed or not running at all.

Does anyone ever use this line (aside from the trackshare bits)?
I've always found it faster to use the District/Picc/Central. The
lack of time indicators at stations West of Paddington (inclusive)
doesn't help either. Be nice if, on Paddington station, they had a
sign in the main concourse saying "next H&C train 12 minutes"

A couple of colleagues use it regularly; both work at UCL, which is
hard by Euston Square station, and live near either Royal Oak or
Shepherd's Bush (i think - somewhere out west, anyway). The one who
lives in Shepherd's Bush could get the Central line, but it would
involve a walk or a change, so usually doesn't.

I find using the Central & Victoria lines to get from Shepherd's Bush
to UCL (via Warren St) vastly superior to the H&C - even with the
reasonably lengthy change at Oxford Circus, the C&V route is quicker,
more frequent and more reliable.

Blimey. A trip involving a rush-hour change at Oxford Circus is better?
I had no idea the H&C was *that* bad. I'll mention it - although the
colleague in question is just starting a new job near Old Street, and is
considering moving too!

The poor frequency of the H&C makes it busy, whilst the flat junctions
make it extremely slow in the central section. The run between
Hammersmith and Paddington isn't so bad. After that though, there's a
danger that any problem on the Circle, District or Met will snowball to
all the other subsurface lines. The H&C and Circle seem to get the brunt
because they share will all the others. If a full H&C train gets turfed
out at Edgware Road en route to the City, it's a complete nightmare - it
seems to take the next three Circle/H&C trains to accommodate everyone.

Automatic operation on the Central and Victoria lines seems to make a
big difference to running times, and my personal experience of both is
of quite high reliability.

--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London