On Sat, 29 Jul 2006 13:29:17 +0930, Aidan Stanger wrote:

What ever happened to the proposal too run a branch from the central
line to Richmond and discontinue the district service? Was it all
connected to Crossrail going ahead?

It would have increased frequency on all branches of the District, and
on the Circle too.

I can see how it would've done so on the District, but how would it
increase the frequency on the Circle?

If you wait on the westbound Circle/District platform at somewhere
like Victoria, you should see (if all is going to plan) a cycle of
westbound destinations; something like: Ealing Broadway, Wimbledon,
Richmond, Circle Line, then the cycle repeats. Each cycle lasts 8.5
minutes at peak time, and this is the peak frequency on each District
branch and the Circle.

So, Circle frequency cannot currently be increased without reducing
the (already low) frequency on some or all of the District branches.

A bit of guesswork on my part suggests that if the Richmond branch
were transferred to another line (e.g. Crossrail), the cycle could
simply have the Richmond destination removed, shortening it to 6 mins
or so.