John B wrote:
asdf wrote:
The plans are for the current (self-contained) WLL service to be
replaced with through running from the NLL (Stratford to Clapham
Junction), so it wouldn't be possible to use a different type of stock
just for the WLL. The Euston to Watford service will be axed
completely, but this only uses something like 4 of the 23 313 units.

It seems apparent to me from the figures that the proposed doubling of
the frequency on the WLL and NLL (and the reopening of the Queens Park
- Camden Road route) will be achieved simply by running the 376s in
addition to the 313s, rather than the 376s replacing the 313s. The
options in the contract would then allow the 313s to be replaced at a
later date with a subsequent build of 376s.

Yehbutnobut.

As far as I can tell (certainly according to NR's RUS -
http://tinyurl.com/hbkhq ), the medium-term plan to take effect by 2009
when these trains are introduced is for:

Stratford - Richmond x 4
Stratford - QP x 2
Barking - Clapham x 2
Barking - Gospel Oak x 2
Watford - Croydon (via Clapham) x 1
Shepherds Bush - Croydon (via Clapham) x 1

This is the same frequency as at present on Stratford to Richmond.
(snip)

The information coming out of various transport orifices regarding the
future "Orbirail" service patterns is a bit of a mess. The most recent
TfL plan prior to the publication of NR's RUS was relatively simple. THe
first phase was:

4tph Stratford to Richmond
4tph CJ to Stratford
2tph Gospel Oak to Barking.

However, NR's RUS now says that TfL's proposal (service variant SLC2 for
implementation in Jan 2011) is the rather bewildering:

4tph Stratford to Richmond
2tph Gospel Oak to Barking
2tph CJ to Willesden Jcn
2tph CJ to Barking
4tph Caledonian Rd to Stratford
and a possible 4tph Caledonian Rd to Dalston "ELL precursor" (what
purpose that would serve, I have no idea - they don't even say whether
that's supposed to be to Kingsland or Junction, and if it's to Junction,
why not just run the proper ELL service?)

Compare that the NR's medium-term proposal; the TfL one offers the
Queen's Park services only as far as Caledonian Road, and offers a
better service on the WLL (4tph exclusive of any Southern services,
rather than inclusive in the NR proposal).

The long-term NR proposal does match up with what TfL proposed for its
second phase:

4tph Stratford to Richmond
4tph CJ to Barking
4tph QP to Stratford

....which would (together with the non-TfL Watford J to East Croydon and
Shepherd's Bush to East Croydon services) also offer an excellent 6tph
between Shepherd's Bush and Clapham Junction.

I'm going to assume that what NR state TfL's SLC2 specification to be in
this Cross-London RUS supercedes what TfL originally submitted to the
RUS consultation.

The newer version only offers half the service (4tph) between Gospel Oak
and Camden Road - although perhaps this is to avoid the scenario in the
previous proposal where new demand might be generated by the 8tph along
that corridor, only for the service to fall back to 4tph later on. I'm
also unsure quite why TfL offer 2 extra tph on the WLL from the start
whilst NR delay it until the long-term.

It's all very confusing! Previous reports also suggested that the
Olympics transport package was funding improvements for 6-car trains on
the NLL, but that now seems unnecessary...

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