Mizter T wrote:
Edward Cowling London UK wrote:

Is this cattle truck scenario the norm ??

Er, yeah. It's a London commuter train, I don't know many un-bovinified.

TfL have ambitious plans for the NLL once they take over in November,
but as yet I don't think there's been any talk of lengthened trains,
just some plans for more frequent trains though I don't think there's
anything concrete yet.

Frequency, frequency, frequency, it's all about frequency. Frequency
improves availability as well as increasing capacity, and of course is
far more convenient. If you want to discourage people from driving you
have to remove the perceived extra cost of trains in terms of loss of
convenience. People aren't going to put up with 4tph. It has to be tube
frequencies.

Running longer trains on the NLL would require a number of stations to
have their platforms extended, which is easy in places but much harder
in others (such as at Kentish Town West). I have read somewhere
(either here on uk.railway) that Network Rail's Route Utilisation
Strategy doesn't anticipate the NLL needing longer trains for the next
few years - which is a bit of a surprise when you've seen it in cattle
transportation mode!

How much would they be extended? I just muse that it doesn't seem to
effect the Clapham tube stations or any of the other horizontally
challenged platforms on the tube...

The NLL has seemingly turned from a forgotten backwater of London's
rail system to become a very popular orbital link, but it's now almost
too popular for it's own good.

I'm not sure if there's really any such thing as unpopular PT in London.
Ultimately the demand is always there. Saying it isn't because the
satisfaction of that demand does not exist seems disingenuous.

Dan