London Banter - View Single Post - Why the piccadilly to Heathrow , why not the District?

Nigel Pendse · October 21st 03, 12:53 PM posted to uk.transport.london

"Johnny Mo" wrote in message
om
(Boltar) wrote in message
om...
Something I was wondering the other day , when the extension to
Heathrow airport was built why didn't they re-extend the district
line to Hounslow and beyond and divert the piccadilly to ealing?
Why? Because district trains are much bigger and so they would have
been much more room for passengers and their luggage rather than the
pokey little tube trains on the picc.

Was there a good reason for not doing this given the benefits it
would have entailed for passengers with luggage?

B2003

No one has yet noted there are legal differences between sub-surface
stock ( district line) and tube stock (picc). To put a district train
thru a single bore tunnel would require a whole new fleet. Tube (and
WAGN class 313) need lengthwise evacuation, sub-surface stock does
not.

Inter-car movement on the D stock seems no harder than on Tube stock, so is
that just a question of carrying a (longer) ramp in the cab? Presumably the
fire resistance is much the same in all UG stock.