On 4 Jun, 10:56, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 4 Jun, 10:12, wrote:

I wonder if theres an argument for extending the 3rd rail to kentish
town so dual voltage stock isn't required.

Apart from any other reasons, this would be pretty costly, and require
the installation of a whole new array of kit and more substations.


It wouldn't be very useful. The interim arrangement is more about
having somewhere to send the peak services from the north with the
Moorgate branch gone. There's not really anywhere to terminate them,
so running them through as services to Kent (replacing the SET
Blackfriars services) is the only real option.


But that only accounts for the displaced peak (no-longer Moorgate
bound) Thameslink trains from points north.

I presume terminating the other off-peak trains at City Thameslink and
then perhaps parking them up in the Smithfield sidings until they're
due to head south again is considered impractical given the frequency
of trains on the core Thameslink route. At Kentish Town I presume the
benefit is that the fast Bedford trains will be on the fast tracks,
hence there's less opportunity for terminating/reversing trains to jam
up the whole Thameslink service. Still, I can see plenty of
opportunities for things to go snafu if trains are running late.