On 5 Jun, 00:28, wrote:
"Paul Scott" wrote in message

...



Permanent closure of the NR lines between Farringdon and Moorgate,
primarily so that the NR platforms at Farringdon can be extended
southwards over the existing junction for 12 car Thameslink trains.
Secondly, the 24 tph throughput planned for the central section could not
operate across the flat junction anyway, even if there was an alternative
way of extending the platforms - they can't extend to the north because of
the diveunder to get to the other side of the LU tracks.

When exactly is the closure due to happen and what will thus happen to the
tracks between Farringdon and Moorgate?

March 2009 I think and no-one knows, one common suggestion is that
they could then be used for LU sidings. Talk on the District Dave
forum is that the new 7-car S-stock trains for the LU SSL lines are
going to be too long for some of the existing berthing points, so
perhaps here's a solution for that, perhaps not - without knowing all
the details it's hard to say.


The parallel running of LUL trains from Farringdon to Moorgate via Barbican
probably does make this service redundant. But is there really no way of
extending the Farringdom platforms north?

No, unless you totally rebuild everything including the alignment of
the Met/Circle line at massive cost whilst causing an enormous
disturbance.

The north end of the platforms are already at a fair old slope, and
even if they were to be extended to the north they still wouldn't be
long enough.

Here's a couple of photos from Wikipedia, though I'm not sure how well
they illustrate the true level of the incline:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:F...n_TL_north.JPG
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:F...C_overhead.JPG


I presume that the peaktime Thameslink through trains to Moorgate are
indeed popular with some City commuters, but in the future passengers
will be able to transfer at Farringdon to LU to do this journey. I can
see that the idea of a siding where trains to & from points north
could be reversed or 'parked up' if there was trouble further south
might be useful. However both of these factors have to be weighed
against the crucial need to increase capacity and hence lengthen
platforms. The Moorgate branch just isn't that important.