On Jun 4, 10:09*pm, Sky Rider wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
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.

That is true, and according to Nick Lawford the sidings will close when
the Key Output 0 service starts.

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.

*All* cross-London FCC TL services use the Moorgate (TL) lines south of
Kentish Town Jn (between West Hampstead Thameslink and Kentish Town).
Using the same point of reference,* services on the fast and
slow/carriage (MML) lines reverse at London St Pancras (high-level) and
Kentish Town respectively.

It is expected that off-peak joint FCC TL/SER services will
start/terminate at Kentish Town on the Moorgate lines, but only by
virtue of heading ECS to/from Cricklewood sidings.

[* OK, Carlton Road Jn (also between WHP and KTN) is the point of
reference for the fast lines since Kentish Town Jn does not include them]

I'm not sure why the off-peak joint TL/SER services would have to run
ECS to cricklewood sidings. There is spare platform capacity (4
platforms, 6 tracks) at Kentish Town and the current SER service is
only every 30 mins. Running ECS to cricklewood just moves the conflict
with existing services further north, the northbound terminating
trains would have to cross the southbound at a flat junction. Whereas
at Kentish Town, the northbound terminating trains can stop in the
current 'normal' northbound platform whilst the northbound thameslink
trains run past on the other side of the island, as sometimes happens
already when there is a service disruption.

Just because the northbound 'fast' TL trains currently stay on the
Down Moorgate line through the station, doesn't mean that they have to
keep doing so from the timetable change.

The other question is what happens to the imbalance in services during
the peak. At present there are more Moorgate terminators than there
are Blackfriars terminators, so where are the 'extras' from the north
going to go?