"Peter Campbell Smith" wrote :
... many passengers appreciate the ability to travel from,
say, south London to King's Cross without having to change to the tube.
If
you're mobility-impaired, elderly or have luggage, it's a significant
benefit.
The other operational benefit is not having to disperse huge passenger
inflows at terminals, and of course there is an operational disbenefit in
that disruption in south London propagates to Bedford and vice versa.
I spent a while shuttling between various industrial sites around Paris
and
the RER really is a boon for that: in London it would have been
train-tube-
train, but in Paris it was typically one quick change at Chatelet.

I totally agree; I still dream of an elevated railway linking charing cross
with Marylebone, and Waterloo to Euston for just those reasons.

But don't worry, I'm not holding my breath on those proposals!
--

Andrew

"She plays the tuba.
It is the only instrument capable
of imitating a distress call."