"Basil Jet" wrote:
Tony Polson wrote:

Absolutely. I think it is a shame that better use is not made of the
West London line as a third major north-south route.

Are the existing trains on the WLL crowded enough to warrant more?


With the current service, the trains are not sufficiently frequent to
draw people from using a wide range of alternatives, including the
Underground, other National Rail lines, buses and the car. I believe a
much more frequent core Watford Junction to East Croydon service would
attract many more people but there apparently isn't enough capacity
between Clapham Junction and East Croydon.


The Thameslink Line is little used as a through route. I can't remember the
exact percentage quoted in the TL2000 inquiry, but something like 95-97% of
TL journeys start or end in Zone 1. TL2k won't change that. The point of TL
and TL2k is giving people from north and south access to numerous stations
across the central area - giving the north access to the south is a largely
unused side-effect.


Even if 95-97% of TL journeys start or end in Zone 1, so what? Compared
to the situation before Thameslink, where trains from the north went no
further south than St Pancras, and trains from the south went no further
north than Blackfriars, the route offers a wealth of north-south
opportunities that simply didn't exist before without changing trains at
least once.

For example, St Albans (or anywhere points north) to Farringdon, City
Thameslink and London Bridge. Or Redhill (or anywhere points south) to
City Thameslink, Farringdon and Kings Cross/St Pancras. These new
journey opportunities are of immense value, and the fact that they start
or end in Zone 1 is completely irrelevant.


The WLL doesn't have major employment or entertainment
centres on it (apart from Westfield on a Saturday), so will never have the
demand of Thameslink.


No, it won't ever match the demand for Thameslink, but as Peter Masson
rightly pointed out, there is no shortage of retail, entertainment and
other employment and leisure centres on the route. But as long as
radial routes offer vastly more frequent services, those are the routes
that people will choose to take. A much more frequent service between
Watford Junction to East Croydon would make the West London route far
more attractive than it is.

Perhaps comparison should be made with the East London Line rather than
Thameslink?