On Oct 25, 7:40*pm, E27002 wrote:

*It is a pity IMHO that the West London lines
has to carry such a mix of local, transit, intercity, and freight
traffic. *From what I have read, there is little room for more
traffic.

In its present form, yes, although increasing linespeed, replacing the
three-aspect signals with 4-aspect, reinstating the southbound loop at
Olympia (as has already been mentioned), relaying the points at
Olympia to allow higher-speed entry and exit to the loop (and ensuring
any new loop is also so fitted) and extending the AC electrification
to Shepherd's Bush (so that time need not be wasted stopped at North
Pole to do the changeover) could all help to increase capacity.

BTW, there are now no InterCity (or similar) trains on the line
following the December 2008 timetable change when the Cross Country
services to Brighton were withdrawn.