|"D7666" wrote in message
...
On Feb 6, 11:28 am, Alec 1SJ wrote:
Don't get me wrong: I don't want thameslink to come through Crystal
Palace or Gipsy Hill, but I might like some other lines to be extended
and so I wander why now that so many other stations in South London
get thameslink trains stopping, these stations get none?

|I think this is a very valid question.
|
|I have long been of the opinion that the *current* TL operation (never
|mind who the franchise holder is) before TL2000 / TLP came along is
|too restrictive in that there are 2 patterns of 4 TPH i.e. Bedford
|Brighton and Luton/Snorbens - Sutton. Back in NSe / BR TOU days there
|was a wider range of stations served like Guildford and Sevenoaks and
|those got taken away. That was a great loss in my view. I would have
|had least 4 route / station calling patterns south of Thames -
|probably 4 routes each 2 TPH that grouped through the core to the 2 x
|4 TPH to the north.
|
|Of course TL can't serve every station - but I do think there should
|have been a greater range in ''metro'' destinations served in the
|current operation, and should be served under TLP rather than longer
|distance routes. TL will forever be a heavy metro operation through
|the core not a fast regional link and I think it would be better off
|focussing on being a sort of large overground contributing to London
|suburban routes rather than an extended network of cross linked
|regional services.
|

One problem with the original incarnation of Thameslink in BR days was that
too much thought was given to serving the maximum number of stations and not
enough as to how this was to be practically achieved. The result was some
very slow journeys by some very circuitous routes.

I personally had a go on the Guildford route once. It was like one of those
enthusiasts' railtours - you got to see a lot of interesting track and not a
few junction curves, but unless you were out for pleasure or had a phobia
about the Underground it was a pretty pointless exercise. Anyone travelling
to some purpose for whom journey time had any importance could find a number
of much quicker options.

A similar thing happened with the "Anglia" experiment to Basingstoke. Nice
idea, but absolutely lousy pathing and much too slow to attract any
significant custom.

Even today, Kings Cross to Waterloo via Thameslink and London Bridge is
significantly slower than via the Victoria and Bakerloo lines - I tried it
once just to see.

Hopefully, once the Thameslink scheme is finally complete, it will lift many
of the severe speed restrictions on the central "core" and allow trains to
traverse this route at a speed which compares favourably with cycling on the
parallel road network. This, together with a bit more thought about proper
pathing on the outlying sections will, with luck, provide both more varied
and more useful journey options than in the past.
--
- Yokel -

"Yokel" posts via a spam-trap account which is not read.