On Feb 28, 7:14*pm, Ken Wheatley wrote:
On 2011-02-28 15:01:49 +0000, Paul said:





On Feb 28, 2:24 pm, Jim [wake wrote:
In article ,
says...

It doesn't keep local passengers off the trains. I use the Stansted
Express all the time to get fron Liverpool Street to Tottenham Hale,
and vice versa. Incidentally, when you get on the train the automated
announcement says "..Welcome to the Stansted Express, this train calls
at Tottenham Hale......"

Tottenham Hale is not shown on the departure boards at Liverpool
Street to discourage local passengers, but it doesn't work and no
attempt is made to enforce this rule.

When an up Stansted Express calls at Tottenham Hale it is announced as
being for Liverpool St, so travel on the SE in that direction is hardly
discouraged.

I see to have a vague memory of real efforts being made to discourage
LS - TH only travel (and vv) when the service first started, presumably
to maintain the nice, tidy state of the empty class 322s then in use.
Now I suspect the only reason the restriction exists is because it
always has, unless it's because of ORCATS rules (yes, I know it's all a
single operator at the moment) or a BAA subsidy requirement.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

In the early days of the Stansted Express, it was meant to be just an
airport service, and it ran non stop from Tottenham Hale to the
airport. Then people in places such as Harlow Town and Bishops
Stortford began demanding services to the airport, so some of the
services were stopped at those stations. So now you have airport
passengers mixing with commuters. If you have ever been on a Friday
afternoon departure from Liverpool Street, especially one which is
shortened to four carriages only, you know what a pain this can be,
with luggage blocking doorways, gangways and seats.

They didn't always advertise southbound Stansted Express services at
Tottenham Hale. So you could have a situation where the departure
board said the next train was in 20 minutes time, whereas locals in
the know would know that there would be one in two minutes.

I remember one occasion when the 07:55 to Liverpool Street (ex
Cambridge) was cancelled. The next train was the 07:59 Stansted
Express which was officially set down only. An announcement was made
to the effect that anyone who boarded the train would be charged a £10
penalty fare. Cue the air turning blue with plenty of four letter
words, plus lots of suggestions as to where they could stick the
Penalty Fare notices.