Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

Now that the Class 378s have fully displaced the 313s and 508s on the
Overground, been mostly lengthened to 4 cars and have been running for
nearly two years, have they produced the expected increases in
patronage, ridership numbers and revenue? I am especially interested
to know if the horrific ridership conditions on the core NLL section
between Willesden and Stratford have been eliminated or mitigated by
all of the new standing room space on the 378s, given the initial
complaints about the lack of seats. I'm also interested to know how
greatly the Southern and Southeastern services in and out of London
Bridge have been affected by the ELL services from Croydon, Crystal
Palace and New Cross, and if the WLL continues to increase in usage
thanks to the new Westfield development. Have the 378s been a total
success, or just successful?

Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

On 30/05/2011 03:21, TheOneKEA wrote:
Now that the Class 378s have fully displaced the 313s and 508s on the
Overground, been mostly lengthened to 4 cars and have been running for
nearly two years, have they produced the expected increases in
patronage, ridership numbers and revenue? I am especially interested
to know if the horrific ridership conditions on the core NLL section
between Willesden and Stratford have been eliminated or mitigated by
all of the new standing room space on the 378s, given the initial
complaints about the lack of seats. I'm also interested to know how
greatly the Southern and Southeastern services in and out of London
Bridge have been affected by the ELL services from Croydon, Crystal
Palace and New Cross, and if the WLL continues to increase in usage
thanks to the new Westfield development. Have the 378s been a total
success, or just successful?

Define total success?

You are talking about a dynamic situation so what is successful today
may not be quite so tomorrow, and vice versa.

As to your first question why don't you do some original research and
make a few trips along the relevant sections of line at the approprotae
times of day and report back your findings.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

UK Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

On May 29, 7:21*pm, TheOneKEA wrote:
Now that the Class 378s have fully displaced the 313s and 508s on the
Overground, been mostly lengthened to 4 cars and have been running for
nearly two years, have they produced the expected increases in
patronage, ridership numbers and revenue? I am especially interested
to know if the horrific ridership conditions on the core NLL section
between Willesden and Stratford have been eliminated or mitigated by
all of the new standing room space on the 378s, given the initial
complaints about the lack of seats. I'm also interested to know how
greatly the Southern and Southeastern services in and out of London
Bridge have been affected by the ELL services from Croydon, Crystal
Palace and New Cross, and if the WLL continues to increase in usage
thanks to the new Westfield development. Have the 378s been a total
success, or just successful?

In response: I cannot answer your question. But, I can report on two
journeys I have made this year utilizing the Overground. The first
was early in the year from Highbury & Islington to Kentish Town West.
The second was early in May from Canada Water to Highbury and
Islington. Both trips were on Sundays.

The Overground is clean, tidy and a great improvement on the old NLL
and ELL. The renewed stations are spacious and reasonably well
equipped. The 378s perform well. The seating is not ideal but
functional. The carriage maps appear very crowded since the cover the
entire Overground Network. The service was reasonably frequent. For
a Sunday, the routes seemed very well utilized. Whilst not full to
overcrowding, there were plenty of passengers in Evidence.

Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

On May 30, 4:28*am, Graeme Wall wrote:
On 30/05/2011 03:21, TheOneKEA wrote:

Now that the Class 378s have fully displaced the 313s and 508s on the
Overground, been mostly lengthened to 4 cars and have been running for
nearly two years, have they produced the expected increases in
patronage, ridership numbers and revenue? I am especially interested
to know if the horrific ridership conditions on the core NLL section
between Willesden and Stratford have been eliminated or mitigated by
all of the new standing room space on the 378s, given the initial
complaints about the lack of seats. I'm also interested to know how
greatly the Southern and Southeastern services in and out of London
Bridge have been affected by the ELL services from Croydon, Crystal
Palace and New Cross, and if the WLL continues to increase in usage
thanks to the new Westfield development. Have the 378s been a total
success, or just successful?

Define total success?

A minimum 50% increase in ridership in the off-peak hours and a 75%
increase in the peaks.


You are talking about a dynamic situation so what is successful today
may not be quite so tomorrow, and vice versa.

As to your first question why don't you do some original research and
make a few trips along the relevant sections of line at the approprotae
times of day and report back your findings.


I did so in 2010 during the off-peaks, and my findings at the time
were that the NLL had substantially more through traffic, much larger
usage on the core section east of Willesden and west of Stratford and
had several stations (such as the stations in Hackney) that were very
crowded. Compared to my trips on the line in 2006 it was a massive
improvement.

I'm asking again because I haven't ridden the line since and I wanted
to know what more regular users thought.

Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

On 30/05/2011 12:22, TheOneKEA wrote:
On May 30, 4:28 am, Graeme wrote:
On 30/05/2011 03:21, TheOneKEA wrote:

Now that the Class 378s have fully displaced the 313s and 508s on the
Overground, been mostly lengthened to 4 cars and have been running for
nearly two years, have they produced the expected increases in
patronage, ridership numbers and revenue? I am especially interested
to know if the horrific ridership conditions on the core NLL section
between Willesden and Stratford have been eliminated or mitigated by
all of the new standing room space on the 378s, given the initial
complaints about the lack of seats. I'm also interested to know how
greatly the Southern and Southeastern services in and out of London
Bridge have been affected by the ELL services from Croydon, Crystal
Palace and New Cross, and if the WLL continues to increase in usage
thanks to the new Westfield development. Have the 378s been a total
success, or just successful?

Define total success?

A minimum 50% increase in ridership in the off-peak hours and a 75%
increase in the peaks.


Genuine question, why those particular figures to define total success?


You are talking about a dynamic situation so what is successful today
may not be quite so tomorrow, and vice versa.

As to your first question why don't you do some original research and
make a few trips along the relevant sections of line at the approprotae
times of day and report back your findings.


I did so in 2010 during the off-peaks, and my findings at the time
were that the NLL had substantially more through traffic, much larger
usage on the core section east of Willesden and west of Stratford and
had several stations (such as the stations in Hackney) that were very
crowded. Compared to my trips on the line in 2006 it was a massive
improvement.

I'm asking again because I haven't ridden the line since and I wanted
to know what more regular users thought.

Sounds like you are the ideal person to check again, anyone using it
every day over the last year is probably not going to notice the changes
that you would as they would have experienced an incremental change over
a long (ish) period.

--
Graeme Wall
This account not read, substitute trains for rail.
Railway Miscellany at www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail

Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

"TheOneKEA" wrote in message
...
Now that the Class 378s have fully displaced the 313s and 508s on the
Overground, been mostly lengthened to 4 cars and have been running for
nearly two years, have they produced the expected increases in
patronage, ridership numbers and revenue? I am especially interested
to know if the horrific ridership conditions on the core NLL section
between Willesden and Stratford have been eliminated or mitigated by
all of the new standing room space on the 378s, given the initial
complaints about the lack of seats.

A completely new timetable started last week, with 6 tph between Willesden
Jn and Stratford all day, with 8 tph in the peaks. That has seriously
changed the capacity of the line again, although it's very early days. So
most opinions about 'horrific ridership conditions' are probably stale now
anyway...

Paul

Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

On Mon, May 30, 2011 at 04:22:34AM -0700, TheOneKEA wrote:

I did so in 2010 during the off-peaks, and my findings at the time
were that the NLL had substantially more through traffic, much larger
usage on the core section east of Willesden and west of Stratford and
had several stations (such as the stations in Hackney) that were very
crowded. Compared to my trips on the line in 2006 it was a massive
improvement.

I'm not sure that crowding is a *good* thing.

Incidentally, the more frequent service between Clapham Junction and
Shepherds Bush hasn't noticeably alleviated the overcrowding that I
experience in the evening peak, as I predicted. People still get left
behind at Olympia, West Brompton and Imperial Wharf because there's no
room on the trains.

Outside the peaks, the trains are half-empty, as before.

--
David Cantrell | top google result for "topless karaoke murders"

While researching this email, I was forced to carry out some
investigative work which unfortunately involved a bucket of
puppies and a belt sander
-- after JoeB, in the Monastery

Class 378 Capitalstars, two years later
 

On 01/06/2011 20:06, Paul Corfield wrote:

I was surprised to see two freight workings - a Foster Yeoman stone
train heading east and a Freightliner with class 70 heading west - in
the middle of the PM peak.

The last freight train during the afternoon is scheduled to go through
Stratford at about 4.30, after which there are no more freights until
7.30pm.

--
John Ray