Modern Railways says that the Crossrail to Tring plan is going cold. I
am surprised. They can't be planning to terminate 60% of the trains at
Paddington / Old Oak indefinitely. After all, they are talking about
extending the Bakerloo southward because Elephant is too near to London
to generate significant flow into London... surely Paddington is even
nearer.

I've been thinking about the different philosophies on the big 3
projects. Thameslink has 12 southern branches, far more than either of
the Crossrails. I think with Crossrail 1, the aim is to run 24tph from
Paddington to Liverpool Street, and the extensions into the suburbs are
less important. But with Thameslink the branches are everything and the
tunnel through the middle is just a way of not having to build loads of
platforms at Blackfriars and St Pancras.

But I think the 12 southern branches on Thameslink is a mistake, and
will cause so many people to wait around on the Zone 1 southbound
platforms for up to half an hour for their train home that the stations
will be regularly closed for crowding. This will be resolved about 6
months after the project opens by ditching about half of the southern
branches and running the other ones quarter-hourly.