Paul Corfield wrote:
On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 20:55:59 +0100, Dave Arquati wrote:
Peter Lawrence wrote:
On 9 Sep 2004 22:46:46 +0100, Clive Page wrote:
eurostardriver writes

Kentish Town or West Hampstead provide useful interchanges onto LUL,
but some clever person has decided Thameslink services will not call
at these stations between 07.30 and 09.30 to prevent overcrowding.
Doesn't make much sense to me as this means all passengers will be
forced into the Kings Cross/St Pancras area making the overcrowding
there 3 times worse.

I quite agree: it seems quite crazy.......

Can anyone think of the real reason for this closure?

I'm not sure on the details but I think some combination of the
following might apply :-

a) increased congestion at the interchange locations and on the Jubilee
and Northern lines.

I could understand this excuse if it happened in the PM peak, but not
the AM peak. LU are perfectly capable of controlling entry into the
station.

b) West Hampstead LU station is being modernised at present so
overloading an already small station which has works going on is perhaps
not the best idea.

A result of insufficient cooperation IMO - Thameslink and LU should have
got together to demand the SRA fund the hastening of those works to
finish them before the Thameslink closure.

c) a possible concern about track capacity if Thameslink trains have to
stop for much longer than normal while people change lines - St Pancras
should be better able to cope as it's the terminal.

St.Pancras shouldn't be much better able to cope as it's only the
temporary terminal, with significantly reduced capacity. Just how long
do you envisage trains stopping for at WH and KT?

d) as said by someone else - KX / SP has more lines to distribute the
traffic plus there is the link to the southern section of the line.

So many passengers would continue to use it, thus weakening the already
flimsy arguments against stopping at WH and KT.