"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On 16 Sep, 20:44, "Paul Scott" wrote:
Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes
on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will
be
running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no longer
appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

Wasn't the RUS plan actually for a reversal at South Croydon - my
recollection is that the document certainly suggested South Croydon
would be served as well.

I thought so too, but as far as I can see, checking for a few other options
with 'direct' flagged, such as SC or EC to WJ or Kenny O, no other services
appeared over the course of a 'morning'...

Is this not one of the problems with this RUS
business - Network Rail's RUS can only recommend, and however strong
that recommendation nothing can be read into it until a decision is
made by DfT Rail - and they don't seem to operate in an atmosphere of
openness, so it's never quite clear what decisions the DfT actually
make as a result of the RUS until they actually happen.

I think you might be right - didn't the DfT announce somewhere that they
believed there was a lack of dual voltage stock, maybe there is a Shepherds
Bush (DC only!) reverser to come yet, I can't find one, but trainline
doesn't seem to know about Shepherds Bush yet...

Paul