"UK^s ^most intensive^ train service set to begin" - GlobalRailNews (10/09/2013)

[whole diary]

[Lee]

From GlobalRailNews:

UK^▸ (United Kingdom)^s ^most intensive^ train service set to begin

London Underground is to launch the UK^s ^most intensive^ train service next week, increasing the number of trains to 34 an hour on the Central line.

As well as more frequent services, the Waterloo & City line will stay open until 12.30am on Saturdays ^ six hours later than trains currently run.

From Monday, September 16, 10 trains an hour will run on the Waterloo & City line between 6.30pm and 11.30pm under the new timetable, with services continuing as late as 12.30am.

The Central line will soon benefit from the UK^s most intensive service during the morning rush hour, with passengers only having to wait two minutes between trains.

In anticipation of the new improved service, London mayor Boris Johnson said: ^The Tube is already more efficient than ever before, zipping passengers across our city to their homes and workplaces like a well-oiled machine.

^Now we are increasing services on the Waterloo & City and Central lines, giving passengers what they have asked for and helping to further ease congestion.^

[paul7575]

As argued by a poster in District Dave's forum (someone who is I believe is involved with the Central Line on the technical side), this is only for a very short time:

WTT67 has a 32 minute burst of 105 second headways, which is a rate of 34.3 TPH^▸ (trains per hour), or 34 TPH in round figures. But this is not sustained for an hour.

It seems that LU has also highlighted that there'll be 79 trains in service, but this is only for a period of about half an hour - and given the end to end time on the line it is clear that as the 79th train enters service, the 'number of trains' will reduce again as it ends its run through the main part of the route.

So it's all typical 'railway' spin...

Paul

[Southern Stag]

The Victoria Line does have the very impressive frequency of 33tph maintained for around an hour in each peak.

[Brucey]

Living at the end of the Central Line, I worry that increased frequency in the central section will result in a reduced frequency at the extremities.  We currently have a frequency of every 7-12 minutes during the morning peak.  I hope it stays this way as the trains don't have the capacity to be made less frequent.

The TfL^» (Transport for London - about) press release says "with passengers waiting less than two minutes between trains".  There is no mention of this only being for passengers in Zone 1 and parts of Zone 2.  Almost makes it seem like they don't care about the outer zones sometimes.

Good news on the Waterloo & City Line though.  It feels like a very long way round when you are returning from Bank slightly tipsy on a Friday and find the W&C is closed.

[81F]

A couple of years ago someone used "Freedom of Inforrmation" rules to persuade TfL^» (Transport for London - about) to release working timetables of each underground line. I downlaoded the timetables then current, but am unable now to find the link.
Could anyone here point me to where the new Central line timetable can be found.
Thanks in advance, and apologies if this is drifting a bit far from FGW^▸ (First Great Western)-land. [Though I do often walk from Lancaster Gate to Paddington on my way home in the evening.]

[ChrisB]

quote link still not working in IE10.

Good news on the Waterloo & City Line though.  It feels like a very long way round when you are returning from Bank slightly tipsy on a Friday and find the W&C is closed.

The 26 bus takes less than 15 minutes at that time of day....

Mods - this was a refused post until I cut the subject line to under 8-0 characters, so I did, sorry

[Brucey]

I've just downloaded the timetables from the TfL^» (Transport for London - about) website for westbound trains from West Ruislip (i.e. my morning commute).

This is the current service from 8am to 9am

08 00 A
08 07 B
08 11 B
08 20 B
08 29
08 38
08 48
08 56 B

This is the new service

08 02 B
08 12 B
08 21 B
08 32 B
08 41 D
08 50

A reduction from eight trains in the hour down to six.

[paul7575]

Indeed, as they haven't any extra stock, a burst of high frequency somewhere must logically reduce it somewhere else.  I expect it is only in one direction as well, probably from the east end towards Central London, with trains going out of service at White City.

All spin as I suggested earlier...

Paul

[Brucey]

As predicted one month ago, the service from West Ruislip is now very poor in the mornings.  Carriages are becoming full (like you see in Zone 1) by Northolt (which is in Zone 5), with passengers running down the platform to find some space.

If you miss the 0821, as I did yesterday when it left two minutes early, you then get an 11 minute wait for another train.  This fills up very quickly.

And if you want to travel off-peak, i.e. after 0930, the earliest service you can take is the 0938 even though the trains are completely empty well before this.

[Phil]

And there I was hoping that the headline of this topic referred to plans for the Trans-Wilts line after December...