On 01/05/2011 14:40, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Sun, 1 May 2011 12:15:29 +0000 (UTC), Martin Petrov
wrote:

London Reconnections with one post in the last 3 weeks (and that was on
the cable car - yawn!), Mind The Gap going down the loo, and scarcely a
thread of note on here in weeks - there must be something interesting
happening.

There isn't that much happening which is really big headline news. Much
as I like London Reconnections it seems to me to have become
increasingly reliant on feed from press offices.

The new Thameslink bridge at Borough High Street is ready to be swung
into position very soon. I took photos of that recently. Lots of
Crossrail related holes are starting to be dug - I noticed a lot of
activity near Westbourne Park yesterday as I travelled out of
Paddington.

To stir some debate, any updates on the following?

- When will London Overground hit the stage where we have no more weekend
engineering? Isn't that due to be around now....? What are they actually
currently doing on the weekend works on the line?

The Sunday NLL services are restored in three weeks time when the Summer
timetable commences. The all day, every day Stratford - Clapham Junction
service starts then as does the enhanced WLL frequency and the x15
Sunday GOBLIN service. It will be very interesting to see how patronage
builds given the vastly improved service levels. I am still surprised
at how busy the NLL and GOBLIN are given what they were like back in the
80s and 90s. I think if anyone had predicted the current levels of usage
back then they'd have been consigned to a mental institution.

- Also, is there any decent analysis on the usage on London Overground,
esp since the Highbury and Islington stretch has opened? I've used it a
few times recently in the evening peak, and it still seems pretty lightly
used.

I am pretty certain that patronage growth is running ahead of schedule.
I think I read in TfL Board or Panel papers that TfL is happy with the
way ELL patronage is going but that excluded the Highbury section. To be
fair it has only been open a couple of months and journey patterns for
new links take longer than that to build up. I am sure we will get some
sort of commentary in due course - Board and Panel meetings are due in
May.

I noticed at Canonbury that the signal at the east end of the westbound
track on the NLL is always indicating a double yellow, even though
trains are coming in from the east. Why is that?

Track 4 of Dalston Junction also has a northbound signal that always
indicates single yellow.

Also on track 4 at Dalston Junction, there appears to be a diverging ROW
that looks like it is headed east. Does anybody know what that is for?
Is this to stable trains in the future or for eventual eastbound turnout
onto the NLL? IMHO, that it looks like that would be for prospective
service movements, rather than for revenue.