On 22 Jun 2006 05:09:05 -0700, Kev wrote:

Please tell me that they aren't going to extend the Bakerloo all the
way to Watford. As bad as the 313's are I don't see what the point is
let alone the expense of reinstating the 4th rail.
I had assumed that whoever held the NLL franchise would run the Watford
line as well . This is a really dumb idea.

My guess is that the reasoning is as follows:

TfL consider there to be an oversupply (9tph) of off-peak service
between Queens Park and Harrow & Wealdstone. Once they start paying
for the Silverlink franchise, they want to cut this to 6tph. They also
want the Bakerloo, where it runs, to have at least a 6tph
turn-up-and-go frequency. So the only possibilities are 6tph Bakerloo
+ 0tph Silverlink, or 0tph Bakerloo + 6tph Silverlink. An increase in
the Silverlink service isn't possible because Silverlinks run on the
WCML Slow Lines for the last 1.5 miles into Euston. So they've decided
on a complete switchover to Bakerloo off-peak.

This doesn't mean they can't continue to run a peak-hour service to
Euston, but I suppose it's cheaper for them to just not bother.

I can't see the change being popular with passengers, though. Journey
times to Euston, King's Cross, the City, etc, will significantly
increase.