On 24 Oct 2006 16:41:57 -0700, Mizter T wrote:

What talk has there been regarding the lengthening of NLL trains? The
NLL can be pretty crammed at peak times, which will only be alleviated
somewhat by the new trains offer better utilisation of carriage space.
If the NLL is going to become a more and more important orbital route
then more capacity in the form of longer trains will be needed sooner
or later.

It was hoped that train lengths (as well as frequency) would be
doubled in time for the Olympics, but that's not now going to happen.
I suppose it's reasonable for them to only invest in a doubling of
capacity for now, rather than a quadrupling. Having said that, TfL
believe the level of suppressed demand on the NLL to be
"considerable", due to one or more of low frequency, run-down stations
and train interiors, unstaffed stations, and poor information and
publicity. UIVMM TfL plan to deal with all of these, and I bet the new
capacity will be gobbled up fast.

I was particularly struck by the following contrast the other week I
used the NLL and the Tube on the same day. While waiting at one
(outdoor) Tube station, there was a team of cleaners cleaning the
roundels, the glass on the Tube map posters, etc - which already
looked clean before they even got to them. However, the NLL station I
used looked like it hadn't been cleaned for a fair while. In a few
places there were what appeared to be bloodstains on the platforms.

That said from memory many of the NLL stations aren't going to handle
much longer trains without platform extensions - perhaps they'll manage
to accommodate a four-car train in now, but anything longer and
platforms could need to be lengthened at many stations.

IIRC Willesden Junction is only long enough for 3 cars, and would need
substantial reconstruction to take more.