On Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:30:05 +0000, Dave A wrote:

Except that the Southern WLL services (i.e. trains from Harrow &
Wealdstone) won't stop at the new Shepherds Bush station.

I immediately thought "why ever not?", but then realised that logic
didn't have to apply! Does someone have a better reason other than
madness for not stopping at the new station? (once it opens! ).

I'm not sure if this is still the plan - Shepherd's Bush is going to be
the major traffic generator on this line once the shopping centre opens,
and Southern would be pretty foolish not to get their services calling
there.

The excuse I've heard is (I think) platform length - the WLL platforms
at Shep Bush are quite short as to make them any longer would require
moving some signals, and that's a longer-term thing. I think the
Southern trains are longer than the Silverlinks (4 versus 3 cars?).

The platforms will be long enough for 4 cars. It says so on your own
website: http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/24

I would guess that the lack of stopping is because it would make the
end-to-end journey time too long. This might violate maximum permitted
running times in the franchise agreement, or it might mean that the
trains miss their paths onto/off the WCML and Brighton Mainline (which
involve crossing movements, and probably can't be retimed easily
because of the huge knock-on effects it would have on the main-line
services).

I agree that it seems foolish for the services not to stop there, what
with the interchange with the Central Line and future shopping centre.