On Thu, 24 Jan 2008 03:16:17 -0800 (PST), "
wrote:

I wouldn't be surprised to see a timetable alteration that moves this
train earlier by 4 (or 5) minutes.

(Of course, moving all the trains later by 10 minutes would also help
because then there would be a 19:04 and a 19:14)

However, you've been lucky if you've never had to stand. Those trains
are always busy. It's quieter from about the 19:54 through to about
21:54 then it starts getting busy again.

Because then the 4-car units start coming out.

(I'm not joking - the one big criticism I have of ex-Silverlink that I
forgot to mention at the "meet the managers" earlier this week is that
they just put 4-car sets out on Saturdays and Sundays, which tends to
result in a lot more trains being full-and-standing than you ever see
on a weekday).

As to the timetable, I can't remember what happens to the all-shacks
trains, but the fasts and slows will be offset by about 15 minutes
unlike the present situation where they leave at roughly the same time
(e.g. 1823 fast, 1824 slow). This will mean the slows will become
more attractive to MKC passengers, which might have an interesting and
undesirable[1] effect.

[1] The slows can't be longer than 8 cars southbound due to
Bletchley's short platforms and the fact that none of the stock has
SDO. They can be 12-car northbound (like the 1754 is) but you'd have
a big problem arranging that without a lot of units building up at
Northampton...

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.