On Aug 20, 8:21*pm, (Neil Williams)
wrote:
On Wed, 20 Aug 2008 01:14:22 -0700 (PDT), Andy
wrote:

The more overcrowded services seem to be those that are
first stop Watford and then most stops to Milton Keynes.

From what I can see, the *most* overcrowded are the Tring locals,
followed by the Bletchley semi-locals, followed by the
Leighton/MKC/Northampton fasts, followed by the (Harrow), Watford then
most stops to Northampton runs as the least busy.


Probably true, although the Harrow stops seem to vary between the
Tring locals and the Bletchley semi-locals and even these are never
overloaded, just a seat is not guaranteed unless you arrive a few mins
before departure.

But remember that the LM timetable won't now change substantially in
the near future after the 2009 changes, and it needs to take into
account massive growth in the Milton Keynes/Bletchley to/from Euston
run. *Thus, piling on the local passengers makes about as much sense
as crowding out Euston to Glasgow services between Euston and MKC,
which VT are very keen on avoiding.


True, but London Midland do have the possibility of lengthening all
their remaining peak trains to 12 coaches. This is a luxury that few
of the other London commuter operators have without Network Rail
spending money on the infrastructure. I would certainly expect a few
peak trains will get longer as the new class 350s come on line, as the
class 321s are not fully diagrammed, even with units on loan
elsewhere.

LO do have a point in that the Bakerloo might actually take up the
slack (and given that most people aren't actually going *to* Euston it
probably will), with people changing from that as appropriate. But
does the Bakerloo have capacity?

There are actually quite a few employers around Euston (e.g. UCLH,
UCL, University of London), and I know several people who commute into
Euston as it means that they can walk to work for the last bit. If you
look at the passengers after they pass though the gates, I'd reckon
that it is about a 60:40 split between walking down to the underground
station and upto the concourse. Like you say, it will be interesting
to see how flows change whilst LO are not serving Euston.