On 6 Feb, 14:56, Roland Perry wrote:

In message
, at
06:35:56 on Fri, 6 Feb 2009, Mizter T remarked:

If the NTH opens in time for the arrival of the Kent domestics, then
for most people it'll look as though this was all part of the
masterplan all along and no-one will ever know about the DfT's earlier
dithering - a result for the DfT, plus TfL might well hope it would
earn them some brownie points with the DfT too.

But there's a risk that people will already be getting worked up about
the bad planning, if the newsletters (etc) continue to state that the
ticket hall opens in 2010, when everyone knows the Kent platforms open
in early December.


If a few people really want to get worked up about this then let them
get worked up about it - it's not as though there isn't an Underground
station at Kings Cross/ St. Pancras, it's just that the entrance off
the Kent platforms might not be ready in time - big deal, if it isn't
ready it will be shortly thereafter.

The first users of the Kent domestic service are likely to be the more
intrepid adventurous type anyway. If the NTH isn't ready I suppose
it's possible a few might get put off going via St. Pancras
altogether, but that could be abated through the use of hoardings and
other publicity indicating the imminent opening of the NTH.

I hardly think the lack of the NTH being open on day one would prove a
killer blow to the Kent high-speed service - it might attract a few
comments, but of course the potential bad publicity would be far worse
if a promise was made that the NTH would be open and that promise was
then broken. By avoiding any such concrete promise, they avoid these
adverse repercussions if it doesn't in fact open in December - instead
it can simply be stated that a new entrance to the Tube station 'will
be opening shortly', which is a far more positive message for
potential users of the Kent high-speed service. It's a simple case of
managing expectations.

I wonder what you're going to come up with to argue with this...