"John Salmon" wrote in message
...
The half-hourly 12-car rail shuttles which ran from St. Pancras to
Ebbsfleet
yesterday for the Westfield opening (they run again on Saturday) seemed to
be a bit of a flop. On one of the trains I used, Gensheet members (five
of
us) seemed to outnumber 'normal' passengers. Of course, the interest for
us
was the (first-ever?) use of platforms 1 and 4 at Stratford International
by
passenger-carrying trains. Platform 1 seemed not to be set up with any
expectation of passengers arriving from the Ebbsfleet direction; the 'way
out' signs led me to an escalator going the wrong way, so I trudged up the
metal staircase to find myself outside the station (without having passed
through a barrier) just opposite the entrance to Westfield.

The Stratford to Stansted service has been increased from four to eight
cars. Has any one used this service recently? The last time I did was on a
315 a few months ago. I boarded at Cheshunt and I recall there being about
five people in the front coach. In fairness those sets do work peak
Stratford to Hertford East services.

John