On 2015\09\19 00:22, Paul Corfield wrote:
On Fri, 18 Sep 2015 21:58:06 +0100, Basil Jet
wrote:

On 2015\09\18 16:54, Robin9 wrote:

I travelled on this train this morning. Very interesting. There was one
other
passenger - with the regulation camera - and a member of staff in
civilian
clothes who seemed to be the guard. He said the reason for the service
was
to maintain Chiltern's right of way into Paddington and seemed to think
that
staff training was a secondary consideration.

He also confirmed there was no chance of Chiltern sending more trains to

Paddington because of a lack of train paths and platforms.

What use is maintaining Chiltern's "right of way" if they don't have the
right to more than one path a day?

It avoids the horror, for the DfT, of going through the formal closure
procedure. DfT are undboubtedly happy to avoid drawing any attention
to the route, its appalling condition and the poor train service. If
people became aware of the route all sorts of outrageous demands, like
a decent train service or, horror of horrors, linking into Crossrail
might be suggested and we can't have that. You can guarantee that if
anyone did anything about closing the service in the next few months
that it'd become a Mayoral election issue in West London and London
Travelwatch would never, ever agree to a closure of a main line link
into a London terminal.

That sounds far more likely than Chiltern wanting to maintain a right of
way.

I'm wondering... if a link from the line to the West London line was
built, perhaps using an S-shaped curve from just south of Old Oak Common
Depot to Hythe Road / Salter Street, would an hourly service from, say
Aylesbury and Princes Risborough to Shepherds Bush and further (say,
Brixton and Orpington) be popular? And would that remove the legal need
for the daily Chiltern service to Paddington, and the parliamentary bus
service from Ealing to Wandsworth Road?