Since reading various threads about Gatwick and the ELL, I've started to
wonder - has anyone considered combining them with a service from
Gatwick Airport to Liverpool Street (stopping all stations via
Forest Hill)? The idea might seem strange at first, but it does appear
to have a lot going for it - giving Surrey and South London direct
access to Liverpool Street station and E1 would greatly increase
connectivity, and for many airport passengers with heavy luggage, the
convenience would more than make up for the extra journey time (though
obviously those in a hurry would continue to use Thameslink).

I think the demand for such a service would be high, but have I
overestimated it? And if demand were high, would they be able to run
enough trains to accommodate it?

The obvious problem with such a route is the infrastructure
requirements. But what exactly would such a service require? I can think
of the following things:
Restoration of the Shoreditch - Liverpool Street connection, providing
platform capacity at Liverpool Street (Crossrail could do that), extra
platforms at Gatwick and/or grade separation N of Gatwick (since the
existing arrangements are clearly inadequate), conversion of the ELL to
3rd rail (as is already planned UIVMM) and probably a signalling
upgrade.

Can anyone think of anything else that would need to be done?

Aidan Stanger wrote:
Since reading various threads about Gatwick and the ELL, I've started to
wonder - has anyone considered combining them with a service from
Gatwick Airport to Liverpool Street (stopping all stations via
Forest Hill)? The idea might seem strange at first, but it does appear
to have a lot going for it - giving Surrey and South London direct
access to Liverpool Street station and E1 would greatly increase
connectivity, and for many airport passengers with heavy luggage, the
convenience would more than make up for the extra journey time (though
obviously those in a hurry would continue to use Thameslink).

I think the demand for such a service would be high, but have I
overestimated it? And if demand were high, would they be able to run
enough trains to accommodate it?

I'd have thought that the easterly connections with Crossrail, linking
with the current Thameslink services would provide most of the
inner-suburban connectivity for such a route, and the number of people
going between far Essex and East Anglia and Sussex, for whom an extra
connection is offputting are few in number.

Robin

"R.C. Payne" wrote in message ...

I'd have thought that the easterly connections with Crossrail, linking
with the current Thameslink services would provide most of the
inner-suburban connectivity for such a route, and the number of people
going between far Essex and East Anglia and Sussex, for whom an extra
connection is offputting are few in number.

To build on the last-mentioned point, surely a lot of air travellers
from Essex & East Anglia would be better off going from Stansted
rather than Gatwick?

David E. Belcher

David E. Belcher wrote:

To build on the last-mentioned point, surely a lot of air travellers
from Essex & East Anglia would be better off going from Stansted
rather than Gatwick?

David E. Belcher

Good point....
Extend the Braintree line to Stansted, and build a second spur onto the
line from the Kelvedon direction.

--
Darren

http://photos.darrenjohnson.co.uk/
http://www.darrenjohnson.co.uk/

"David E. Belcher" wrote in message
om...

To build on the last-mentioned point, surely a lot of air travellers
from Essex & East Anglia would be better off going from Stansted
rather than Gatwick?

Provided they can get a flight to their destination of choice, yes.
Likewise, those from Sussex and Kent would prefer to fly from Gatwick,
although Southampton can be an alternative. Heathrow is undesirable, and
Luton and Stansted are last resorts.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

Terry Harper wrote:
"David E. Belcher" wrote...

To build on the last-mentioned point, surely a lot of air travellers
from Essex & East Anglia would be better off going from Stansted
rather than Gatwick?

Passengers would be better off with a choice of airports. Since those
people who live near airports have a higher propensity to fly, improving
access to other airports is worthwhile. The alternative is to increase
the range of destinations served from the local airport, but that would
require more runways, which I strongly oppose.

Provided they can get a flight to their destination of choice, yes.
Likewise, those from Sussex and Kent would prefer to fly from Gatwick,
although Southampton can be an alternative. Heathrow is undesirable, and
Luton and Stansted are last resorts.

From Sussex maybe, but from Kent Heathrow is still a good option (though
not as good as Gatwick), and Southampton isn't. There is Manston, but
AFAIK it doesn't have many flights yet.

In message
"Terry Harper" wrote:

"David E. Belcher" wrote in message
om...

To build on the last-mentioned point, surely a lot of air travellers
from Essex & East Anglia would be better off going from Stansted
rather than Gatwick?

Provided they can get a flight to their destination of choice, yes.
Likewise, those from Sussex and Kent would prefer to fly from Gatwick,
although Southampton can be an alternative. Heathrow is undesirable, and
Luton and Stansted are last resorts.

For parts of Kent I would have thought Stanstead was possibly closer than
Southampton, the latter is 120 miles from Maidstone for instance.

--
Graeme Wall
This address is not read, substitute trains for rail.
Transport Miscellany at http://www.greywall.demon.co.uk/rail/index.html

"Graeme Wall" wrote in message
...
In message
"Terry Harper" wrote:

Provided they can get a flight to their destination of choice, yes.
Likewise, those from Sussex and Kent would prefer to fly from Gatwick,
although Southampton can be an alternative. Heathrow is undesirable, and
Luton and Stansted are last resorts.

For parts of Kent I would have thought Stanstead was possibly closer than
Southampton, the latter is 120 miles from Maidstone for instance.

Yes, I should have qualified it as Southampton for most of Sussex and
Manston (or Lydd) for the rest.
--
Terry Harper, Web Co-ordinator, The Omnibus Society
75th Anniversary 2004, see http://www.omnibussoc.org/75th.htm
E-mail:
URL: http://www.terry.harper.btinternet.co.uk/

"Graeme Wall" wrote in message
...

For parts of Kent I would have thought Stanstead was possibly closer than
Southampton, the latter is 120 miles from Maidstone for instance.

From time to time we get lost souls looking for the airport at Stansted,
Kent (a village between Meopham and Wrotham). They usually have 10 minutes
left to check in, and express disbelief when they're told they're in the
wrong county and need to get themselves through the Dartford Tunnel.
Peter

On 30 Nov 2004, David E. Belcher wrote:

"R.C. Payne" wrote in message ...

I'd have thought that the easterly connections with Crossrail, linking
with the current Thameslink services would provide most of the
inner-suburban connectivity for such a route, and the number of people
going between far Essex and East Anglia and Sussex, for whom an extra
connection is offputting are few in number.

To build on the last-mentioned point, surely a lot of air travellers
from Essex & East Anglia would be better off going from Stansted rather
than Gatwick?

Depends where their flight goes from!

tom

--
It's almost over now.