On 2 Oct, 00:15, MIG wrote:

So what is the history of the line being closed at weekends? It was
open on Sundays from the late 1970s when it reopened after the
transfer. I am not clear on when it closed.

There are lots of things that don't make sense, but appear to be down
to 'it's always been like that'.

At KGX, Network Rail has possession of all lines from a certain time
(1am?) on Saturday night to Sunday morning - regardless of whether
there is maintenance to be done. It apparently can't be changed as
it's 'set in stone' and leads to a ridiculous situation where the ONLY
day of the week where there isn't a very late train (0136 to
Peterborough, calling at most stations en route) is the night when
there would be potentially be the highest demand. I've been on the
0036 and 0136 trains many times, and if there have been any major
events in town even during the week, I've been standing all the way
home! Clearly there's revenue to be had there, and I know FCC want to
run later trains. I presume TfL would quite like to do that too. In
fact, who wouldn't want to see later trains?

Now, maintenance does of course need to be done but much work (bar
overhead lines) should be done with partial possession. There are four
lines FFS!!! Currently the only way to run the 0136 train on Saturday
night would be to use a bus ALL the time!

Jonathan

On Tue, 02 Oct 2007 04:53:57 -0700, jonmorris
wrote:

In
fact, who wouldn't want to see later trains?

The people who'd have to clean the puke off?

Now, maintenance does of course need to be done but much work (bar
overhead lines) should be done with partial possession. There are four
lines FFS!!! Currently the only way to run the 0136 train on Saturday
night would be to use a bus ALL the time!

Which is roughly what Silverlink do, so "can't be bothered" is
probably the explanation.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.

On 2 Oct, 20:56, (Neil Williams) wrote:

The people who'd have to clean the puke off?

Plenty of people manage to puke on the trains before 0136!! Myself
included, although I've always made it to the toilet!

Currently the only way to run the 0136 train on Saturday
night would be to use a bus ALL the time!

Which is roughly what Silverlink do, so "can't be bothered" is
probably the explanation.

I doubt any TOC would ever schedule a service that is ALWAYS booked as
being run by a bus. Nor am I sure they would be allowed to anyway! I
mean, how could you propose to run a service when the railway isn't
available to you? I know First run buses, but imagine if all TOCs got
the idea of running buses instead of trains on a regular basis. Time
to close the railways altogether and to hell with timetables and quick
journey times.

If Silverlink are doing this then shame on them - but are there not
similar circumstances (long term engineering or a 'set in stone'
possession by Notwork Rail)?

Jonathan

On Tue, 02 Oct 2007 16:55:46 -0700, jonmorris wrote:

Currently the only way to run the 0136 train on Saturday
night would be to use a bus ALL the time!

Which is roughly what Silverlink do, so "can't be bothered" is
probably the explanation.

I doubt any TOC would ever schedule a service that is ALWAYS booked as
being run by a bus. Nor am I sure they would be allowed to anyway! I
mean, how could you propose to run a service when the railway isn't
available to you? I know First run buses, but imagine if all TOCs got
the idea of running buses instead of trains on a regular basis. Time
to close the railways altogether and to hell with timetables and quick
journey times.

If Silverlink are doing this then shame on them - but are there not
similar circumstances (long term engineering or a 'set in stone'
possession by Notwork Rail)?

IIRC, for a while the 0200 EUS-MKC on Saturday nights was only a train
as far as Watford Junction, where it turned into a bus, but it's now
back to being a train throughout.

On Thu, 04 Oct 2007 00:25:40 +0100, asdf
wrote:

IIRC, for a while the 0200 EUS-MKC on Saturday nights was only a train
as far as Watford Junction, where it turned into a bus, but it's now
back to being a train throughout.

Nope, or not according to the current SS timetable in front of me.
It's a bus throughout for the entire timetable period.

Neil

--
Neil Williams
Put my first name before the at to reply.