Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will be
running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no longer
appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

PS - the trainline also shows the new 3 tph WCML timetable to BHM and MAN in
use on 15th December - has the big decision now been made...

Paul S

On 16 Sep, 20:44, "Paul Scott" wrote:
Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will be
running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no longer
appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

Wasn't the RUS plan actually for a reversal at South Croydon - my
recollection is that the document certainly suggested South Croydon
would be served as well. Is this not one of the problems with this RUS
business - Network Rail's RUS can only recommend, and however strong
that recommendation nothing can be read into it until a decision is
made by DfT Rail - and they don't seem to operate in an atmosphere of
openness, so it's never quite clear what decisions the DfT actually
make as a result of the RUS until they actually happen.

All that said, the current Watford Junction to Brighton trains can
pause for ten or more minutes at Clapham Junction - perhaps the
Trainline planner is merely routing passengers via an interchange at
CJ onto another (and quite possibly faster) train that will reach East
Croydon earlier. I understand many Brighton Line commuters have known
this for ages, hence the mass exodus off these trains at CJ onto
faster alternatives.


PS - the trainline also shows the new 3 tph WCML timetable to BHM and MAN in
use on 15th December - has the big decision now been made...


See my comments above re the RUS and announcement of decisions!

"Paul Scott" wrote in message
news
Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will
be running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no
longer appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

PS - the trainline also shows the new 3 tph WCML timetable to BHM and MAN
in use on 15th December - has the big decision now been made...

Paul S
Terminate at Clapham Junction?
Are things any better since I was a supervisor there.
I expect Southern services will only use Platform 17, hardly passenger
friendly and Platform 2 will be a bit of a trek for Gatwick passengers

On Sep 16, 8:44*pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:
Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will be
running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no longer
appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

The NXEC booking engine shows hourly off-peak xx:10 ECR-MKC and xx:13
return services. The supposedly 455-worked 07:47 ECR-Shepherds Bush is
in there too.

GatEx Brighton extension timings also look accurate.

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

On 16 Sep, 20:44, "Paul Scott" wrote:
Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes
on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will
be
running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no longer
appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

Wasn't the RUS plan actually for a reversal at South Croydon - my
recollection is that the document certainly suggested South Croydon
would be served as well.

I thought so too, but as far as I can see, checking for a few other options
with 'direct' flagged, such as SC or EC to WJ or Kenny O, no other services
appeared over the course of a 'morning'...

Is this not one of the problems with this RUS
business - Network Rail's RUS can only recommend, and however strong
that recommendation nothing can be read into it until a decision is
made by DfT Rail - and they don't seem to operate in an atmosphere of
openness, so it's never quite clear what decisions the DfT actually
make as a result of the RUS until they actually happen.

I think you might be right - didn't the DfT announce somewhere that they
believed there was a lack of dual voltage stock, maybe there is a Shepherds
Bush (DC only!) reverser to come yet, I can't find one, but trainline
doesn't seem to know about Shepherds Bush yet...

Paul

EE507 wrote:
On Sep 16, 8:44 pm, "Paul Scott"
wrote:
Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article
goes on to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern)
East Croydon - Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern
will be running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as
there no longer appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial
plan from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for
a later change...

The NXEC booking engine shows hourly off-peak xx:10 ECR-MKC and xx:13
return services. The supposedly 455-worked 07:47 ECR-Shepherds Bush is
in there too.


Interesting - 'trainline' not the most up to date - problem solved!

Paul

On Tue, 16 Sep 2008 20:44:32 +0100, "Paul Scott"
wrote:

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will be
running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no longer
appear to be any through trains from further south.

Superb. That'll be wonderful for me if I need to go to our Staines
office, and it might also be a nice alternative route to Tower Hill
where I work at present (go down from BLY/MKC to CJ then into
Waterloo) if I'm bored.

Through to Gatwick would have been nice, but the "round the side"
train coming back up to MK is a wonderful piece of news.

Neil

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

On 16 Sep, 20:57, "4sub" wrote:

"Paul Scott" wrote:

Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will
be running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no
longer appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

PS - the trainline also shows the new 3 tph WCML timetable to BHM and MAN
in use on 15th December - has the big decision now been made...

Terminate at Clapham Junction?
Are things any better since I was a supervisor there.
I expect Southern services will only use Platform 17, hardly passenger
friendly and Platform 2 will be a bit of a trek for Gatwick passengers


Platform 2's a no-no, as in the future it'll be too busy with more
frequent London Overground services (and did I read a rumour somewhere
that the plan for ELLX phase 2 has been changed to ditch refurbishing
platform 1 because of the high cost, which would leave both WLL and
ELL trains reversing at the same platform which sounds like a recipe
for a guaranteed disaster).

If the Southern services are just reversing at CJ, could they not use
platform 16 instead of 17 I wonder? Platform 17 is pretty duff in its
present state - even if a lift were to be constructed (which is
possibly part of the plan, no?) the stairs up to the footbridge would
still be too steep and too narrow.

Perhaps if the sidings to the west of platform 1 and 2 (Kensington
Sidings?) were brought back into use, then terminating the Southern
trains would become a possibility - as would laying over or even
stabling some LO stock.

"Mizter T" wrote in message
...

If the Southern services are just reversing at CJ, could they not use
platform 16 instead of 17 I wonder?

Did you miss that, contrary to my findings, EE507 has now posted
that the service IS running from EC, according to the NXEC planner...

Paul

On 16 Sep, 23:20, Mizter T wrote:

On 16 Sep, 20:57, "4sub" wrote:

"Paul Scott" wrote:

Opening on Sunday 28th September according to the BBC, the article goes on
to mention that the station will be served by a (Southern) East Croydon -
Milton Keynes service (but see below...)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7618263.stm

Funnily enough, the trainline shows that on 15th December, Southern will
be running to MK hourly, but only from Clapham Junction, as there no
longer appear to be any through trains from further south.

Was this change expected at this early stage - I thought the initial plan
from the RUS _was_ for EC to MK and the cut back to CJ was for a later
change...

PS - the trainline also shows the new 3 tph WCML timetable to BHM and MAN
in use on 15th December - has the big decision now been made...

Terminate at Clapham Junction?
Are things any better since I was a supervisor there.
I expect Southern services will only use Platform 17, hardly passenger
friendly and Platform 2 will be a bit of a trek for Gatwick passengers

Platform 2's a no-no, as in the future it'll be too busy with more
frequent London Overground services (and did I read a rumour somewhere
that the plan for ELLX phase 2 has been changed to ditch refurbishing
platform 1 because of the high cost, which would leave both WLL and
ELL trains reversing at the same platform which sounds like a recipe
for a guaranteed disaster).

If the Southern services are just reversing at CJ, could they not use
platform 16 instead of 17 I wonder? Platform 17 is pretty duff in its
present state - even if a lift were to be constructed (which is
possibly part of the plan, no?) the stairs up to the footbridge would
still be too steep and too narrow.

Perhaps if the sidings to the west of platform 1 and 2 (Kensington
Sidings?) were brought back into use, then terminating the Southern
trains would become a possibility - as would laying over or even
stabling some LO stock.


Argh - I should've read other replies before posting this - EE507's
post downthread would appear to confirm that the service will indeed
run Milton Keynes to East Croydon, i.e. it will not terminate and
reverse at CJ.

This means it will make use of platform 17 on the southbound journey,
so my points above about the naffness of that platform stand.