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Rush-hour on the North London Line |
Now arriving at platform one: more trouble on the railways
‘Improvements’ brought by track upgrades will not compensate for the disruption caused to commuters, writes Richard Hewins
YOUR correspondent George Downton (“Rail line is a joke”, June 26) has missed some points about upgrades to the North London Line.
The earliest I recall, overhead electrification was reportedly done so that the line could be used by Eurostar trains.
Other works – including last autumn’s – were also done, not to improve the passenger service but so that the line could be used by more and heavier freight trains carrying containers larger than the present standard.
So we can be sure there will be more freight trains – with more of them having to be run at night, as even the present daytime frequency interferes with the reliability of the passenger services.
For the coming shutdown/upgrade, London Overground’s current propaganda leaflet promises that after all the inconvenience we will be getting a better service, namely: Stratford–Richmond four trains per hour (but we already have that, even off-peak Monday-Friday, with eight trains per hour in the morning and evening peaks; Stratford–Willesden Junction, with four of those continuing to Richmond and four to Clapham Junction; Watford Junction–Euston every 20 minutes (but we’ve already got that); Clapham Junction–Willesden Junction every 15 minutes (we already have that at peak times); Barking–Gospel Oak: every 15 minutes (currently every 20 minutes in the peak periods – and offering the only really useful improvement).
So except on the Barking–Gospel Oak line there are no improvements in frequency that will not be cancelled out by the lines’ standards of reliability, and none that could need another months-long shutdown for changes to the railway infrastructure.
London Overground’s leaflet also conceals, behind carefully worded promises of more space, wider gangways, increased capacity and easier boarding, the facts that their fine new trains (even in the four car version) will have fewer seats than the present ones, so more of us will have to stand.
Also, each carriage has the same number of doors as at present for boarding.
Promises of real-time information and audio and visual announcements are better read as threats that on the Overground (as already on the Underground) we will be harassed with a barrage of useless warnings and other garbage for our ears.
The longer, four-car version of the new trains is also too long for the platforms at some stations, in particular Willesden Junction where works to extend the platforms would probably require the closure of the Bakerloo Line north of Queen’s Park and of the Euston–Watford Junction line. It is also quite inexplicable (except as a simple lack of forward planning) why these works were not carried out when the line was closed last autumn.
As long as George Downton and the rest of us remember that in the planning and provision of services on the railways we the passengers come last we won’t be disappointed.
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