Re: Ken wants to control all London trains

In the case of Southern, I cannot see how TfL control would achieve
very much in terms of service frequency. The limiting factor on much
of the former Southern Region (be it SWT, Southern or SE) is the
capacity of the first few miles out from London and in particular the
various flat junctions and permanent speed restrictions (eg Mitcham
Junction and the Lewisham area). TfL was only able to run a greatly
increased service frequency to Crystal Palace and West Croydon because
the trains used the East London Line; they could not have been
accommodated at London Bridge. ISTR a lot of moaning in the run-up to
the new ELL service that the new trains were going where people did
not want to go, namely the ELL; now the service has been up and
running for some time, are there still complaints? (Genuine, not
rhetorical question).

The only way that you could squeeze more trains onto the former
Southern Region would be if some lines (the Hayes line has sometimes
been suggested) were converted to tube operation, thereby releasing
capacity on the inner London section. But is it necessary? On South
Eastern, almost all inner suburban stations have at least 4 tph and
the North Kent line has 6 tph; IMX this seems to be sufficient for the
traffic on offer. Ditto Southern; it is only the peripheral places
like Birkbeck and Epsom Downs that have fewer than 4 tph. On SWT, most
routes have at least 4 tph until you get to the individual branches
such as Shepperton and Hampton Court; once again, IM (limited) X 2 tph
is sufficient for the branches.

Going back to the "convert-to-Tube" option, there are few routes on
the former Southern Region that could easily be converted to tube
operation, because there are few dead-end branches. Hayes has been
suggested, but apart from that, the only others with any significant
traffic (ie excluding Bromley North and Epson Downs) are on SWT-land,
eg Shepperton and Chessington and TBH there is not enough potential
traffic on offer to justify the construction of new underground lines
in the inner suburbs to connect to the outer-suburban branches. In
addition, would the good citizens of Tolworth and Sunbury appreciate
tube-style seating for a journey of maybe 45 minutes into central
London rather than the high-backed seating in SWT's 455s?

The main areas where TfL control would be beneficial are the lines to
the north. I have previously stated my concern that TfL could use out-
boundary services as a cash cow to subsidise services within its own
area; there were complaints a year ago, IIRC, that TfL was doing
precisely that on the Met, as fares on the out-boundary sections of
the Met rose by more than in the TfL area. If this issue could be
resolved (I have to admit I have no solution as to how without even
more bureaucracy!) then I would like to see what TfL could do with the
Welwyn Garden City and Hertford North services; if nothing else,
having travelled on LO on numerous occasions, I suspect the trains
would be a lot cleaner (FCC seem to have forgotten what the phrase
"carriage cleaner" means) and there might be a service to Moorgate on
Saturdays at least.

The other interesting opportunity would be the Thames Valley branches
once Crossrail was complete. As a means of eliminating diesel
traction, there may be a case for wiring all the branches, although
through services to Windsor are unlikely owing to the requirement to
cross the Main lines on the level. With direct services to the city
centre rather than just to Paddington, usage of the Greenford line
could significantly increase (Greenford to Bond Street or the City
would be quicker by Crossrail and more comfortable than the Central
Line) and similar increases may happen on the Marlow and Henley lines.

Going into the realms of fantasy and what-might-have-been, it is a
shame that the Staines West branch did not survive as with Crossrail,
an electrified branch from West Drayton to Staines, running into the
LSWR Central station via the wartime connection between the two lines,
would be a very useful alternative route into London than the very
slow Waterloo - Reading service. Dream on...
.

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