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Post by harshil9 on Oct 9, 2017 19:55:39 GMT
Hi Today (9/10/17) I finished Uni at 6pm and waited a few mins at Euston Square to get an all stations Uxbridge service home. At Baker St they decided to make this a semi fast which is inconvenient for a Preston Rd user. I got off at Finchley Rd and had to wait for 4 Semis/Fasts after the one I had got off (12 mins) until the next all Stations came.
Why is there such an infrequent service to Preston Rd in the evening peaks. Half my train got off at Preston Rd taking me a few mins to get out and I was in a rear carriage closest to the exit.
Cant they just run more Semis to Preston Rd and Northwick Pk especially when there is such a demand for these stations? The passengers going to Watford or Uxbridge will only lose a few mins at most which they do half the time anyway when the train is an all stations.
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Post by goldenarrow on Oct 9, 2017 21:13:25 GMT
Hi Today (9/10/17) I finished Uni at 6pm and waited a few mins at Euston Square to get an all stations Uxbridge service home. At Baker St they decided to make this a semi fast which is inconvenient for a Preston Rd user. I got off at Finchley Rd and had to wait for 4 Semis/Fasts after the one I had got off (12 mins) until the next all Stations came. Why is there such an infrequent service to Preston Rd in the evening peaks. Half my train got off at Preston Rd taking me a few mins to get out and I was in a rear carriage closest to the exit. Cant they just run more Semis to Preston Rd and Northwick Pk especially when there is such a demand for these stations? The passengers going to Watford or Uxbridge will only lose a few mins at most which they do half the time anyway when the train is an all stations. Your answer lies in many factors beginning with the fact that the Metropolitan has one of the most complicated service patterns on the Underground due to a number of factors some being historical and others reflecting the political climate that influences TfL from City Hall. The Met can be seen more as a suburban railway than a tube line with it's services stretching well beyond the Greater London boundary with Fast, Semi-Fast and All Stations services running via four branches all funneling down one trunk route that itself amalgamates with other lines in zone 1. Since the introduction of the S stock, the service pattern has gotten more complex with Fast and Semi-Fast services running Southbound only in the morning peaks and Northbound only in the evening peaks (leaving the contraflows out of this one). This in itself creates the problem of a lopsided service with train services being accelerated in one direction but not being compensated for in the other requiring some handy scheduling. Then there is the question of demand which on newer lines is easier to meet due to fewer branches, more reversing points/sidings/platforms and isolated/independent infrastructure such as that found on the Victoria line. Due to the Mets complex history, it grew out of a messy tangle of private companies that were merged and amalgamated as they went along. This has left the Met with several issues regarding capacity because lines south of Baker St compete for space with Circle and H'Smith and City line services and Baker Street has two deadened/reversible platforms that are already used intensively in the peaks. The next reversal platforms are at Moorgate but any increase on Met services here would encroach on the Circle and H&C which arguably have just as much cause for more capacity. With so much intertwining with other lines any disruption on the Circle or Hammersmith and City by just a couple of minutes can leave large gaps on the Met lines service with trains stacking up. Service controllers may often divert trains to run via the fast lines to make up time. This practise is something only possible on the Met with it's four track infrastructure largely a hangover from it's days of competing with mainline railways in decades gone by. Beside from the peaks, the fast lines between Wembley and Harrow see little use as the current service has been simplified greatly over the years. The irregularities you experienced on your way to Preston Rd during the peak show the issues that the Met faces with meeting peak demand in the suburbs whilst balancing that with the borders of Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire running along side the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Piccadilly lines aswell as Chiltern Railways whom have their own service fluctuations. Any timetable change how ever minor can be amplified by the quirks of a line that has historically and still is by many viewed as an oddity. |
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Post by norbitonflyer on Oct 10, 2017 5:56:58 GMT
Due to the Mets complex history, it grew out of a messy tangle of private companies that were merged and amalgamated as they went along. Did it? I thought the Metropolitan Railway company built most, if not all, of what is now the Metropolitan Line. |
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Post by goldenarrow on Oct 10, 2017 7:59:22 GMT
Due to the Mets complex history, it grew out of a messy tangle of private companies that were merged and amalgamated as they went along. Did it? I thought the Metropolitan Railway company built most, if not all, of what is now the Metropolitan Line. Not referring specifically to the Met but the fact that in the early years, all of the lines were in effect private enterprises trying to out do each other. The Mets main competitor in those days was the Metropolitan District Railway and the Great Central Railway. What I'm getting at is that if the line were to be built in it's current form today it would raise a myriad of questions and doubts over the practicalities of this purple giant. |
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Post by norbitonflyer on Oct 10, 2017 10:02:50 GMT
Did it? I thought the Metropolitan Railway company built most, if not all, of what is now the Metropolitan Line. Not referring specifically to the Met but the fact that in the early years, all of the lines were in effect private enterprises trying to out do each other. The Mets main competitor in those days was the Metropolitan District Railway and the Great Central Railway. What I'm getting at that if the lines were to be built in its current form today it would raise a myriad of questions and doubts over the practicalities of this purple giant. The Underground, and indeed the railway network, as a whole were indeed in a dog-eat-dog relationship, none more so than the relationship between the Met and the MDR (although the latter was originally intended to be a partner to the former). Both the Piccadilly and the Northern started out as several quite independent concerns, later clumsily nailed together in a "fits where it touches" sort of way. But there were partnerships too, some very close such as the GCR and Met - which, along with the SER and the Channel Tunnel Company, shared a chairman in Edward Watkin. Indeed the GCR's London Extension, coming so long after the built up area had expanded into Middlesex and beyond, was only possible because the Metropolitan allowed it to use its existing tracks from Quainton Road, (well north of Aylesbury) into central London. Doubtless if the Underground had been planned as a whole, like the Paris Metro was, it would look very different. And let us not forget that the original section of the Met was envisaged as a form of RER/Crossrail, linking the GWR and GNR with the main lines to the south. Indeed, part of it is now used by Thameslink. |
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londoner
thinking on '73 stock
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Post by londoner on Oct 10, 2017 20:53:45 GMT
Hi Today (9/10/17) I finished Uni at 6pm and waited a few mins at Euston Square to get an all stations Uxbridge service home. At Baker St they decided to make this a semi fast which is inconvenient for a Preston Rd user. I got off at Finchley Rd and had to wait for 4 Semis/Fasts after the one I had got off (12 mins) until the next all Stations came. Why is there such an infrequent service to Preston Rd in the evening peaks. Half my train got off at Preston Rd taking me a few mins to get out and I was in a rear carriage closest to the exit. Cant they just run more Semis to Preston Rd and Northwick Pk especially when there is such a demand for these stations? The passengers going to Watford or Uxbridge will only lose a few mins at most which they do half the time anyway when the train is an all stations. Since the introduction of the S stock, the service pattern has gotten more complex with Fast and Semi-Fast services running Southbound only in the morning peaks and Northbound only in the evening peaks (leaving the contraflows out of this one). During the morning, taking a southbound train, I regularly notice semi-fast services going northbound (usually going Harrow) so probably some service recovery. Unless I am reading the working timetable incorrectly however, I do see some trains pencilled in to Watford as semi-fast. |
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Post by goldenarrow on Oct 10, 2017 21:32:46 GMT
Since the introduction of the S stock, the service pattern has gotten more complex with Fast and Semi-Fast services running Southbound only in the morning peaks and Northbound only in the evening peaks (leaving the contraflows out of this one). During the morning, taking a southbound train, I regularly notice semi-fast services going northbound (usually going Harrow) so probably some service recovery. Unless I am reading the working timetable incorrectly however, I do see some trains pencilled in to Watford as semi-fast. There are roughly 16 "contraflow" services that operate weird and wonderful service combinations during the peaks to counteract the aforementioned lopsided service. After the morning peaks there is a Semi-fast to Harrow roughly every 15-20 mins until about 10-10:30 as trains get sent back to the depot, some trains intermittently terminate at Wembley Park but it's that conflicting movement from the fast platform to the underpass means can't handle many trains as the center reversing road at Harrow. Service recovery north of Wembley Park is favourable when looking to accelerate services, I myself have been on out and back Semi-fast Uxbridge services on a Sunday Mid morning . However finding spots to turn-back trains to cut short their journeys is still quite a pain with no dedicated reversal platforms apart from Moorgate. They do seem to be more services heading up north after the peak, clearly they have the intention of preventing the Northbound service winding down less abruptly than seen previously. This may also be a response to the various rail treatment trains that are doing their rounds and will have taken up slots for reversals in place of some of the passenger services. |
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Post by scheduler on Nov 1, 2017 1:06:29 GMT
In the peak there is no where to turn southbound Mets short once they are past Harrow, other than Moorgate. In the off-peak Baker Street is timetabled to have only 1 of the two terminating platforms used, so there's a spare platform there for service recovery. The result of this is that if service recovery is needed, that is the reversal time at the terminus isn't generous enough to get the train back out on time, then the line controller needs to start running fasts and semi-fasts in place of all stations to get trains back into the right place. Trains being in the right place becomes very important in order for drivers to get off-shift on-time to avoid overtime or to get adequate meal break mid-shift so that they are suitably rested for the other half of the shift.
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