| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Re:Re:Mike Brown's Longing for a Piccadilly Line Stop at Turnham Green | |
| Posted by: | Al Webber | |
| Date/Time: | 08/02/20 13:22:00 |
| The current services are already operating at capacity, so a progressive expansion" is not possible without changes to the rolling stock and/or signalling. When the new signalling system on the sub-surface lines is live everywhere, there will be some improvement to the District line service. They will be able fit more trains through Earl's Court than they can currently. Some of those will go to Wimbledon, but it will mean a few extra District line trains to Turnham Green in the peak. I'm not sure of the exact numbers though. If they can fit an extra 6 or 8 trains per through Earl's Court, then I'd guess that we might see an extra 3 or 4 per hour through Turnham Green. There is nothing they can do with the Piccadilly at the moment. When the new trains arrive, they might have slightly greater capacity, and better acceleration, but initially they won't be able to make use of the acceleration as they will be mixed in with the existing trains from the 70s. Once the old trains have gone, speeds might be able to go up a bit - if the track is good enough. Given the cuts to the track renewal programme in the last few years, they will be bringing the new trains (with much heavier axle loads) in when there will still be a lot of old track around. That is a recipe for problems. With modern ultrasonic testing of rails, it should be safe, but the maintenance bill to keep it safe will be large. Crossrail will help a bit. It will reduce overcrowding on the Piccadilly and the District. That should make station dwell times a bit better. With the plan to run the Piccadilly to Ealing Broadway, you won't be able to do that gradually. When that is implemented, there will be wholesale timetable change overnight. There is no other way to implement it. |