2016 : Thameslink to Rainham
fbb discovered this item on a London rail watchers blog.
This document on their web site gives these outline proposals for Kent Thameslink services.
This is the opening paragraph.
Proposed new all-day Monday to Friday, Saturday and Sunday Thameslink service on the North Kent line via Greenwich, Dartford and Medway Towns.
They describe it in more detail later.
New cross-London journey opportunities providing multiple connectivity opportunities will be created between Luton – St Albans City – West Hampstead Thameslink – Central London (via London Bridge) – Greenwich – Abbey Wood – Dartford – Rochester – Rainham. This new route will provide multiple new connections with the new east to west Elizabeth Line (formally Crossrail) at Abbey Wood. The route can also be operated by 8 or 12 car trains.
The article goes on to suggest that Rainham was chosen as a terminus because it has a suitable bay platform for terminatng trains.
Other articles at the time suggested that the Rainham service was a Thameslink afterthought. The planners had two stopping trains an hour from Luton with nowhere to go, there being no stations in the Thameslink "core" with space or time to turn trains back,
Whatever the idea in the planners' minds this is the route, frim Luton into the "core" ( GREY line) ...
... and in via Greenwich and Woolwich to Rainham.
Rainham station?
It is a small town east of Rochester ...
... and here in detail.
But fbb seems to remember debate on the more 'serious' railway magazines about the value of two extra trains along this route. The service is very much all stops.
Note that the evening service terminates at Hampstead.
So it is this service that is to be "slashed" according to The Telegraph' ; but " temporarily aligned" according to Thameslink.
Readers of this much respected paragon of the fourth estate (?) will find their lives greatly enhanced by the journos' explanation of the Thameslink service pattern on this route.
Well done, Telegraph, almost every word in the above paragraph is unmitigated drivel.
Error 1 : there are two Thameslink trains per hour not four Error 2 : Technically, the North Kent line, electrified in the late 1950s, runs from London to Margate and Ramsgate but not via Greenwich. Greenwich is part if the 'Dartford Loop' group of services.
Error 3 : Southern services are also every 30 minutes ... ... which, for a London suburban line, is 'normal' rather than 'frequent'
2026 : Shocking Summer Service Slash
Shock horror! "Hundreds of Trains This Summer"?
This is correct!
BUT ... as Thameslink runs, for example 4200 timetabled trains each day (Monday to Friday), slightly less on Saturday and about half that number on Sundays ....
That is, as they say, "a whole lotta trains".
fbb estimates, using his Basic Recalculating Algorithmic Information Notation software, enhanced by Assorted Idiotic database technology, that Thameslink will operate 220,000 trains over a typical six week period.
Misleading Message 1 : Hundreds of trauns is not much at all.
Misleading Message 2 : Repeat! It has absolutely nothing to do with Nationalisation
And There's More!
So we get to the nub of the problem. The only information about the cuts is anecdotal as Thameslink has not published revised timetables. It is, as they say, all on line. The National Rail journey planner has been updated.
The only way that fbb could document the cuts on the Rainham line would be to spend the rest of his alloted days of existence checking train details one by one.
One snippet suggested 12 trains are "slashed" Monday to Friday off peak; with a reduction to an hourly headway in Saturdays. Is this in one direction, so 24 in all or six outbound and six inbound.
We should be told!
But gaze upon a map.
On the above route diagram, the Thameslink service is coloured BLACK. As you can see, there is no station on the Thameslink route that doesn't have an alternative service alongside Thameslink.
Dodgy Decision 1 : Hardest Hit? Whilst a small number of passengers will be hit, there will always be alterative journeys available, possibly with a change and usually with a penalty of just 10 to 15 min.
Dodgy Decision 2 : Bedford? Apart from a possible occasional train returning to depot at beddy-byes time, Rainham line services do not run to Bedford.
fbb is confused! From May 17th there have been extra trains running on some routes operated under GoAhead brands, notably Gatwick Express. So how much will this timetable "slash" actually save.
There will, of course, be savings in staff BUT increases in staff costs where additional services have been added elsewhere.
There will be less track access fees to pay.
There will be extra costs in updating the humungous amount of technology for signalling, passenger information, accountancy, PR etc. etc.
Bearing in mind the astronomical costa of running a railway and the astronomical costs of maintaining it even if no trains are running, the savings will be trivial.
Conclusion
Yet another example of poor reporting (misleading reporting) creating misplaced antagonism directed against Thameslink.
Medical Report
Back at fbb mansions 1545 yesterday with much improved waste disposal system. Due to the loss of a dribble (rather than a gush) of blood internally over several days, fbb has to convalesce for a week or so to allow stocks of the ruby gojuice to regenerate.
Immensely grateful to all concerned at Royal Devon And Exeter Hospital for eight days of superb care all delivered with a cheery mien above and beyond any job description!
Next Variety Blog : Saturday 6th June
