Why, oh why, have tfl in all their wisdom, decided to schedule the trains from canada water so that the two that run down the busiest part (new x gate, brockley, hop, fh and sydders) run consecutively?!?
As I understand it (and correct me if I'm wrong) the trains are running to the same schedule, just with the new route slotted in. So the trains are just as frequent as they were, even if it doesn't feel like it.
I spoke to the senior transport planner in our office (I work in a highways department of a london borough council), and he told me the following.
there was much toing and froing when they were going to bring in the fourth line. there were already one train every 5 minutes along the middle part of the route, with one stopping at Dalston Junction, and two going further to H&I. They wanted two to continue, and two to stop at Dalston Junction, and they spent ages questioning which ones would go where. It's possible that they also fit in with the scheduling of other 'national rail' trains using the same tracks, south of NCG, and between Queens Rd Peckham and Clapham Junction.
However he did agree with me that the trains going south of NCG should alternate with those going either side - otherwise you end up with a build of passengers who all get on the first train through, which becomes overcrowded, and the second one through isn't as utilised as it could be. Northbound, Sydenham suffers from this, if there are delays, and the CP train is first, it is rammed, and then the WC train 5 minutes later is half empty, or alternatively, the CP train is almost empty as it's only picked up at one stop, and the WC train is fuller as it's stopped at more stations, but people do have a tendency to get on the first train arriving, even if it's full, and they know that another is due very soon, and they realise that it'll be a lot less busy.
He said it's possibly an unintended consequence of lots of people trying to ensure that other parts of the network are working ok. He also said that he would raise the issue at the next LOROL user forum in early Feb, so watch this space, and something might be done about it.
Thank you - that's brilliant! It just seems common sense to have something like WC - CJ - CP - NC or some other combination where CP and WC are not consecutive.
At the moment I think it's NC, CJ, WC, CP. The WC train is always packed and the CP one underutilised.