Crossrail/Elizabeth Line. From construction to operation - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Btline]

For goodness sake, when is common sense going to prevail?

14tph terminating at Paddington? Nonsense.

Let's have something like:
4tph to Tring/Milton Keynes locals
4tph Heathrow Express
4tph Chiltern area locals (Gerrards X, Harrow)

Shame about Airtrack as some Heathrow trains could be extended to Woking, taking the pressure off one of the busiest lines and stations (Surbiton).

Let's stop pretending Reading isn't there and extend Maidenhead trains to Reading, and West Drayton ones to Slough. The station's being redone and it's going to be electrified anyway. A bit of common sense.. PLEASE. Whichever bright spark thought stopping trains at West Drayton instead of Slough was a good idea should be sacked before it's too late.

As far as the rest of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s services are concerned, ALL calls apart from Slough and the odd Maidenhead should be AXED. Yes, I mean you, the Oxford slows! With the HeX out of the way, and no 90mph trains clogging up the fast lines after electrification, let's get the trains moving again!

[Electric train]

HEX remains post Crossrail

[anthony215]

Dont the class 332's run at 100mph? i thought it was only the turbos that worked the services to great malvern which ran at 90mph?

I would extend  the West Drayton terminaters to Slough, maybe if the thames branches are wired they could be operated as part of crossrail.

Maybe the crossrail order should consist of a mixture of 3 & 5 carriage EMU^▸ (Electric Multiple Unit)'s with the 5 carriage units running in pairs  on services to Heathrow Airport with the 3 carriage sets running in pairs on services to Maidenhead/Reading rute this allows them to split & attach at peak times so that through services can be provided to places such at Henley on thames, also i think extending the platforms would be easier at placess like Bourne end for 3 carriage trains would be cheaper than a 4 or 5 carriage train.


Then after that  the stopping services from Oxford running to Reading (possibility of interworking with the Reading- Rehill/Gatwick services perahps if the north downs infill is done?)

[eightf48544]

Let's stop pretending Reading isn't there and extend Maidenhead trains to Reading, and West Drayton ones to Slough. The station's being redone and it's going to be electrified anyway. A bit of common sense.. PLEASE. Whichever bright spark thought stopping trains at West Drayton instead of Slough was a good idea should be sacked before it's too late.

?

I agree with you entirely hhowever it's politics which bucket of our money is raided for which project.

Crossrail is basically a TFL^▸ (Transport for London) Inner London Project to relieve the Cental Line it works East of London with alternate trains to Shenfiled and Abbey Wood. Although the GE people are objecting to arrivng in an Underground station at Liverpool street. Abbbey Wood provides a whole new link from North Kent straight to the City and West End.

It fails miserably West of Padd due to capacity problems on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line).

If you think about it West Drayton is the Greater London Boundary so TFL wouldn't want to run stoppers to Slough. And Maidenhed was chosen soley because that's where the money for teh wires ran out no railway logic at all as everyone knows even the Crossrail team Reading is the obvious Western Terminus on the GMWL

But 10 tph going West on the Relief lines out of Padd is too many wherever they terminate.

It would be a criminal waste of money if Crossrail were to build the turnback sidings at Maidenhead the money save not building them should be  transferred to teh gMWL budget but that's too hard for the "Bean Counters".

[ChrisB]

And Maidenhed was chosen soley because that's where the money for teh wires ran out no railway logic at all as everyone knows even the Crossrail team Reading is the obvious Western Terminus on the GMWL

It would be a criminal waste of money if Crossrail were to build the turnback sidings at Maidenhead the money save not building them should be  transferred to teh gMWL budget but that's too hard for the "Bean Counters".

Eh? Agree that the money wasn't there to go to Reading, but Maidenhead already has a turnback siding that they can use, doersn't it? Nothing (except lengthening?) needed?

[IndustryInsider]

The plans look much more extensive than that:

From the Crossrail website: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/assets/library/document/0/original/0038-x-w25maidenstable.pdf

"New stabling facilities will be constructed, comprising six
sidings and also staff accommodation buildings at the
western end of the site."

[ChrisB]

oh, ok, thanks!

[IndustryInsider]

Sounds a little over-the-top, even if Crossrail does remain to Maidenhead only.

[paul7575]

The Maidenhead plans have always looked to be a little more than just a turnback.  Perhaps enough stabling space will be provided for trains to terminate there and be cleaned overnight, in order to start the service up the next morning?

Paul   

[IndustryInsider]

Up to 10 units according to that link.

[paul7575]

Up to 10 units according to that link.

That would quite likely reduce to 4 or 5 trains now that they have confirmed that their units will be 200m fixed formation - originally they were going to be running as 2 x 5 car trains and splitting offpeak - many people thought this would be difficult to make work with underground platform edge doors.

The latest proposal in the London & SE RUS^▸ (Route Utilisation Strategy) (final version published yesterday) is for 10 Crossrail trains to Heathrow, 6 on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) reliefs and eventually 8 onto the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) slows 'via a new link'.  They suggest this will allow good connections from the WCML to Heathrow via the interchange at Old Oak Common.

Note that this is not indicated as 'pending approval from BAA' or anything like that - it definitely seems to read as the next big change to Crossrail...

Paul

[Btline]

I hope the plans for Maidenhead don't prevent an extension to Reading.

My main problem of it stopping at Reading is what do to with the reliefs between there and Reading. Anything stopping at Tyford on he slows would have to be switched to the fasts, causing a bottleneck and causing HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) to put on the brakes.

The latest proposal is for 10 Crossrail trains to Heathrow, 6 on the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) reliefs and eventually 8 onto the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) slows 'via a new link'.

Good. When that's done, let's resurrect Airtrack and get them into South West London. I also hope Watford Junction is not served by Crossrail but by LU. The LO service should be AXED asap!

[IndustryInsider]

For goodness sake, when is common sense going to prevail?

14tph terminating at Paddington? Nonsense.

Let's have something like:
4tph to Tring/Milton Keynes locals
4tph Heathrow Express
4tph Chiltern area locals (Gerrards X, Harrow)

Shame about Airtrack as some Heathrow trains could be extended to Woking, taking the pressure off one of the busiest lines and stations (Surbiton).

Let's stop pretending Reading isn't there and extend Maidenhead trains to Reading, and West Drayton ones to Slough. The station's being redone and it's going to be electrified anyway. A bit of common sense.. PLEASE. Whichever bright spark thought stopping trains at West Drayton instead of Slough was a good idea should be sacked before it's too late.

As far as the rest of FGW^▸ (First Great Western)'s services are concerned, ALL calls apart from Slough and the odd Maidenhead should be AXED. Yes, I mean you, the Oxford slows! With the HeX out of the way, and no 90mph trains clogging up the fast lines after electrification, let's get the trains moving again!

Goodness, that's quite a wishlist!  Weren't you the one telling us all, before you had your little hiatus, that if the Tories got in at the election, then the first thing they'd do is AXE Crossrail and the GWML^▸ (Great Western Main Line) electrification?  Now you're demanding they spend Christ knows how much on enhancing it!? 

As Paul points out, the possibility of reaching the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) with Crossrail has been twigged by those at Network Rail, and I would say (in the medium term) this is the best bet of any extension.  With the HS2^▸ (The next High Speed line(s)) line using the only sensible route to link up with the Chiltern Line then that's a non-starter unless HS2 gets shelved and the route through Park Royal isn't protected for it.

[Ollie]

let's resurrect Airtrack

Or maybe not Unless you can come up with a practical solution with the various level crossings on the line.

[paul7575]

They do still seem to be suggesting running through T5 to terminate at Staines and Slough fortunately, without the full Airtrack service. 

If SWT^▸ (South West Trains) could then divert their weekday Waterloo - Staines - Weybridge service to run to/from or even through Woking,  Staines could easily become a major Heathrow interchange without increasing current level crossing down times.  The latter problem appears to have only (financially) impossible solutions.

Paul