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Update from TfL:

Kensington (Olympia)
Closed to District line services due to lack of available trains. A rail replacement bus service operates between Earl's Court (bus stop C on Warwick Road) and Olympia (bus stop D on Kensington High Street) every 10 minutes.

Until District line services resume normally, the replacement buses will operate as follows:

Friday 8th October 2010 - 0800 to 1800
Saturday 9th October 2010 - 0800 to 1900
Sunday 10th October 2010 - 0800 to 1800
Monday 11th October 2010 - 0800 to 1800
Tuesday 12th October 2010 - 0800 to 1700

Presumably it is being tweaked to meet anticipated demand due to events at Olympia - otherwise I cannot see why the replacement bus is only running until 1700 next Tuesday.

The update has now gone from the website and "good service" is operating on the district line... Not sure what this actually means though!?


EDIT: Now at 07.20, it's back to being suspended between Earl's Court and Olympia but with no mention of the replacement buses which were being displayed yesterday... i'm so confused!

At 10:00

Minor delays are occurring due to lack of available trains. In consequence no service between Earl's Court and Kensington Olympia.

A replacement bus service is operating between West Brompton, Earl's Court and Kensington Olympia.

What I've realised is, the shuttle was showing as suspended at 7am, the shuttle only starts running at 7am, hence why everything was showing as good service before hand

So the shuttle is now running again....

That's probably because the Richmond branch is suspended today and there are spare trains available. I wouldn't put any money on it running tomorrow.

There was works on the Richmond branch yesterday but no shuttle....

Tfl Reporting minor delays to the District Line.

TfL also reporting that Kensington Olympia is closed due to lack of available trains. No details of any replacement bus service today either!

Sources report that on Saturday 23 out of 63 units were unavailable.

It would appear that a District line service is currently running to Kensington Olympia.

I understand that over the past couple of weekends, especially on Sundays, C Stock has been used to Kensington Olympia and Richmond (02/03 Oct only).

C stock has also been making an appearance on Wimbledon - Barking services.

There is not normally enough spares to nick a C Stock Mon-Friday.

You can actually run a 4tph service from HSK to Ken O by using only 1 unit. A train operator at each end and only 90 seconds turn around time at Ken O or HSK. This was being considered last week. Naturally, it would run to an unusal timetable but better than nothing!

I've seen a one-train Earl's Court - Kensington Olympia shuttle before now, reversing in the 'siding' east of Earl's Court. However this can create a bit of a bottle-neck for other eastbound trains, when a reverser is blocking one of the two eastbound tracks.

There is a report posted today on 'District Dave's' Underground Forum ( http://districtdave.proboards.com ) that at the next District Line timetable change in May the Kensington (Olympia) service will revert to only running on exhibition days (as I think it used to in the 1960s & 70s?). If this is true it will limit considerably the number of days on which a full network challenge may be attempted. However, a couple of the most recent posts on the topic have suuggested that the change may not be happening until the end of the the year, rather than this May.

Are these service cutbacks due to the recession?

In the current economic & political climate, I think TfL will be looking to to trim costs where they can. For example, I've also seen it suggested that Piccadily Line trains may not run beyond Rayners Lane off-peak. The net effect of such trimming will be to make a full network that much harder.
Regarding the Kensington (Olympia) service, I've also seen it suggested that as most exhibitions are focussed on weekends, rather than have the confusion of knowing when the shuttle is running, it could become a weekend only service. If this were true it would make a 270 completion impossible (even without the usual engineering closures), as Cannon Street is shut at weekends.

So you've just taken everything mentioned on district Daves forum then