tubechallenge.com

The Raven wrote: I do hope that means one of two things.

Either:
- No more Olympia trains
- More Olympia trains

Or it could mean only Olympia trains at the weekend - the worst possible option. I still can't believe that if they are serious about preserving the special exhibition services they are not running any for the British Beer Festival on 7 - 10 August, probably the biggest event of the year.

So what would it mean for record attempts if it did only run at weekends? Since they don't allow record attempts at weekends, wouldn't it just mean no Olympia?

Iain wrote:So what would it mean for record attempts if it did only run at weekends? Since they don't allow record attempts at weekends, wouldn't it just mean no Olympia?

If that was the case then I think options are:

- Saturdays are allowed, still not brilliant as a Saturday where the whole network is open is a very rare occurrence
- Arrive or Depart form Kensington Olympia on the London Overground (My preferred choice)
- Treat Kensington Olympia as a "Closed" station and not visit it

If TfL do stop the early morning and evening services and no event services are scheduled, then Guinness need to be contacted for clarification.

Iain wrote:So what would it mean for record attempts if it did only run at weekends? Since they don't allow record attempts at weekends, wouldn't it just mean no Olympia?

Except presumably there would still be the few Olympia reversers going in and out of service that we have on an ordinary weekday. If TfL were to come clean on their plans for Olympia services, I think we should try to get a ruling from GWR, but that would be easier said than done, as GWR are not renowned for their communication or logic regarding the rules.

Sorry my post and the Raven's were made at the same time.

Another weird thing is that they are running an Olympia service today and tomorrow for a not very big exhibition. Yet the original reason given by TfL for withdrawal was to provide an enhanced service on the Wimbledon branch. But that's OK at the the moment because there's no reason why anyone wants to go to Wimbledon this week is there?

Nigel wrote:But that's OK at the the moment because there's no reason why anyone wants to go to Wimbledon this week is there?

Good point!

Mind you it only takes one train to run the Ken O shuttle?

Sounds like it could need clarification then - but we can't do that until we know more about the service

Has anyone considered that an Olympia service may be offered mon-fri where the exhibition is willing to pay for it. I've seen no proof of this but would not be suprised if TfL only run the service when someone else pays for it.

Lets be fair, their reasons for withdrawing it were rubbish. It was 3 conflicting moves an hour using 2 trains. Now its 2 conflicting moves an hour using 1 train (when run).

scrxisi wrote:Out of interest, why is it your preferred choice to allow LO there?

If Ken O services were weekends only, then Ken O via LO on a weekday seems a far compromise.

I completely disagree. The London Overground tracks do not mirror the District line tracks so I think it's a case of shut the whole station else attempts will have to be very limited.

The Raven wrote:

Nigel wrote:But that's OK at the the moment because there's no reason why anyone wants to go to Wimbledon this week is there?

Good point!

Mind you it only takes one train to run the Ken O shuttle?

It's not the number of trains that it takes, but the space in the timetable that the Olympia paths through Earls Court take up.

Off-peak Wimbledon gets 12tph whether or not the Olympia shuttle is running. The only difference in service is in the evening peak when 3 Wimbleware trains are diverted from Wimbledon to Olympia.

scrxisi wrote:

The Raven wrote:- Saturdays are allowed, still not brilliant as a Saturday where the whole network is open is a very rare occurrence
- Arrive or Depart form Kensington Olympia on the London Overground (My preferred choice)
- Treat Kensington Olympia as a "Closed" station and not visit it

Out of interest, why is it your preferred choice to allow LO there?

I think the only option worth its salt is to close Olympia as a tube station - LO and Southern adequately serve it (I'd double the frequency of the Southern in an ideal world but that's by the by). I only hope that they are going for a "closure by stealth" approach to this. It makes enormous sense to honest.

I think the problem is the amount of trains on the WCML and whether 2 Southerns per hours could be timetabled on to that busy stretch of track. Many a time if a southern is late it misses its slot on the WCML and has a delay. Virgin, LM, Southern, Royal Mail and goods services all use that stretch.

Can't they terminate the second Southern service at Wembley Central on the mothballed platform seven?

Just been out on an abortive full network - we spotted that the District line diagram now says "weekend service only" on the Ken O dotted bit.

This may be accidental but there was an automated announcement on the Picc saying that the Ken O to Earl's Court bit of the District was suspended (it wasn't)