My first experience of the timetabled stop at Pudding Mill Lane tonight. I'm not sure I understand why it's needed? I can see the 2 minute stop in the timetable but the 'pathing reasons - passing train' doesn't make much sense to me as there is no other service passing in front? The previous service to occupy platform 8 at Stratford is the one it has been following through the core, so why stop? If just to space the timetable out so they can run 3 minutes apart in the core but 5 minutes above ground, it seems a bit mad to stop on the incline so the train rolls back almost a full carriage length while the brakes release, and for the driver to have to make an announcement about a red signal every time this service runs. That, plus the fact they still haven't fixed the bug where if the driver tries to talk over an automated announcement, the audio bugs out and plays a screaming alarm sound doesn't help matters.
As for 'does anyone test these things', I think your answer is in the fact the screens onboard say 'Abby Wood' and not 'Abbey Wood'. In other words, no