Alternative proposals for East West Rail around Milton Keynes and Bletchley

[mr_jrt]

Agreed - Willesden has improved a bit from the days on a late turn , when the premises I went to get some junk food from (no Waitrose then) , had a shotgun raid on it which I missed by about 20 mins ! - the local travel needs are well served by urban services and there are no obvious flows from further out.

Maybe, but the interchange argument holds water, I feel. You can't accurately gauge that one however as there are no current platforms to measure usage of, but having to change to LO or the Bakerloo at H&W to get to Clapham when the Southern service isn't running is a _painful_ crawl.

Additionally, once OOC is open Willesden-OOC for the GWML avoiding Paddington would be attractive, if OOC manages to hold on to the proposed Victoria Road LO station (which I think have now been descoped?). Not sure heading south for HS2 will be attractive along the WCML, but if it ends up that way, OOC could be attractive for relieving load on Euston, even more so if they can build the surrounding area up as they have at Stratford.

 

[swt_passenger]

You can indeed get to a lot of places from Croydon, and it's also a big centre for business (a 2-days-a-week commute to a contract in an office there was the reason for me having used the full route except MKC-BLY) though the connectivity "jewel in the crown" of the service is Clapham Junction, which gives you access to all of Southern and Southeastern's routes from the WCML without faffing about with the Tube, buses or taxis...

Did you actually mean to write Southwestern?

 

[cle]

I can't imagine so.

On the Croydon point, it may fly under the radar somewhat, but Watford is also quite a busy commercial centre - not just for local civic and retail employment but a lot of companies have HQs there. A fair few are out of town, and roads are good - but the workers are there. A better local and regional service would definitely see a lot more activity - or a broader sphere of willing talent.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Did you actually mean to write Southwestern?

Yes, I did, sorry...going mad!