Chiltern Main Line - Broken Down Freight Train and Met Line extension to Aylesbury

[aylesbury2]

If some serious money was spent on that branch line then Aylesbury - London via Princes Risborough could probably be done in 40 minutes. Wont happen though.

Chiltern aren't making enough money from MYB-AYS to make it worthwhile for this to happen, plus the diversion via PR adds more miles further west away from London. The branch line is 40mph, single track at the moment and has that level crossing at Marsh which is on its way out and will need to be reworked to make this happen, as will the layout change with the Chiltern Main Line at PR - possibly creating a flying junction like can be found up the line at Aynho with the Oxford-Banbury link.

I think the Met Line extension option is best with the layout that exists.

As I live equidistant from AYS and Tring, I go from the latter. Inefficiency and slowness frustrate me - LM's rolling stock is far more pleasant, has tables and better toilets, and they are thinking of adding power sockets and WiFi (which doesn't really bother me as the connection is so poor it's often pointless - I certainly wouldn't pay as is the case with VT). If I can't blag a lift, a taxi only costs a tenner which usually means the tickets from Tring and Aylesbury are about the same price, if not cheaper thanks to LM's frequent and excellent rail sales which Chiltern never do. Tickets from Haddenham and Thame are very costly and aren't much quicker than going from AYS by the time the journey is factored in - plus there's always the chance you'll just be stuck with a 165 as not many express services seem to stop there, many are first stop Bicester or Banbury.

 

[67018]

I knew I'd read the Aylesbury debate before - put far better than I could on London Reconnections last year http://www.londonreconnections.com/...-future-of-metropolitan-line-services-part-2/

In my opinion it will be impossible to tell whether AVP was a good idea for a good 10 or 15 years. My previous point being that there are plenty of busy stations around that had s*d all nearby when they were built.

The area might not be great but that makes it more affordable and it's amazing how places can change. Islington and Brixton in the 80s were far worse!

 

[Chris125]

Chiltern aren't making enough money from MYB-AYS to make it worthwhile for this to happen, plus the diversion via PR adds more miles further west away from London. The branch line is 40mph, single track at the moment and has that level crossing at Marsh which is on its way out and will need to be reworked to make this happen, as will the layout change with the Chiltern Main Line at PR - possibly creating a flying junction like can be found up the line at Aynho with the Oxford-Banbury link.

Princes Risborough-Aylesbury will have to be upgraded to allow the proposed EWR services - you can get an idea of what's being considered in this presentation with a significant portion doubled and no doubt higher linespeeds too. It's days as a quiet backwater will soon be over.

Chris

 

[aylesbury2]

Princes Risborough-Aylesbury will have to be upgraded to allow the proposed EWR services - you can get an idea of what's being considered in this presentation with a significant portion doubled and no doubt higher linespeeds too. It's days as a quiet backwater will soon be over.

Chris

Yes, however I was replying to another question regarding an immediate improvement which would mean quicker journeys into London via PR rather than EWR which isn't going to happen for 5 years+.

 

[CarltonA]

6Z34 failed just north of Gerrards Cross.

What was the consist of the failed train? I noticed the 67 in Gerrards Cross siding at about 16.30.

 

[HSTEd]

I imagine an S-stock set that ran the stopping pattern run by Chiltern would be able to keep fairly close to the existing Chiltern timings.

It might depend on what happens to the Chiltern metals that run parallel to the LU ones south of Harrow - if they were electrified and running powers award to LU then the timetable on the Met becomes much more flexible.

How about handing over two of the shorter platforms at Marylebone to LU and running a 'Marylebone branch' of the Met which could handle some services to offset capacity constraints through the Euston Road 'core'?

 

[aylesbury2]

Going back to the original topic, there is more disruption on the main line due to a cable fire at Wembley.

http://https://twitter.com/chilternrailway/status/478107478597459968
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Marylebone is now closed due to a cable fire.

 

[Saint66]

Going back to the original topic, there is more disruption on the main line due to a cable fire at Wembley.

http://https://twitter.com/chilternrailway/status/478107478597459968
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Marylebone is now closed due to a cable fire.

Sounds serious. Possibly no services into Marylebone until Monday morning.

 

[168lover]

What was the consist of the failed train? I noticed the 67 in Gerrards Cross siding at about 16.30.

The 67 you saw was 67012 which was waiting in the siding to have clear run to Seer Green to pull the freight train out of the way.

 

[Class 170101]

And presumably diverting to Paddington isn't an option today?

 

[Mojo]

There is already a thread about the fire affecting trains into Marylebone, please don't complicate matters by using this one.

 

[The Planner]

Princes Risborough-Aylesbury will have to be upgraded to allow the proposed EWR services - you can get an idea of what's being considered in this presentation with a significant portion doubled and no doubt higher linespeeds too. It's days as a quiet backwater will soon be over.

Chris

That is a shocking layout at Risborough, that little bit of single track will be a right bottleneck. All it needs is a little bit more twin track to allow a shuttle to still operate with a parallel move.

 

[aylesbury2]

That is a shocking layout at Risborough, that little bit of single track will be a right bottleneck. All it needs is a little bit more twin track to allow a shuttle to still operate with a parallel move.

Yeah it is, I was looking at a video of a binliner passing on to it at a great angle where you could see the main line and then the AYS branch line running off it. I reckon (as said before) a flying junction like at Aynho would be a big improvement, but Chiltern make so little from the branch line it's just not worth it for them (i.e. Little Kimble has only 8000 users per year) and there are often very few direct services to MYB which stop there.

 

[The Planner]

You'll never get a flyover there.

 

[Chris125]

Yeah it is, I was looking at a video of a binliner passing on to it at a great angle where you could see the main line and then the AYS branch line running off it. I reckon (as said before) a flying junction like at Aynho would be a big improvement, but Chiltern make so little from the branch line it's just not worth it for them (i.e. Little Kimble has only 8000 users per year) and there are often very few direct services to MYB which stop there.

Even with the enhanced specification they are only proposing one passenger and one freight path per hour each way between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury, which is never going to justify grade separation.

Chris

 

[aylesbury2]

Accidental post

 

[HowardGWR]

DVT with unmarked coaches at AYS today! How exciting!

I don't understand why this post is in this thread. What am i writing, I don't understand the post anyway!

 

[aylesbury2]

I don't understand why this post is in this thread. What am i writing, I don't understand the post anyway!

Sorry, accidental post! Glad someone replied or I wouldn't have known. This was meant to he a thread about Chiltern mainline delays a while ago but then seems to have divulged into another topic!