Or unless when the whole Oystercard system changed to batch / back-office processing overnight rather than real-time processing.Keeping track of bus journeys within an hour where there is no fare tally to keep as well was a relatively simple change to make, yet it still took nearly a year to implement the Mayor's strategy in full. The first iteration did indeed extend on the tram feeder bus logic.
Splitting a rail journey with another rail journey would be either a complete rewrite of the system, or too much processing at touch out, or more likely both.