IanBanks-Jones
Member
The Npton to wboro line also hits the mml from the south, negating the advantages of a n-s link
I think Bedford and Luton need more direct MML trains if anything, not a further decimation that the service has suffered (that occurred in the December 2008 timetable).
As I recall, when Southern came in they adopted a flat fare season ticket policy on season tickets on the Uckfield branch. A season ticket from Edenbridge Stns to London costs precisely the same as from any station south of there. Worth a quick look here if you want to do some comparisons: http://ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/seasonticket/searchI'm intrigued by your comments about the low season ticket fares. I didn't realize there was such a discrepancy with the main line. Wonder why that is the case - my first guess would be: Are Southern deliberately using differential fares to try to ease congestion on the main Brighton line? (If they are, that would seem to give a strong argument for building Uckfield-Lewes in terms of even greater potential for using fares to ease main line congestion.
Two further questions to satisfy my curiosity... Is it only season tickets that are so much cheaper on the Uckfield branch or are normal day tickets cheaper/mile too? And how does the Uckfield line compare with the East Grinstead line in that regard.
I think Bedford and Luton need more direct MML trains if anything, not a further decimation that the service has suffered (that occurred in the December 2008 timetable).
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A chord could be added (or it might already be in existance) at Dorking to allow a service to run along the route Reading-Guildford-Horsham-Brighton.
A London-Dorking-Horsham service could be extended to Bognor Regis via Worthing to improve local connections.
Couldnt figure out which thread to put this in, and I dont think it is worthy of its own thread but over the last few days one of the original signs at High Wycombe station has been uncovered. If you are on platform 2 at High Wycombe station instead of seeing the standard giant map of London and the South East, there is a very large and very old school HIGH WYCOMBE, JUNCTION FOR MARLOW AND MAIDENHEAD sign in its place. I dont know how long it will be there for though.
That's true. I should imagine a new service from Colne to Manchester through Blackburn and Bolton would be quite well received.
However, the point I am trying to make is that trams offer different opportunities - bringing the trams into town centres for example, a much more frequent service or more stops.
The service to Colne is hourly, one could expect a tram to run every 15 minutes. If there will be two trains each way every hour running from Todmorden to Blackburn, then a frequent tram connects into these services far better than the current hourly service.
The route goes from Colne through Nelson into Burnley, there is potential for more stops giving more people easy access into the network. Perhaps the trams could run on-street into the centre of Colne and possibly Burnley.