Silly question but why arw Chingford trains semi fast but not Enfield or Cheshunt trains?

[NorthKent1989]

I'm not too familiar with the suburban lines Out of Liverpool Street so I'm sorry for the stupid question.

But why are Chingford trains semi fast but not Enfield Town or Cheshunt trains considering these trains are further out, I think Cheshunt trains via Tottenham are fast I think.

Again sorry for the stupid question.

 

[NSE]

It’s not stupid if you don’t know! As often as I use the line it’s something I don’t know either!

 

[iphone76]

This may be totally wrong, but as a former regular user of these lines I would imagine it's because if the Chingford services used the suburban lines and stopped at Cambridge Heath and London Fields they would create more conflicting movements at Hackney Downs Junction as they cross to the Cambridge lines towards Clapton. (The up services from Chingford would cross the down line carrying Cambridge, Stansted and Hertford East services and the down services to Chingford would cross the up line carrying the up Enfield Town and Chestnut services.)

By crossing over to use the fast lines after Bethnal Green (which do not have platforms) all conflicting movements are contained at that junction and then each set of lines diverge at Hackney Downs.

 

[D7666]

There is no such thing as a silly question.

There are however silly answers.

You asked a question I never thought of despite being au fait with these services.

I suggest the answer given upthread is the right one, it's keeping to parallel working at Hackney Downs not creating unnecessary switching movements.

--
Nick

 

[Ianno87]

This may be totally wrong, but as a former regular user of these lines I would imagine it's because if the Chingford services used the suburban lines and stopped at Cambridge Heath and London Fields they would create more conflicting movements at Hackney Downs Junction as they cross to the Cambridge lines towards Clapton. (The up services from Chingford would cross the down line carrying Cambridge, Stansted and Hertford East services and the down services to Chingford would cross the up line carrying the up Enfield Town and Chestnut services.)

By crossing over to use the fast lines after Bethnal Green (which do not have platforms) all conflicting movements are contained at that junction and then each set of lines diverge at Hackney Downs.

That is completely correct.

Plus, if Chingfords ran all stations to Clapton, they'd get in the way of the likes of the Stansted Expresses for longer, so skipping Cambridge Heath and London Fields chews up less capacity in the plain line sense.

 

[Starmill]

Weren't there a number of Chingford services in the evening peak which skipped stations between Clapton and Chingford?

 

[NorthKent1989]

Thanks folks for the replies, much appreciated

The Lea Valley lines seem similar to the Dartford lines in addition to the Grove Park and Hayes lines.

Chingford has more skipping trains?? Urs quite a short line how many stops does it skip in peaks?

 

[Ianno87]

Thanks folks for the replies, much appreciated

The Lea Valley lines seem similar to the Dartford lines in addition to the Grove Park and Hayes lines.

Chingford has more skipping trains?? Urs quite a short line how many stops does it skip in peaks?

These days, half the peak Chingford service also skips Bethnal Green (as well as Cambridge Heath and London Fields) due to the density of service on the Suburban tracks into Liverpool St (22tph total). This pattern has been the case since at least 2011.

Other than a single late night train, I don't think planned skipping of any other stations has been common for a number of years.

 

[700007]

I use the Chingford branch nearly daily for my commute (otherwise it's via Tottenham Hale) - in the event of yesterday a lot of them did stop at Cambridge Heath and London Fields for the sake of no 'via Seven Sisters' trains. Quite often the trains do skip Bethnal Green as well, especially when there is a 'delayed' departure off Liverpool Street.

By delayed I mean that the train is scheduled to leave later than usual on the clockface timable (03,18,33,48 past the hour). A good example of this would be the 0805 Liv St to Chingford, this would on the clockface timetable leave at 0803 instead. However as there is a 0803 departure using the same line, which is a Greater Anglia service to Cambridge only calling at Tottenham Hale on the way. This LO departure gets pushed back to 0805, skips Bethnal Green to make up time so that by the time it gets to Hackney Downs it maintains a consistent every 15 minute pattern. This helps to avoid clashes at the Clapton Junction (not sure if that's the name) where GA goes to Tottenham Hale.

Hope this helps.

Interestingly, a train I often get, the 0748 departure off LST does not switch tracks at Bethnal Green. It instead does this at Hackney Downs however it still skips Cambridge Heath and London Fields.

 

[AlanFry1]

IMO this is something which could change in at least the new off peak timetable 2019/20? esp with London Fields which really has boomed with passenger numbers since LO take over.