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Southeastern Engineering Work 16 June

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BluePenguin

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Engineering work is taking place today across the Southeastern network. Many will be annoyed although the work must take place at some point. Buses are replacing trains between Canterbury West - Ashford International and Ashford Intl - Ebbfleet Intl.

https://www.southeasternrailway.co....k?date=2019-06-16#engineering-departure-board

Having had quick read of the above link a few questions come to mind:
Firstly, whenever engineering work is carried on HS1 between Ashford and Ebbsfleet, the "alternate fast services" that are put in place always seem to be to London Victoria as opposed to the more logical terminal of Charing Cross - why is this? It is frankly bizarre! Hardly anyone from the East will be expecting any services to go to Victoria due to it not being their usual terminal. Not many even use the Ashford - Victoria stopper for end to end journeys.

The stopping pattern Ashford, Tonbridge, Sevenoaks, Bromley South and Victoria is strange selection and although allows a must missed fast service to Tonbridge (which is beneficial for those wanting Gatwick), it does nothing for passengers wanting London Bridge, Waterloo East or Charing Cross as they must wait for the stopper to catch up from behind. Although this today misses out Sandling, Westernhanger and Pluckley, absolutely zero time is saved for some reason. Surely the additional stop at Orpington cannot be responsible?

Meanwhile, passengers wanting Charing Cross are stuck with the all stations stopper they are used to provided by the Ramsgate to Charing Cross via Dover Priory which usually start and terminates at Dover at the weekend. Instead, running services Ashford - Tonbridge...anywhere after... to Charing Cross would surely be much better. In addition, it would allow those wanting St Pancras to board a Thameslink at London Bridge.

Whilst HS1 is non-operational due to engineering works or disruption, the mainline is never adapted to suit and meet demand. It is as though since the completion of HS1, we have forgotten how we ever ran the mainline railway without it. Why not allow Kent travellers to reach central London as quickly as is possible? The whole arrangement to encourage passengers onto HS1 does not apply when it is closed.

On another note, whilst there are no highspeed services, Eurostars happily continue to use the fly over as normal. Could highspeed service not use it also? This would mean bypassing Ashford although a Folkestone - Ashford shuttle could run for connections. Services could join HS1 in the Dollands Moor area perhaps to facilitate this, although they may have to reverse from the looks of a map. Alternatively, would it be possible to run high speed services from Dover to St Pancras via Canterbury East and Faversham? As for Canterbury West, services could run via Minster and Sandwich to join the above service, negating the need for a replacement bus.

I am sure there is a logical explanation to all of this, but wanted to give my pence worth. Hopefully someone will be along to explain their understanding and shed some light on the matter :D
 
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30907

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Informed guesses:
1. Cannon Street is closed, so the extra paths into CHX may not be available or involve a lot of pathing time.
2. VIC is rather easier to reach from STP than CHX (though I take your point about Thameslink) and has plenty of spare capacity on the SE side.
3. The SEV and BMS stops are useful when the Otford route is closed.

PS As far as I can see, Pluckley etc get their normal hourly service. And the thought of a double reversal at Dollands Moor, even if it were signalled, doesn't appeal.
 

4-SUB 4732

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Victoria would be my logical choice purely because they also needed to provide some capacity from Bromley to Victoria as the route is closed between Bickley Jn and Borough Green / Sevenoaks via Otford / Rochester Bridge Jn.

Crew wise there wouldn't be a major problem going to either as Ashford and Tonbridge sign both routes. One might argue as people might want their 'typical' connections, you could route the trains into Blackfriars via Herne Hill but at the same time you're better off sending everyone to one place where staff can be put in said same place.
 

ComUtoR

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Quite a few speed restrictions just got withdrawn. Hooray for engineering works. Well done PWay peeps.
 

BluePenguin

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Quite a few speed restrictions just got withdrawn. Hooray for engineering works. Well done PWay peeps.
That is great news! It is good that there will be some benefits. What more can you tell us about that?
 

Metal_gee_man

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Some of the reasoning is the number of movements on a Sunday into Victoria are reduced compared to the busy nature of permanently congested LBG and the idea of extra services running that way not making as much sense!
 

FlippyFF

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Was HS1 operating single line working somewhere between Ashford and Ebbsfleet or was the work in the P3-6 area at Ashford (maybe sorting out the signalling so 374s can return to Ashford as its been over a year now since their ill-fated introduction?).


Simon
 

ComUtoR

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That is great news! It is good that there will be some benefits. What more can you tell us about that?

Speed restrictions can cause delays. No more restrictions - no more delays.

Also the problem with constant speed restrictions is that they can often get more and more restrictive and can lead to more damage and therefore more work to be carried out. Engineering works is part and parcel of running a railway. The more services we have and the more we move towards a 24/7 service the less chance there is to carry out upgrades and repairs.

Personally, what I want from Network Rail is more robust works rather than quick fixes or patch repair jobs. I would rather suffer a weekend of engineering works to get a decent and more long term job done.
 
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