Atomic Systems

If it is planned and marketed well, then CTRL-DS could increase capacity for inner-suburban passengers. If the CTRL becomes route of choice for many east Kent passengers, then for starters 'classic line' services originating from east Kent could be less heavily loaded - more seats for west Kent and south-east London passengers. The Medway CTRL services, if these take off, could also allow for fast services to be removed west of the Medway - more track capacity for inner-suburban services. Then there is the growth potential - CTRL, with all that spare capacity, has a lot more potential than the existing lines - if the housing growth is concentrated in east Kent, with CTRL as mode-of-choice, then this mitigates against some of the congestion issues if that housing were to be further in toward London.

Ebbsfleet International is one place which could make or break CTRL-DS' long-term future. Without CTRL-DS, Ebbsfleet will be a British 'Haute-Picardie' - with it, that area's potential is huge.

The specification does seem a bit on the slow side - 75mph on 3rd Rail is not good, perhaps time for (yet another) Southern PSU?! I would also be minded to suggest that some off-peak DS should use the Fawkham-Southfleet Interconnexion, running into Victoria, thereby retaining a direct off-peak link with the West End, and ensuring all parts of CTRL are used.

I'm not particularly au fait with the lines beyond ashford, but I have my doubts that there's very much of it with a linespeed greater than 75mph. It's all pretty rickety round that way. Running at 140 from Ashford will more than offset the fact that it's a bit slow whilst trundling through Minster...

mattvince wrote:The specification does seem a bit on the slow side - 75mph on 3rd Rail is not good, perhaps time for (yet another) Southern PSU?! I would also be minded to suggest that some off-peak DS should use the Fawkham-Southfleet Interconnexion, running into Victoria, thereby retaining a direct off-peak link with the West End, and ensuring all parts of CTRL are used.

Not a major problem, very few bits of the Kent network are 100mph passed, plus it will also mitigate the railhead damage caused by the high primary yaw stiffness of the bogie (required for high speed running, also Hitachi seem to want to weld thick metal plates onto them after seeing the quality of track in Kent )

Regards,

Dan

arabiandisco wrote:I'll get you a spade and you can start digging the second bore for the Sydenham - Penge tunnel...

i'll do it... only if you promise to help!
slightly OT, but does anyone know anywhere were i can find a bit of history out on penge tunnel?
JR