Earls Court-Olympia Replacement Bus Service

It doesn't feature on the engineering works TfL page.

It could be a supplementary service for Olympia shows which don't justify a train service.

Is there actually a useful purpose for the Olympia service? As much as possible, they seem to prefer not to run it.
They make announcements at Earls Court all the time like it's an extremely popular service that people need lots of advice on alternative routes. But is it really?
Is it only not withdrawn altogether because it can be a convenient location to turn back trains when needed?

I think LU will find it impossible to withdraw any tube station or shut a tube station completely. There was a lot of political fuss over Olympia's reduced service and I expect a future Mayor may actually demand TfL reinstates the old service level. I also expect the debate over Watford Met is far from finished. I know there are potentially compelling arguments in favour of more frequent / new services away from any closed bit but I suspect there is the principle of removing service when the network is over burdened with demand. That flies in the face of "political logic" regardless of whatever other logic there may.

The issues mentioned above don't help, but the main reason is conflicting moves crossing on the level.

The worst conflict is on the east, where every Wimbledon-Edgware Road train must cross the main line.

The Olympia service worsens an already bad situation. On the west, an Olympia service has to cross the westbound main line on the level at Earl's Court, then later the eastbound at the branch junction. On the east, it adds further trains to the conflict mentioned above.

Add in a political dimension - Wimbledon passengers waiting for their busy trains seeing empty Olympia trains come and go - and it's easy to see why the change was made.

Once all the D stock has gone Edgware Road services could start from Ealing or Richmond this would help free up conflicting moves at Earls Court i.e. train leaves Ealing Bdy travels to Edgware road (via plat 1 at Earls Court) return trip to Wimbledon (via Plat 4) on its journey back from Wimbledon it is a Tower Hill train (via Plat 2) it then could return towards Ealing/Richmond, And repeat.....
This would mean that there is far fewer conflicting train movements and thus increase throughput.

In the same way that the Edgware Road service is not specified as commencing at Wimbledon so there would be no need to show trains to Edgware Road from other destinations on the map.

To help avoid confusing passengers it could even be that it would be better to give these trains Earls Court destinations which are changed to Edgware Road at West Kensington (or Earls Court itself).

Also, I feel sure that if a good PR spin master was to become involved the passengers could be told how the service is being improved by some trains from x travelling to y instead of z! If train frequencies were actually increased then this could even be promoted as happening - even if only by one train an hour off-peak and at weekends.

Maybe another way to reduce (some of) the conflicts would be for Olympia trains to run to Edgware Road.

Its a pity that Gloucester Road and South Kensington have fewer tracks and platforms than they used to, as these could have acted as terminating points for trains from the west (eg: Olympia shuttle or extra trains to Wimbledon) which insufficient track capacity would not permit to run further east. Maybe if South Kensington was ever to be rebuilt with greater capacity (perhaps funded by selling the air space above the station for a block of flats) then extra platforms to facilitate this could be included in the project.

Simon

Ostensibly, South Kensington is to be rebuilt in the next few years - which it is long overdue for, being way too small for the number of people who need to use it. The only current manifestation is some new dot-matrix indicators - one of which displays nothing, which is far more useful than the randomly selected destinations that the previous one did!

It could, perhaps, double up as a regulating point on the w/b if one of the disused platforms were to be reinstated?

I would have thought tipping out at Olympia wouldn't be too bad as the Train Op has to change ends anyway. Tipping out then continuing the same direction ety seems like a bit of a faff. Obviously Putney bay has the same advantage, but now aren't the reversals done via the bridge?

Yes, everything that turns there now has to be done via the bridge; the bay road has been decommissioned and disconnected, and is too short to accommodate S7 or D78 stock units.

Rayners Lane

I have also seen it done at Hammersmith and Acton Town (eastbound)

This is true, but I don't think it is easier for passengers overall, and certainly not for the ones destined for northwick park or who would swap to the jubilee anyway. The remainder just have to mill around and then crush onto the next train that runs south, and often have to change at wembley park anyway as the disruption is often continuing.

(I'm not saying it isn't the appropriate way to deal with the disruption for the service as a whole, but that's a different aspect)

 I think that the escalators from the ticket hall to the Piccadilly Line blocks the access to the former platform.

Simon

The escalator shaft cuts through the trackbed of the is former westbound District Line (the southernmost of the four tracks). there appears to be nothing much to prevent reinstatement of the former eastbound Met (the most northerly). However, assuming the cuurent eastbound (original w/bd Met) were to become a reversing platform, it would be difficult to connect to the existing westbound as they use separate tunnels as far as Gloucester Road.

Well those indicators are the most accurate on the network, not (presumably) showing any trains