Central line - most flexible line?

You are right, I forgot about that station!

Why was West Ham chosen as the Location for the Siding ?

It's mainly used as a shunting neck to enable trains to change roads within Ruislip depot. However, some trains terminating at Ruislip Gardens, run all the way to the shunting road, and then back into the depot. Most trains finishing at Ruilsip Gardens run directly into the depot.

There will always be delay when tipping a train out, even when there are 2 platform staff. that would mean that one staff per half of train driver stays at the cab... this sometimes is the case at Barking and still it causes a bit of blocking back... then of course you get idiots staying on (not listening), drunks, sleeping folk etc etc..

And I doubt if there would be more than 1 SA on the platform.. Unfortunately LUL seem to have created this silly idea whereby you work for the line to which your station belongs, not the company..
When I was on the Jubilee, whenever I had to tip out at Green Park to reverse in the Cross... there was never an SA to assist. Also when I was on the stations we was told to stay on the platforms of our line... not necessarily the ones that are busier / more confusing !

I think what they will go for, is to install these sidings and rather than a shunt to go in and out have coloured light signals (with harbour lights) , or position light shunts and have the rules for passing these with passengers same as on NR...

Then when S Stock comes in detrainments can be done away with.. a few announcements, run in siding at West Ham, change ends 5 minutes later back out! If any passengers are left on the train no big deal ! ... exactly what NR procedures are now.

It was never that way when I was on the stations, but as a driver I do see it more these days - and the two worst offenders are Barons Court & Hammersmith........they will announce and dispatch Piccadilly line trains yet totally ignore the Districts passing through - and they're District line staffed stations!

West Ham is Jubilee staffed, but I don't think that will have a bearing - what will have a bearing is that there won't be enough trains reversing there........there has got to be fairly regular reversing there to justify staffing the platform for detrainments; now aside from the Olympics that I mentioned earlier, there are currently no plans to use this new siding on a regular basis. So in a nutshell, there will not be any detrainment staff at West Ham.

Remember, West Ham siding is being built regardless of the Crossrail/Whitechapel proposals, not because of them - as I said earlier, this new siding is planned to be used by Tower Hill trains during the Olympics, in 2012........Crossrail won't open till 2017 at the earliest!!

Obviously the Hammersmith & City service will need to be looked at if & when Whitechapel looses it's current arrangements, but as nothing has officially been said about the proposed changes at Whitechapel (well, not that I know of anyway), and we are talking about a good 5 or 6 years into the future [before anything would physically happen], I very much doubt anyone will be able to answer that question at the moment.

The introduction of S stock is a far higher priority for the SSR at the moment (as is the signalling upgrade once it's re-tendered).

Just from looking at maps of north London I've wondered why the Picc didn't go for a second branch in the north e.g. from Wood Green - Edmonton - Enfield Town or Manor House, Tottenham, Edmonton, Enfield Town, which would have provided more flexibility and given the opportunity to construct a "White City" where the lines diverged. As it stands, there should be more flexibility to take trains in and out of service around key interchange points like Wood Green and Finsbury Park.

IMO a lot of points on the SSL show where the flexible becomes the over-complicated. Even the Met, with it's extensive four-tracking is limited in the number of trains that can be run. In a lot of ways the Central does it best. All it needs is solid stock to complement this!

The district line could be a contender: Wimbledon 3 platforms, Richmond: 2 with a possibility of 4, Ealing Broadway: 2, Kensington Olympia: 1, Earls Court: 2 bays and the rest I think are bi-directional, HIgh Street Kensington: 2 bays, Edgware Road: 1, Embankment, Mansion House: bi-directional and one bay, Tower Hill: bi-directional and one bay, Whitechapel: bi-directional all platforms, Barking: terminus platforms for H&C, Upminster: 3. Am I also correct in saying that trains can be turned at Plaistow, or is it only the C stock that can fit in there?

There are also no less than depots: Ealing Common and Upminster.

And for the Richmond trains, they can be turned north to south using the fourth rail electrified stub of the north london line where the North London Line and the District line split.

re previous post, I believe it was used as such many years ago before e l r was electrified.

There a number of errors in what you have posted:

Wimbledon has 4 platforms for District line use
Richmond has 4 platforms for District line use
Ealing Broadway has 3 platforms

Earls Court doesn't have any bays and no platforms are bi-directional. Trains can reverse east to west via a mainline shunt just ahead of platform 2 (into platform 3), and trains can reverse west to east straight off platform 3.

Edgware Road has two platforms available for District line use (2 & 3), though trains can be taken off platform 4 if it's a reform from a H&C/Circle - indeed a District can be terminated in platform 1 if being reformed into a H&C/Circle.

Mansion House and Tower Hill are not not Bi-directional.

Whitechapel is not Bi-directional on all platforms in the truest sense. Trains be reversed east to west from either platforms 1 or 2, and trains can be reversed west to east from either platforms 3 &4.

As for Plaistow, both C & D stocks can use the bay road or be reversed off the main on the eastbound - and via a mainline shunt on the westbound.

There are also a whole host of other reversing points on the District line, and the subject has already been done to death recently across several threads. The best one which lists them all is HERE.

North of Wood Green would be a logical place as that's basically where the passenger numbers start to drop. A short extension to Palmers Green with one remaining stop could be useful.

Isn't Piccadilly Circus OOA (out of action) for the forseeable future? In the past of course there was the famous scissors crossover. I remember it well!

Just to add to some of the recent comments, the design of the reversing point significantly affects the "flexibility".

A two track reversing point with crossover will hold up trains in one direction for 6 mins. This isn't particularly flexible, but better than nothing!

A two track plus centre siding reversing point (e.g Willesden Green) is much more flexible, but may delay the train behind the train being reversed due to tipping out. If all trains are reversing at that station the frequency will be limited to 6 mins. If there are two sidings (e.g Victoria, Vic Line), then 3 min frequency may be possible.

A three track reversing point (with reversing in centre platform track as at North Acton) is reasonably flexible, as a train can be reversed without holding up trains on the main running lines. However, again if all trains are reversing at that station then the frequency will be limited to 6 mins.

A White City style layout is very flexible (and complex!). A train can be reversed in centre platform track whilst another is reversed in the siding (via outside platform tracks). Thus two parallel reversing moves can be made simultaneously. This can allow for 3 min frequency if all trains are being reversed at that station. However trains reversing in the centre platform track will overtake those reversing via the siding, thus trains will run out of order on the next leg of their journey.

Note: Calculations assume that stepping back/double ending is not in place, 4mins are allowed for drivers to change ends, and 1 min allowed for each crossover move (per direction).

No, there isn't.