4 car trains

Does anyone know which platforms on the NLL / WLL lines are UNABLE to take 4 coach trains still ??

Acton central seems big enough to take 4 coaches.

The locations shown on the quail maps as only 3 cars are:

North London Line:
Willesden Junction High Level (Platform 4 = up / eastbound)
Kensal Rise
Brondesbury Park
Brondesbury
West Hampstead
Finchley Road and Frognal
Hamstead Heath
Gospel Oak (Westbound, platform 1)
Kentish Town West
and
Dalston Kingsland

All the West London line platforms are fine and already take 4 car Electrostars (except Willesden Junction above). On the DC lines Willesden Junction platform 2 (the bay) is also too short.

Of these, Willesden Junction, Gospel Oak and Kentish Town West are probably the worse to 'fix' due to their locations. The rest look like they have sufficient space for platform lengthening, although Dalston Kingsland depends on the works for the ELL which come in behind the station.

There may also be problems at other locations, as even a 3 car 378 unit is slightly longer than a 313.

Surely lessons for platform extensions on LO could be learnt from the DLR platform extension project, where the railway has remained operational and roads beneath the extended platforms have stayed open.

The comparison with the DLR is also hard because the signaling system there is much more flexible, with many more crossovers etc.

Remember that many of the routes on the DLR have had periods of closure, for example the work between Crossharbour and Greenwich which lead to complex operations with a change of train at Island Gardens for several weeks last year whilst work was undertaken. There was also the rebuild of Tower Gateway which took a while.

Lengthening of NLL platforms on the line west of Camden Road is also likely to be less disrupting because much of the platform work at the difficult spots is linked in with trackwork to increase capacity.

*Edited typo*

The work on Dalston Kingsland and Homerton will take place when the section of line between Gospel Oak and Stratford is closed in December for a period of 4 months. No doubt work to Kentish Town west could also be done during this period as well. However i think that is one of the dificult stations to do because of its location on a viaduct and buildings and other stuff underneath. I have been told that Dalston will be extended by knocking the bridge down (the one near the signalbox) and rebuilding the bridge to fit the platforms under it.

With regard timing of the 3/4 coach trains. i think a lot of it came down to budgeting by TfL. The 3 cars trains were already agreed before the extentsion to 4 was added.

The answer to that is simple........... NO

Sorry I meant Southern, not London Midland. I get confused with Southern using LM trains.. sorry!!

The lines used by the Southern services diverge from the Overground WLL services before willesden junction H/L and are parallel to the mainline by that point.

Would be pretty handy sometimes if there were platforms though so southern services could stop.

No, to get from the High Level part of Willesden Junction to the Low Level part (or vice-versa) requires reversal east of the station, in the Kensal Green Junction reversing siding. The only 'easy' through route is from Watford Junction - Willesden Junction Low Level - Kensal Rise - Gospel Oak - Stratford (and vice-versa).

There have been plans for new platforms on the West Coast Mainline, either on the slow lines (as used by LM services) or on the Willesden Relief lines (as used the Southern services); but none of these plans is currently being progressed.