SSR frequency post upgrade

There will certainly be far more possibilities. It depends how creative the powers-that-be are!

A recent update on this subject has emerged, proposed peak frequencies:

Wimbledon - Edgware Road every 7½mins/8tph
Wimbledon - City every 7½mins/8tph
(combines to every 3¾mins/16tph Wimbledon - Earl's Court)

Ealing Broadway - city/east every 7½mins/8tph
Richmond - city/east 7½mins/8tph
(combines to every 3¾mins/16tph Turnham Green - Earl's Court)

Circle Line every 7½mins/8tph
Hammersmith & City Line every 7½mins/8tph
(combines to every 3¾mins/16tph Hammersmith - Edgware Road)
(combines to every 3¾mins/16tph High Street Ken - Edgware Road)

Upminster - city/west every 3¾mins/16tph
(combines with H&C to every 112½secs/32tph Barking - Aldgate East)

Tower Hill - Gloucester Road (combined District and Circle) to every 112½secs/32tph

Amersham - city every 15mins/4tph
Chesham - city every 30mins/2tph
Watford - city every 6mins/10tph
(combines to every 3¾mins/16tph Moor Park - Harrow-on-the-Hill)

Uxbridge - city every 5mins/12tph
(combines to every 2¼mins/28tph Harrow-on-the-Hill - Baker Street)

Baker Street - city (combined Circle and H&C and MET) to every 112½secs/32tph

Interesting that after the upgrade, Circle and H&C peak frequency will be the same as it was 25 years ago!

indeed, getting older i can't add-up !

and yes, MET only as Chiltern doesn't run to 'the city'.

Will the Chiltern service run every 30min/2tph to balance the Chesham trains, combining south of C&L to run every 15mins/4tph which will nicely mesh with the Amersham (Met) trains?

I hope this isn't the end-game here, it isn't very ambitious, and as others have commented, is comparable or inferior to levels of service 40-50 years back.

Granted, however, dwell times and hence running times are very different now.

Anyone else see a massive deficiency with Wimbledon service? 16tph will mean it gets less than Uxbridge (including the pic). Maybe another 8tph Wimbledon - HSK could be added.

Yes, I agree re Wimbledon branch deficiency. Most commuters on this branch wish to head on the lower portion of the District into central London and 'the City'. The potential changes actually take a train away from this avenue: 8tph vs current 9tph. However, the more even spacing may mean most people will not notice. At present two 'City' services follow three minutes apart and then there is a larger gap of eight to ten minutes. So, while nine trains an hour, the spacing is currently uneven. The even frequency hopefully will encourage more people to take an Edgeware Road train and change at Earls Court. While the trains from Richmond and Ealing Broadway reach Earls Court more lightly loaded than the City-bound trains from Wimbledon each morning, sometimes the current working timetable doesn't encourage passengers to 'always take the next train to Earls Court'. For example, train 72 and train 65 leaving Wimbledon just before 7:30am: passengers alighting at Earls Court from train 72 find the next City-bound train (train 65) is often too packed to board at Earls Court and were better off waiting at their local station for train 65, which follows 3 minutes later from Wimbledon.

The ideal solution for the Wimbledon branch woes may be more 'City' trains at the expense of Edgeware Road/HSK trains. However, the logistics at Earls Court of sending trains from platform 4 to Ealing Broadway or Richmond seem complex.


Crossrail may help to balance the loads a little more equally if the change at Paddington to the Elizabeth line is not too lengthy. This may allow passengers from the Wimbledon branch to get to the City (Liverpool St) and Canary Wharf quicker than current options.  

I’m sure that 32 tph or more was scheduled on the south side of the Circle in years gone by. Whether it was achieved in practice is another matter.

Sounds likely. I believe Tom has commented elsewhere that the northern half of the Circle is or was signalled for 40tph; wouldnt be a surprise if the south side was as well at one point.


Multi-billion pound limitations eh!

Back in about 1977 I seem to recall being trained that good fixed block LUL signalling aimed to get 90 second headways to support 2 minute service intervals or in other words a 30tph timetable in the busiest areas. I also recall that hardly anywhere on the Underground actually achieved it.

One thing that might have helped on the north side of the Circle back in the fifties was that the trains were shorter. Circles were only 5 cars and most Mets were shorter than the current ones too.

Supposedly that was one of the few merits of the old Uxbridge-Barking idea that rears its head once every 40 years; Aldgate became 7 car only, reducing junction occupation and giving effectively an extra 50 foot of terminal berth.