SE23 Forum

They'll be replaced when we get the "Stage 3" upgrade (which is now supposed to happen sometime aroung August)

Travelled from Honor Oak Park to Shoreditch High Street, can't praise the journey enough, smooth, quick and certainly value for money. Using Oyster off peak cost $.00 for the return value. Shoreditch High Street is literally just around the corner from Liverpool Street, which puts you not far off the heart of the city on oneside and shoreditch/brick lane on the other.

Have noticed that more people are changing at NXG - the other week it was a battle to get off, now it's easy.

The ELL will open at weekends from this Saturday from NXG/NX to Dalston.

Saturday: 0700-2000
Sunday : 0800-2000

The full service to West Croydon and Crystal Palace starts a week on Sunday.

I'd still like to know whats so great about being able to get to Dalston...

Dalston is only a temporary terminus, from next year, 4 out of the 8 trains per hour will be extended to Highbury and Islington where you can change for North London Line overground services to Richmond, Victoria Line and First Capital Connect services to Moorgate and into Hertfordshire.

I agree with roz - although purely based on my ignorance of what Dalston may have to offer.

This doesn't greatly impress me. Wouldn't it be quicker to do the three stops from NXG to Moorgate via London Bridge than the 14(?) stops via the ELL. And would this be a sensible way to get from Forest Hill to Richmond?

Anyway, hopefully a question on a more positive note: on Monday 24 May with the new ELL running, does anyone know if options for getting to and from Gatwick will be increased or improved?

My husband travels regularly from FH to North East London, so he certainly sees the point of the trains running through to Dalston and beyond. And might I suggest that there is also a great advantage to the people in that area travelling in a southerly direction? It's a long bus ride from Dalston to the nearest tube. Bigger picture, people!

It's the quick interchanges to other lines that makes the ELL such a benefit. I work in the East End and have been using the line from NXG since it reopened. Even with the change at NXG, it has cut my journey time considerably - about 20 minutes or so each way.

I've also used it to get to Canary Wharf (22 minutes with the change at Canada Water) and to Blackwall (30 minutes with the change to the DLR at Shadwell - normally takes an hour with the London Bridge change). When the direct service starts on 23 May, it will be even quicker. Can't wait.

Actually the quickest way to Richmond from Forest Hill is to catch the train to Clapham Junction and change there.

I'm not suggesting that anyone would use the ELL to connect to Richmond, but London Overground is about providing an orbital network outside Central London with the various connections that can be made along those stations.

I sometimes commute to Essex Road which is on the FCC Moorgate line and would rather travel on one train to Highbury and Islington, than travel to LB, then tube and train it.

Incidentally there are other advantages after Monday, the 4 trains to CP will enable you to change for additional trains to Victoria.

There will be two trains per hour from NJ to Gatwick (as now), however there will be a more regular service to East Croydon, which means the 4 ELL trains to West Croydon will be useful to interchange with Southern services.

NJ will also have 6tph fast to London Bridge.

More importantly during morning peaks there will be a half-hourly service DIRECT to Victoria, at xx:04 and xx:34 from Forest Hill. Add to this the 4 ELL train going to CP, 2 of which (xx:15 and xx:45) provide good connections through to Victoria.

So from 24th May we have at least 4tph going toward Victoria, 8tph going towards Canada Water and Shoreditch, and 6tph going to London Bridge. We have at least 18tph going toward London destinations - that's almost one every 3 minutes making Forest Hill very well connected to the rest of London.

To celebrate this key development in the history of Forest Hill, join the Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society on the trip to Hoxtron and Dalston. Details can be found at http://se23.com/forum/showthread.php?tid...5#pid25315

Has anyone used the new service in the morning rush hour, to change onto the Jubillee Line for Canary Wharf?

My experience was that there was seldomly room for just 1 or 2 passengers to board at Canada Water, would be interested to know what the reality is now the service is up and running.

Hopefully with less people on the Sydenham line using the Jubilee at LB for Canary Wharf, that may relieve some of the pressure on that line.

Shadwell can also be used to interchange for Canary Wharf via the DLR if you have the extra time.

Personally I'll be testing the Jubilee at Canada Water to go westbound on May 24th via the ELL. If I find I can't get on the first or second train, I'll return to using LB where I can at least stand on the Jubilee when the first tube arrives.

Yes I have and reality is still very much as it was when the original ELL was running. But! That's mainly because the preview service running now is, for those coming from Forest Hill for Canary Wharf, operating in exactly the same circumstances as it used to be.

The theory is that once May 23 comes around, the overground train timetabling is changed and the ELL is running fully, some people will now choose to commute avoiding London Bridge where previously they couldn't, so there will be a reduction of pressure at London Bridge on the east bound Jubilee line, leaving more chance of there being room on trains at Canada Water.

But a theory it remains until the morning rush hour on May 24th! Another issue is the Jubilee line was supposed to be running with it's new signalling system by the time the ELL started up again allowing more frequent trains but that's not going to be finished until October at the earliest now.

Personally I'm still planning to use London Bridge in the morning and Canada Water in the evening because I fully expect Canada Water to remain a bottle neck east bound. At least I'll be able to see if I'm wrong that way without being stuck on a platform.

I tried the change at Canada Water going East last week one day at around 8:15 and it was 5 trains and 17 minutes later before I could elbow my way on. I wrote to TFL asking what forward planning they had made to improve the train service east bound and was told there is not a lot that can be done and that there are no plans to run additional trains to cope with the increased demand although the new ( much delayed) signalling upgrade will apparently help. I have twice used the Shadwell alternative and found that works but is not terribly quick.

London Reconnections are reportingthat the Jubillee Line upgrade (whic was originally due to be completed in March 2009, then December 2009) will not now be complete until mid-October 2010 (at the earliest), although the Evening Standard expect this date to be missed.

Obviously, had the upgrade been completed as originally scheduled, we would be able to use the extra 30% capacity to travel east from Canada Water. I suspect that most who work in Canary Wharf will continue travelling via LB in the morning and return using the ELL.

It was clear Tube Lines, the contractor who was contracted to do the signalling work were never going to get the work done to any sensible timeframe, which has led to TfL using our council tax money to the GLA to buy out the PPP contract.

I'm tempted to get on that Southern train on Monday morning, just incase it all goes wrong at Canada Water,

Took my first trip on the new ELL at the weekend and was very impressed with the carriages and comfort. All so shiny. Nice to see door open buttons too!

I was really surprised to find, however when alighting at Shadwell, that the train exits are not level with the platform. It looks like it's all newly constructed - wouldn't this be an obvious thing to do?
Also surprised at the same station to find the lift's 'Platform Level' is still two flights of stairs away from the platform!

I have just received the following response from London Overground following my complaint several weeks ago that the last southbound trains are not late enough, and will mean late night travellers are going to be forced to continue using the Southern service from LB:

"I am very sorry to hear that you do not find the train timetable ideal. Unfortunately there is no plan on running the trains any later than the current times. However we do review timetables on a regular basis and monitor customer demand. In the light of this I have forwarded your message to the specialised team for their consideration. Please rest assured that should the demand increases the necessary adjustments will be made."

They don't say how they are going to gauge demand for later ELL services. I would have thought if they had taken a look at how full the last Southern trains from LB are already it would have given them a clue!