Conflicting ELL launch date news from The Guardian and the Londonist website.

The Guardian's Dave Hill is claiming that the trial service will start on May 12th with 4x per hour between New Cross and Dalston AND Crystal Palace and Dalston. While the Londonist claims it's NXG/NX to Dalston.

If Dave Hill is right, we'll see 4x per hour at FH and HOP in less than a month as part of trial services, which I'm sure can be fitted into the existing Southern timetable.

West Croydon services would still be on hold until the Southern timetable is amended to cancel the Sutton services.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/davehillblo...prosperity

Correction APRIL 12th for CP to Dalston ELL services with May 23rd for West Croydon to Dalston.

There is no official date as to when the preview service will start. I expect to be on it. When it does so it will only be north of New Cross/New Cross Gate. However, late-April is a likely date for that service.

The service south of New Cross Gate will not start until 23 May.

Obviously the trial service has been operating (north of New Cross/New Cross Gate for some while.

There are and will be driver training runs south of New Cross Gate but most of those will be at night.

Peter

with my view of the tracks between Forest Hill and Sydenham, I've been seeing these running pretty consistently during the day.

I think Mr Hill has got confused; the trains don't run from New Cross to New Cross Gate

However, great news if the trial service of 4 tph does come down to Crystal Palace.

When I went on the Brunel Tunnel tour, I was assurred by the contractors that whenever service started on the ELL it would be Thursday lunchtime, so that they could ease into service and not on a Monday when everyone was pressured to get to work on time. They expected either 15 or 22 April.

It is not the contractors that dictate things, it is the operators (LOROL) and TfL London Rail.

I have just spoken to my senior contact and there will definitly not be any public service south of New Cross Gate before 23 May.

It is hope that a preview service (north of New Cross/New Cross Gate) will start in April. It is pointless me sharing any dates with you because they keep changing. Apparently they have changed twice today!

One thing I can tell you is that any preview service is likely to be limited to certain times of the day.

News from Twitter:
@mayorbullock: Sitting on a brand new East London Line train heading for New Cross Gate!

Nice.

Now about that disgraceful underpass...

LB Southwark (Lab) councillor Fiona Colley was also on the ELL with Mayor Bullock who says on her Twitter that the early launch from NXG to Dalston will only be Mon-Fri only from Mid April to allow for final testing ahead of the full launch in mid-May.

http://twitter.com/fionacolley

I am on a train derailment exercise tomorrow. As soon as I know a date that is reliable and that I can can give to you then I will.

Pstaveley,
Would you happen to be Peter Steveley, the UKIP candidate for Lewisham West and Penge?
I got a leaflet at the station the morning saying that Mr. Steveley (the UKIP candidate) will campaign for "more and longer trains from Sydenham and Forest Hill to London Bridge".

In my opinion policies like this are to be welcomed from all local candidates, but we also need to see concrete proposals as to how this will be achieved.

Trains petition being handed to Chris Mole the Minister for Transport by Richard Hibbert (FH Soc chair), together with Jim Dowd MP, Cllr Alex Feakes, Andrew Reid (FH Soc), and Barry Milton (Syd Soc). Others were also present for the official hand over of more than 5,000 signatures.


Picture by John Russell

ELL train times are now available from the Traveline NE and Cumbria travel enquiries site.

Make sure you change the date to after May 23rd.

http://217.23.229.206/jpclient.exe?newQuery=newQuery

Hmm, I had thought one of the benefits of the ELL would be longer hours of operation. Looks like I was mistaken...

A quick look at how the ELL would be able to get me into London earlier - or back later (I know, I should think about a change of career) - shows the following:

First ELL train from FH to Canada Water: 0553 (arr. 0606)
First Southern train from FH to London Bridge: 0527 (arr. 0541)

Last ELL train from Canada Water to FH: 2356
Last Southern train from London Bridge to FH: 0036

With the Jubilee Line running through to central London from 0528(CW) / 0532(LB) and last trains at 0053(LB) / 0058(CW), using the ELL in the early morning would put me about half an hour later - and using the ELL to get home late would have me stranded at Canada Water without a service home 40 minutes before the last service leaves from London Bridge.

Agree entirely.

The other disappointing news is that the 8 trains per hour service on ELL operates only up until 22.00. Between 22.00 and 23.00, the number of trains on ELL drops to 6tph and from 23.00 to the last train at 23.56 there are only 4tph.

This will result in many long waits at Canada Water. For example, there is a 20 minute gap at Canada Water between the 22.26 and the 22.46 heading south.

So much for a tube-style "turn-up-and-go" service!

If you look at the TfL journey planner - see link below - it shows one extra late night/early morning ELL southern-bound train. This leaves CW at 00.17 and arrives in FH at 00.31.

http://journeyplanner.tfl.gov.uk/user/XS...anguage=en

Strange - I can't bring this up at all on the TFL site - just a lot of buses and walking figures.
   
Interesting how the Overground service is indicated by a national rail symbol (e.g. route 1 in my screen grab)

That's because the new ELL is a National Rail service, although unlike other NR services, TfL are allowed to set fares and own the track between New Cross Gate and Dalston Junction although this part of the line is also set to NR standards. After Feb 2011 when the ELL is extended once again to Highbury and Islington, it'll once again use NR infrastructure.

At a recent meeting with TfL/LOROL we discussed the fare structure for the ELL. There were a number of problems they had to sort out (eg Freedom passes being valid at different times on TfL/National Rail), but it looks as though the fares will change to TfL zonal fares once the ELL starts operation. If this happens, most fares will drop by 10p-£1. It was unclear if the fare to London Bridge and Victoria would be affected, but this would rise by upto 40p if it was.

TfL also confirmed that they would be offering a Local Fare between Hoxton, Haggerston, Dalston Junction, Whitechapel, Shadwell and Wapping to Shoreditch High Street. This means that passengers travelling between one of these stations and Shoreditch High Street will be charged £1.80 all day rather than £2.30 at peak times and £1.80 off-peak.

We also put an article forward for TfL's approval on Oyster PAYG. This has now been published on our website

Does this apply in both directions - i.e. travelling London-bound between 1600-1900?
If so it turns what is a bit of a liberty - into a disgrace.