FHSoc, I have 3 points that it would be great if you could raise with LOROL - the first 2 points are already widely discussed on this thread:

1. Poor evening timetable - the poor level of service after 2215 and early finish means that the ELL is inferior to Southern at night, and is probably driving people away from using the ELL. Please can we have a proper service until well after midnight, just like all tube lines?

2. ELL trains to New Cross appear poorly used; could the service to New Cross be reconsidered / reduced in frequency and trains diverted to Crystal Palace / West Croydon instead?

3. Looking ahead, will ELL trains always be 4 coaches? As the services get busier, 8-car trains could be considered. This would involve closing Rotherhithe and Wapping, which cannot take longer trains, but since both are very near the next stop on the line, is that such an issue?

The RUS considered the extension of ELL trains to 5, 6 or 8 coach trains and turned all three options down (Not recommended prior to 2020). One of the problems is the old stations in the central core, particularly Wapping and Rotherhithe. These would require major works entailing closure of the line in order to extend them. The decision to proceed with a 4 coach service was a financial one - better to have the solution we have now rather than nothing.

Given the current Government's financial mindset, it is highly unlikely that we will see the ELL modified to accept longer trains for many years. Having said that, the RUS does show an increase in service giving us 6tph from Crystal Palace in 2012 (in addition to Victoria service).

Why can't people for Rotherhithe and Wapping be told to join the front 4 coaches of a 6 or 8-car train? This is common practice for many trains and even tubes.

It would be easier to justify additional carriages, and stops with some closed doors, on an existing line rather than a newly commissioned line. In other words TfL did not want to commission a new line that included partial door closures, but if the service is overcrowded then they might consider the possibility of additional carriages, especially given the open nature of the trains.

However, it is not like the 4 carriage trains are full. Until they are as overcrowded as other tube lines there seems little point demanding more carriages.

The main place with overcrowding on the line is the escalators at Canada Water and I suggest that the Forest Hill Society asks if there would be a way to build an additional staircase/escalator here to reduce this bottleneck.

My other wish would be to have point to point season tickets on LOROL / underground as my daily commute to Waterloo would be faster by over/underground than by using Southern and SouthEastern but it would cost an extra £400 per year.

From Brockley Central

My main gripe is still the use of the existing Southern ticketing equipment at the ticket office.

Stations north of New Cross Gate have the ability to buy annual travelcards on Oyster, add photocard data and even register or buy an Oyster Card. Instead, we are short changed with very basic Oyster purchases including PAYG, weekly and monthly travelcards/bus passes (not the New Deal/Bus and Tram Pass photocard versions which LOROL in correspondence with me have no plans to sell) for existing users.

When will LOROL take over responsibility for station announcements? Currently Southern offer a detailed service for both ELL and their own services.

And finally, when will the permanent signage with roundel signs be installed?

Brockley Central/FH Soc -
I've discovered that option as well and have been doing the same since last week. The added bonus is that the front ELL carriage even has the odd free seat in the morning. And by taking the escalator down from the ticket hall level, you end up at the emptier end of the Jubilee Line platform straight away, which suits me fine. Funny, every day, more people seem to be taking that route though. Perhaps we should keep it quiet...

Comments for the next LOROL Passenger Group Meeting:

Why have the Southern timetable posters been removed from both platform sides at Forest Hill? Can we have them back?

Since when did FH platform one become so dangerous to use in the morning that we require two staff with loudspeakers asking us to keep behind the yellow line? If it's so important to keep behind the line, then why build a shelter that is so wide that one cannot help but cross the yellow line when walking along the platform? Also, the annoucements by the staff with loudspeakers are useless as they overlap the tannoy announcements, so we don't hear either. One staff suggested that I should queue for my LO train at the end of platform one as there's more space, where carriages 5-8 are.....

Whilst I agree with points made by se23northerner I would just to take up point two about the Overground trains being diverted from new cross to run to crystal palace/west croydon. There are still many people that take Southern services to/from London Bridge - any increase in frequency of the Overground should not be at the expense of cutting down the number London Bridge services.

Can LO drivers give service information announcements for Underground services, or at least the Jubilee, H&C and District lines as it's frustrating to get off at Canada Water/Whitechapel to find out that the tube isn't running.

Looks like I'm not the only one who finds the megaphoned platform staff in the morning annoying.

The one at Sydenham Station has made The Evening Standard tonight.

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/a...them-up.do

The final statement from LO implies that I'm too confused & possibly stupid that I need help to get on the correct train.

The story was also featured in Tuesday's South London Press.

I was at Sydenham station on Monday morning and can see how much worse it is when those houses are next to the platform, while Mr Megaphone tells you exactly what has been announced by the automated tannoy system.

Canada Water station to close tonight at 10pm due to the Tube Strike, Overground/ELL will continue to run to Dalston.

http://ht.ly/2Acr9

No ELL trains to West Croydon on Sunday. Instead 8tph will operate to Crystal Palace with replacement buses to West Croydon.

Southern services to West Croydon are also cancelled, which means a reduced service of 2tph running every 30 mins to London Bridge.

Southern services via East Croydon will operate as normal.

FH Soc, have you any feedback from the LOROL Passenger Group meeting on 9th September?

Main News from LOROL relating to the ELL:
- The ELL is the best performing bit of the Overground Network with an 85% customer satisfaction rating.
- Apart from December 25/26, there are no planned closures to the ELL, presumably they regard Sunday's closure as a Southern responsibility (!). This contrasts with most of the rest of the Overground for which extensive closures are planned. Recent closures on the Southern section have been to allow essential track and signalling maintenance activity by Network Rail.
- Late night trains are under review. Later trains from Dalston to New Cross Gate may be introduced in December to connect with the last Southern services.
- Staff should be able to provide information about service disruptions on other lines - they receive hourly updates. This should now include information on Underground services. Underground style magnetic boards are being considered for stations to show service status. The real time information available on the TfL website has been improved and they are looking at including Overground service information on Underground electronic service update boards.
- The Phase 3 upgrades to 'our' stations will be starting this month and should be completed around March next year - see also my new thread on Honor Oak Station.
- LOROL are aware of the Megaphone problem and claim the issue has been addressed.
- LOROL are aware that trains approaching Canada Water are close to capacity at peak times - they estimate 90%. They believe people will adjust their journeys to limit the crowding and, at present, have no plans to make any immediate service changes to compensate. They believe the opening of Phase 2 to Clapham Junction will have an impact. This extension is due to open in 2012 (but not necessarily in time for the Olympics).
- London Underground operate Canada Water station. The problems of crowding on the Overground - Jubilee escalator will be raised with them.
- The northbound extension to Highbury and Islington will open in May 2011 and all West Croydon and Crystal Palace trains will run there. New Cross trains will only run to Dalston Junction.

Hugely bizarre - but I just checked back in here to ask EXACTLY the same question. My wife and I get the 7.04 to Victoria from Platform 2 every day - and for the last few weeks the platform has become increasingly busier. I used to be able to walk along and could expect to see not only the same old people on a daily basis, but all of them - inlcuding us, getting pretty much the same train seats - but now I would say a conservative guess is that it is 3 times as busy as it was before and it's not schoold kids either - but adults. However - it's not the overground line, it's the same old train to Victoria every day. I wouldn't say the train itself is busier when it hits Forest Hill, but from Forest HIll onward all the stops seem much busier than the last month or two.

I'm wondering if people are starting to realise how useful the outer South London line is? Connections at Clapham Junction for destinations in SW London/Hants/Surrey, plus the London Overground West London Line which goes to Olympia and Shepherds Bush (avoiding Zone 1).

Also it's an alternative to Victoria than using the 185.

This is tradditionally the time of year that everybody comes back from holiday and the fair-weather cyclists return to the comfort of an overcrowded train. This coupled with school children means that October-February are probably the busiest months on the railways.

Which brings me to an observation I've noticed this week. I board the 0904 from FH to Dalston (which starts from Crystal Palace). On a Monday, it's busy but not packed until Brockley, today it was busy already and packed by Honor Oak Park.