The Anonymous Widower

West Ealing Station – 28th March 2016

I took these pictures as I passed through West Ealing station.

The only definite conclusion I made, was that I will have to visit to be able to make any conclusions about how the Greenford Branch will be run after it loses its direct connection to Paddington.

Wikipedia says this about how Crossrail will affect services on the Branch, in a Future section.

In 2017 Crossrail is due to begin using two of the four tracks of the Great Western Main Line and the Greenford service will terminate at West Ealing, rather than continue to Paddington, to obviate interference with Crossrail, and to create track capacity for increased services to Heathrow. In compensation the branch line service will increase from two to four trains per hour.

When this will happen, I can only guess that it will be at the same time, as electric services start between Paddington to Hayes and Harlington.

At present the trip between West Ealing and Greenford takes just seven minutes, so if one train was to work the branch, there would be no problem doing the four seven minute legs required for two trips per hour, but four trips with eight legs might be a bit tighter, especially if something delayed the train like say a party of thirty schoolchildren or a group of three or four in wheelchairs with their carers wanting to go shopping.

Given too,that a good service for passengers would probably need.

• Similar frequencies of the Paddington to Hayes and Halington service and the Greenford Branch line.
• The Greenford Branch train would probably arrive at West Ealing a few minutes before a train to Paddington.
• The train from Paddington would probably arrive at West Ealing a few minutes before the Greenford train left.

In my view good connections are essential, as a lot of people will not be pleased to have lost their direct service to Paddington.

This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the layout of the lines at West Ealing.

Lines At Wes tEaling

Note how there is a connection to the West.

This second map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the layout of the lines at Greenford.

Lines At Greenford

Given that to the West of Greenford, the lines connect to Chiltern, you just wonder if someone has a plan to improve connectivity in North West London.

But the branch does have some negative factors, that mitigate against development.

• There would appear to be no suitable Southern terminal to the West of the branch.
• Three of the stations on the branch can only handle two-car trains.
• The branch is not electrified.
• The terminus at Greenford is a bay platform, squeezed in between two Underground tracks.

A lot will depend on the trains and the operators of the Greenford Branch, as to what happens.

At present, the branch is run by GWR, but there has been talk about the branch coming under control of London Overground.

GWR would probably run the line as they do now, with a two-car diesel Class 165 train.

Would London Overground run the line with a IPEMU version of their new Class 710 train, as Aventras can be fitted with on-board energy storage?

March 28, 2016 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Crossrail, Electrification, gree, West Ealing Station