Transport for London has announced that the Wimbledon branch of the District Line will gain five additional trains during the morning peak.

But this boost comes at the expense of the tube service from Earls Court to Kensington (Olympia), which is being withdrawn on weekdays.

The changes are part of a new timetable which London Underground intends to introduce from December this year as part of its work improving the reliability of the District Line.

The timetable, it says, has been designed to deal with the issues associated with bottlenecks in the Earl's Court area, which is one of the most complex junctions on the Tube network and the source of many of the delays that occur on the line.

To simplify the service, reduce delays and boost services to the Wimbledon branch, the busiest section of the District line, LU proposes to remove weekday services to Kensington (Olympia), which carry less than one percent of District line passengers.

This will enable LU to re-route services to the Wimbledon branch, which sees nearly 30% of District line traffic, by providing five extra trains during the morning peak - an increase of 12%.

LU says the Olympia service will still operate during the weekend, and LU plans to operate special services to serve major weekday events at the Olympia exhibition centre. It also points out that from May the West London line running from Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction through Shepherd's Bush, Kensington (Olympia), West Brompton and Imperial Wharf will benefit from additional London Overground services, with four trains  instead of three every hour. There will also be around one Southern train every hour.

Richard Parry, Strategy and Commercial Director, LU, said: "'The District line is one of the busiest lines on the Tube network used by over 700,000 people each day.

" The introduction of the new timetable would provide significant reliability improvements for the whole line and in particular major benefits to customers who use the Wimbledon branch with an additional five trains during the morning peak.

" 'This is only possible by withdrawing the under-utilised weekday Olympia District line service, however with an increase in the London Overground service to Kensington (Olympia) from May we believe that our proposals balance the needs of all customers, including those travelling to Olympia."

 

April 8, 2011