Evening Olympias

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RJSRdg
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Evening Olympias

Post by RJSRdg »

I have received the following reply from TfL to my FoI request regarding evening Olympia services:

Dear Richard Standing



TfL Ref: FOI-1407-2223



Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 10 September 2022, asking for information about District Line service to Kensington Olympia.



Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold the information you require. Specifically you asked:



Please can you therefore provide, for a period of the last 12 months (or a shorter period if that is all you have available):



* A list for each working day in this period, showing which evening services to Olympia ran (or, if it is easier, which were cancelled) on each day.




Due to the impacts of COVID-19 looking at service levels going back a year is not necessarily a good reflection of what the service levels are now. Instead we have provided data from 01/08/2022 to 15/09/2022. Please see attached.



This is for all trains travelling from Earls Court to Olympia station between the hours of 19:00-21:59 only.



* If the evening Olympia services truly "hardly ever run", please can you advise why they still appear on the Journey Planner?




The trains in question changed with our new timetable, introduced on 11 September 2022.



The previous Working Timetables (WTT152):



Train 124 – Earls Court – 1943

Train 125 – Earls Court – 2025



The new Working Timetable (WTT153):



Train 015 – Earls Court – 2004

Trian 106 – Earls Court – 2017



We do not provide an advertised service to Olympia during the week, and generally advise customers to travel using the London Overground service to West Brompton and then Olympia which is a much more regular service. However, we do operate several trains that either come into service first thing in the morning and the odd one later in the evening. These are essentially trains that come into service or stable at Lillie Bridge Depot.



Any disruption on the line may result in changes to these trains; they may stable early, for example. The controllers will make these decisions based on the wider service on the line and will prioritise the other branches, such as Wimbledon, Richmond, or Ealing on the basis that there is an easy alternative for Olympia.



If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.



Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.



Yours sincerely


Eva Hextall


General Counsel

Transport for London

FOI Case Management Team





I have uploaded the spreadsheet to my Google account at https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/ ... ue&sd=true

There seems to be a wide variety of service levels from no Olympia services at all, to ten or more in the space of an hour and a half! Suffice it to say, in my view not reliable enough to build a FNC attempt around.
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al
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Re: Evening Olympias

Post by al »

Great data!

Although I get your point about the wide variety of times shown, if I was really serious about trying to get an official record, then I think I would probably risk aiming for the 2004, as it does run relatively often. Aiming for an evening Olympia is of course perilous in any case, as everything has to have gone right up to that point, so only suits a "full on" record attempt anyway. A more informal attempt, or just a completion, then morning Olympia all the way.
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RJSRdg
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Re: Evening Olympias

Post by RJSRdg »

I think there are pros and cons of both. My personal preference is for a Heathrow finish, simply because I can get the bus straight home from outside T4, whereas a NW finish requires getting down to Baker Street or Marylebone, over to Paddington and then train home.

The route I tested on 9th September was pretty resilient (a.k.a. inefficient!) as starting on either the 5:15 or 5:45 from Chesham and following virtually the same route both put me on the same train at Wimbledon - so any delays on the 5:15 route (which happened owing to roadworks in Edgware) just put me on to the 5:45 route as a backup. There was also some flexibility regarding whether to do Richmond before or after Olympia, and if the 19:43 Olympia was missed, there was the possibility of the 20:25. It was all going pretty well until I got to Earl's Court and was told the evening Olympias "hardly ever run"....
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al
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Re: Evening Olympias

Post by al »

I do prefer a Heathrow finish myself, given the choice, but that is more to do with finding the NW corner really depressing at the end of a challenge.
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RJSRdg
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Re: Evening Olympias

Post by RJSRdg »

More news on evening Olympias.

From 11 September 2022, the timetable for the evening Olympias changed. They are now timetabled to depart at 20:04 (15) and 20:24 (106).

In early January, when the timetable had been running for nearly three months, I sent another FoI request to TfL, which I have now received back.

Having analysed the data they provided, it appears that on every Friday between 11 September and 6th January (I submitted the request on 7th), at least one of the timetabled evening Olympia services ran, with the exception of 30 December. On a number of Fridays, several other services also ran, either before, between, or after the timetabled services - these were services to Richmond or Wimbledon that were terminated at Olympia instead for some reason. (On one occasion, two services to Olympia arrived at Earl's Court within 30 seconds of each other!).

So it seems that provided a challenger can arrive at Earl's Court by 20:04, they should either be able to catch that service or (at worst) have a 20 minute wait for the next one. :-)
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stepneygreen05
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Re: Evening Olympias

Post by stepneygreen05 »

interesting
may be worth considering as they now seem to have improved in reliability
RJSRdg
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Re: Evening Olympias

Post by RJSRdg »

Yesterday's (Friday 24th May) 20:04 Olympia defintely ran - I was on it!

After my practice run of 9 September 2022 was derailed after almost 12 hours (I didn't start at the beginning), there was for me a great feeling of both thrill and relief when I stood on the platform at Earl's Court last night after nearly 14 & 3/4 hours and saw "Olympia" on both the DMI board and the light box :-)
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