The Anonymous Widower

Resisting the Obvious Headline

In the latest edition of Modern Railways, there is an article entitled East London line goes ’round the corner’, which describes the insertion of the missing link between the North and East London lines.

Should it have used the headline East London line goes ’round the bend’?

Possibly in a tabloid, but the whole exercise seems to have been conducted in a sane and measured manner.

Transport for London actually took the risk for the scheme, by acting as the project manager.  The main outcome was that they shaved £2.5 million off a £16 million budget. They also managed to rebuild the bridge that carried Kingsland Road over the railway with a lot less disruption, than traditional methods would have caused.

So all things considered, the team is to be congratulated, when it opens next month, a few weeks ahead of schedule.

The article also says that they will be taking a similar project management approach to the expansion of the East London line to Clapham Junction.

So is this all to the good of passengers?

I use the new East London line occasionally and it got me back from IKEA in double-quick time last week, but then passenger numbers on the line are at levels that had been predicted to not be reached until a year later.

So is there a lesson here?  Upgrade railways will new trains and frequent services and they’ll be used and repay the investment.

February 4, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | East London Line, London Overground, North London Line, Project Management, Trains