The Anonymous Widower

Should We Add the Lea Valley Lines to the Overground?

There are effectively three surburban Lea Valley lines.

1. Liverpool Street to Enfield
2. Liverpool Street to Chingford
3. Liverpool Street to Cheshunt via Southbury

Some count the line through Tottenham Hale as another Lea Valley Line, but I prefer to think of that as part of the West Anglia Main Line to Bishops Stortford and Cambridge.

I know the lines quite well and they are not in the best of health with stations that need investment, disabled access and to be incorporated into the Oyster fare network. 

You might say it is just like the North London Line of a few years ago!

Except there is one major difference.  The trains may be old, but they are in a much better state than the travelling urinals of the old North London Line.

The lines are also not badly connected to both the London Underground and the Overground.

1. Seven Sisters and Walthamstow Central are shared stations serving both the Lea Valley Lines and the Victoria line.
2. A footpath is planned to connect Walthamstow Central with Walthamstow Queen’s Road on the Overground.
3. Hackey Downs used to be connected to Hackey Central on the Overground by means of a path at track level. This interchange could give the Overground a quick way to get to the city as an alternative to walking from Shoreditch High Street on the East London Line.

The more I look at this, the more I like it!

The lines are already built for eight car trains and frequencies approaching ten trains per hour. All they need is punters to fill them and that is where the expertise of the Overground comes in. They certainly have a track record of doing it on the current lines.

Transport for London also have good project management expertise, as they showed at the Dalston Curve, where the project was under budget and early. They also know about making stations disabled-friendly.

So I think we should go for it!

August 20, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Hackney, London Overground, London Underground, North London Line, Tottenham, Trains