The Anonymous Widower

Hackney On The Rise

BBC Radio 5 asks this morning about views on the economy. I sent them this text.

Three years ago, I retired to Dalston after a stroke stopped me driving. Every month the area gets better and a lot is down to the London Overground, which takes people to jobs, shopping and leisure activities. It shows how investment in transport can improve the lot for us all! Next year Tottenham gets the overground. We live in interesting times. 

So has the Overground really improved things?

I first rode the Overground towards the Olympic Park in July 2010, before I moved here in December of that year. Since that first short run, the system has expanded. but gone are the dingy stationsa, dirty trains and lack of staff of the pre-Overground era. The Class 378 trains, started as three cars, but as they couldn’t handle the demand, they were lengthened to four cars and now they’re going to five. Have we ever built a railway, for which much-need extra capacity can be provided so easily?

But the capacity is needed, as more and more people use the line contributing to the affluence and well-being of the areas it serves, like Hackney.

You could call the Overground a rebranding exercise, but that would be unfair.  Give a railway line, better clean stations, reliable frequent trains, visible staff and a simple ticketing system and the passengers will arrive. Visitors will also come and bring prosperity to an area.

London will use the Overground to run trains on the Lea Valley Lines to Tottenham, Enfield, Cheshunt and Chingford. North East London will surely be on the up.

One of the great things about the way the Overground is implemented, as effectively a rebuilt, resignalled and fully-staffed train line first with a deep clear of trains and stations and Oyster ticketing, means that the concept can be brought in, in affordable stages.

I suspect that the Lea Valley lines have a good enough line and signalling for a few years, so it’ll be the grotty and unstaffed stations, and the ticketing, that get the most attention at first. As new Cl;ass 378 trains are delivered, they can of course be run in combination with the ageing Class 315 trains on the lines at present, as their bigger brother, the Class 379 does already. Dripping new trains in surely gives passengers hope that something is happening to improve their dismal line.

With a grand project like Crossrail, you only see the improvement, when the line opens. With the Overground, the upgrade is continuous and now the London boroughs seem to be getting involved in the development of the stations, many of which are on prime sites.

I suspect that the way the Overground has been implemented could be applied to various train lines around the country. The Cambridge to Ipswich line, which I know well could benefit, especially if the main line was electrified for freight and the various councils got involved, to facilitate the development of the stations. Bury St. Edmunds station, is a classic, where a good architect could create a mixed housing and commercial development that did justice to the town.

I believe that if you get the railway right, then the investment and development around stations will follow.

January 12, 2014 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Construction, Hackney, London Overground, Stations, Trains