The Anonymous Widower

A Circular Tour Round Richmond, Twickenham And Vauxhall

In my post entitled Where Next For The Overground?, I received a comment suggesting that some services on the North London Line be extended to Twickenham. The guy who commented said this.

Currently 4 Overground services per hour terminate/start at Richmond. Extending even 2 of these to Twickenham using the existing SWT railway network, also calling at St Margarets, would provide numerous benefits for local commuters and businesses.

The reasons he gave about better connectivity to less obvious places than Vauxhall and Waterloo, didn’t seem much different to the statements you get here in Hackney about getting anywhere not reached by the North and East London Lines or the 38 bus.

So I just had to go and take a look and take a few pictures, as I travelled from Richmond to Twickenham and then on to Vauxhall.

I could also have a pit-stop at the Carluccio’s opposite Richmond station.

Richmond

I know Richmond quite well having used it several times since I moved back to London, as it’s a good place to go for a walk by the river. And of course I do like the train ride across London on the North London Line, which is so much more pleasant than the District Line or the trains out of Waterloo. This Google Map image of the station shows the station’s main problem, which is also apparent in the photos.

The station is just too busy, in terms of passengers inside the station, people walking up and down the pavement and the innumerable cars, taxis and buses in the road outside. I travelled to Richmond in a very full four-car Class 378 train from Highbury and Islington. As I got out, the crowds of people trying to get into the train, almost pushed me under it. Someone has done a very good job in selling Richmond to visitors. With the Overground now going to 5-car and possibly 6-car trains, the District Line going to the new larger S7 Stock and South West Trains going to a 10-car railway, coupled with increased frequencies, the overcrowding at Richmond station can only get worse.

Reading the history in Wikipedia, you feel a bit sad, that when the station was rebuilt in 1937, that Southern Railway didn’t have 20/20 foresight. But then, if you’d rebuilt this station in say 1980, you wouldn’t have correctly predicted the increase in passenger numbers everywhere on the UK Rail network.

Richmond station would appear to be one of the worst victims of overcrowding, I’ve seen recently, where there is no obvious resolution.

Platforms 1 and 2, which are the through platforms have eight 10-car trains an hour each way and the shear numbers of passengers these trains generate totally overwhelms the station. So for a start these platforms, which have a separate passage from the main entrance, needs to be rebuilt to modern standards with escalators and lifts. Looking at the overhead image of the station, there is actually plenty of space at the London end of the station by the Church Road bridge. Perhaps as people now increasingly use contactless ticketing, a simple bridge and exit could be made here to ease the overcrowding I saw.

The suggestion in the comment to my post, Where Next For The Overground, says that the following should be done.

Remodelling track between Kew & Richmond to allow Overground trains to access the Richmond currently used by South West trains,

That may sound easy, but it would mean a flat junction, where trains coming from Kew had to cross the busy main line to London. Putting in such a junction would probably mean the lines to and through Richmond had to be closed for a few months, so even if it is feasible in an engineering way, the disruption would be unacceptable to regular users of the line.

It adds to the case for doing some or all of these things.

1. Make the station fully step-free, with escalators and lifts.

2. Put a footbridge and an exit on the London end of the station. The exit may be problematical, as the bridge might be architecturally important. I forgot to take a photo. Could this bridge be the tail that is wagging the dog? If it has to be rebuilt, to solve the problems of Richmond station, then so be it.

3. It is a real pity that the rebuilding in 1937, didn’t put an entrance to Platforms 1 and 2 on the other side of Kew Road, as this would have helped. But they didn’t although the two platforms are being extended in that direction, to accept the 10-car trains. This Google Map shows how the trains pass under Kew Road.

4. At Liverpool Street a few weeks ago, they replaced a constricted gate line in the Underground station with a much wider one and this opened up the station considerably. It might be possible to do something of a similar nature at Richmond to free up the crush I experienced at the gate, which will only get worse.

If the passenger routes were freed up and especially, if a second footbridge was added, then passengers wanting to go to Twickenham from the North London and District Lines, would walk to the back of the train, go to the footbridge and walk across to Platform 1 to get any of the numerous trains. Remember that both the Class 378 trains and the S7 Stock are walk-through trains and many passengers now regularly position themselves for their destination.

In addition at Richmond something must be done to reduce the flow of people and vehicles in front of the station. For instance, there are more taxis at the station, than I’ve ever seen at a suburban station. But then it is an upmarket area, where only losers walk or use buses.

Waterloo To Reading via Richmond

There is another factor that will put pressure on Richmond in the future and that is the two trains an hour link to Reading. By the end of the decade Reading will have developed into one of the most important stations in the South East to the West of London. Richmond has good connections to a lot of South and South West London, so will passengers to and from the West change at Reading and go via Richmond. They probably wouldn’t now, but as the network develops and Crossrail doesn’t go anywhere near the South West of London, until Crossrail 2 is built, Richmond will get more overloaded, so some easy interchange between the lines at the station is essential.

Twickenham

Twickenham has two major problems.

It is obviously the station of choice for rugby at Twickenham and this Google Map shows that they are fairly, but not that close.

If you read the history of the station in Wikipedia, you’ll see that the station is a bad sufferer of both wartime problems and advanced Topsy-syndrome, as is my local station at Highbury and Islington.

But even sorting the station for this year’s Rugby World Cup has been a planning obstacle race as this Future section in the Wikipedia entry says.

The RFU has petitioned the government to improve the station to be ready to handle the increased use during the 2015 Rugby World Cup. Network Rail has consented to a plan to improve the station and the rolling stock, but progress has stalled because of disagreement between the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames council and some local residents. A judicial review was carried out in December 2012 of the planning permissions that had been granted. These reviews are now complete and construction will start in 2014.

My pictures show, that Twickenham station appears to be being rebuilt. It doesn’t look to me that everything will be finished for the start of the tournament on September the 18th.

Waterloo To Reading Via Richmond And Twickenham

There is another factor that will put pressure on Richmond in the future and that is the two trains an hour link to Reading. By the end of the decade Reading will have developed into one of the most important stations in the South East to the West of London. Richmond has good connections to a lot of South and South West London, so will passengers to and from the West change at Reading and go via Richmond. They probably wouldn’t now, but as the network develops and Crossrail doesn’t go anywhere near the South West of London, until Crossrail 2 is built, Richmond will get more overloaded, so some easy interchange between the lines at the station is essential.

Heathrow

It is no secret that many parties would like to see rail links from the West and/or Waterloo into Heathrow, whether or not the airport is the chosen airport to be expanded in the South East.

We’ve had Heathrow Airtrack, Airtrack-Lite and now we’ve got the Windsor Link Railway, with perhaps only the last one still in existence.

The Windsor Link Railway is a very innovative project, which initially links the two rail lines to Windsor with a cut-and-cover tunnel and a new station called Windsor Royal.

The two current stations of Windsor & Eton Riverside and Windsor & Eton Central, would be closed and I doubt there would be any problems finding profitable uses for the sites. Since I wrote the original version of this post, I’ve been to Windsor and walked the route of the Windsor Link Railway through the town.

Further phases of the project would create a link into Heathrow, that would be accessible to both trains from the West and Waterloo.

Even if the link isn’t built in the form proposed by the Windsor Link Railway, there is a high chance that a link that connects both West and Waterloo is built.

I like this project, as I think it has some very big advantages.

1. Not many serious engineers would propose to build a tunnel in the middle of an historic town, up close to one of Her Majesty’s most iconic residences, unless they were absolutely sure that it would work. But look at this Google Map of Central Windsor and the two stations.

For a start, it looks like the position and alignment of the two stations is in favour of their plan, to build a cut-and-cover tunnel between them, with the proposed Windsor Royal station perhaps, where what looks to be a coach park is located.

2. The space is sufficient to have a station big enough for the ten-car trains on the line.

3. The plan doesn’t say whether the tunnel will be single-track or double-track. Obviously, costs and space will decide the design.

4. There doesn’t appear to be many properties in the way of the tunnelling, as most of the route is either vehicle parks, public gardens or roads.

5. When fully realised the project connects both the West and Waterloo into Terminal 5 at Heathrow between Sunnymeads and Wraysbury stations. This Google Map shows the location of the stations in relation to Terminal 5.

The stations are on the line running to the North-West to the left of the reservoir.

6. Compared to other proposals, this scheme doesn’t need as much tunnelling to link up to the existing stations at Heathrow, being able to use a bridge over the M25.

7. In addition with a reinstated curve at Frimley, trains from Basingstoke and Ascot could have access to the airport. But that is just a couple of many places, who would find they are just a single change away from Heathrow.

Crossrail 2

If Twickenham Stadium and Heathrow are two elephants rampaging through the transport system of South West London, then Crossrail 2 is a third.

According to the current plan, Twickenham Station will be a terminus for Crossrail 2. The route to the proposed tunnel portal at Wimbledon, will be by way of these stations.

• Strawberry Hill
• Teddington
• Hampton Wick
• Kingston
• Norbiton
• New Malden
• Raynes Park

It follows quite a bit of the route of the Kingston Loop Line, which along with other lines in South West London will become part of Crpssrail 2.

If we look at Abbey Wood and Shenfield stations on Crossrail, Twickenham and the other termini of Crossrail 2, will probably need two platforms, which shouldn’t be a problem.

With my Project Management hat on, I think that any serious construction program for Crossrail 2 will see the suburban sections South of Wimbledon and North of Tottenham Hale brought up to Crossrail standard , before the serious work of the central tunnel. In my view not starting some of the update of the surface sections to Abbey Wood, Heathrow, Reading and Shenfield on Crossrail until the tunnelling was well underway, may have created problems. At least I’ve not seen any good reason for not starting at some of the stations, which are in desperate need of improvement, repair or full step-free access.

The question also has to be asked is what effect does the thoughts behind the Windsor Link Railway have on the layout of the Crossrail 2 branches South of Twickenham?

Surely, if Heathrow is a sensible terminal for Crossrail, then there are good reasons to think that it could be a sensible terminal for Crossrail 2. This would link Heathrow directly to St. Pancras International, Kings Cross, Euston, Victoria, Clapham Junction and Tottenham Hale for ongoing travel. Most London terminals and major interchange stations, like Clapham Junction, Old Oak Common and Stratford would be directly linked to Heathrow by either Crossrail or Crossrail 2.  The other terminals that miss out are.

Cannon Street – Avoid by using Crossrail 2 to Victoria or Crossrail/Thameslink to London Bridge

Charing Cross – Avoid by using Crossrail 2 to Victoria or Crossrail/Thameslink to London Bridge

Fenchurch Street – Avoid by using Crossrail to Liverpool Street, Stratford or Shenfield and then another route.

London Bridge – Crossrail or Crossrail 2 to Farringdon then Thameslink.

Marylebone – Crossrail to Paddington and Bakerloo.

Waterloo – Avoid by using Clapham Junction or Crossrail to Paddington and Bakerloo.

It does seem to me that our Victorian railway planners didn’t future-proof their London terminals very well.

Vauxhall

I came home via Vauxhall station and the Victoria Line.

The interchange is being upgraded, with lifts in the rail station leading to the subway and improvements in the tube station.

When the upgrade is finished, it will make things a lot easier for those like me, who live near the Northern section of the Victoria Line, to get to places in South West London.

Using Waterloo is difficult, as we live on the wrong branch of the Northern Line, and all other lines that serve the station don’t go near Islington, Hackney, Harringey or Waltham Forest. The only easier way to get to Waterloo is to use the Waterloo and City Line, unless it’s the rush hour or the weekend.

Clapham Junction is a simple journey, but it takes forever on the Overground.

Conclusion

This line can be improved to be a more useful part of London’s rail infrastructure.

But it won’t really be sorted until Crossrail 2 is completed.

 

 

June 6, 2015 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Crossrail 2, Heathrow Airport, Trains, Windsor Link Railway