The Croxley Rail Link Is Now The Metropolitan Line Extension
This report in the Railway Gazette is entitled Metropolitan Line Extension Funding Agreed. This is said.
The funding package for the Metropolitan Line Extension project has been finalised, London Underground announced on November 23. Construction is now expected to start next year, with completion due in 2020.
The project has now also changed its name from Croxley Rail Link to Metropolitan Line Extension.
There is now also this page on Transport for London’s web site, which comes with this new map.
Metropolitan Line Extension
I have to ask, whether the timing of this is significant, as the Chancellor’s Autumn Statement is on Wednesday.
Denmark Hill Station Rises
I say rises, as the pub at Denmark Hill Station is called The Pheonix.
When I last took photos before the upgrade, it was rather a mass of scaffolding.
But look at it now!
I took these pictures as I came home today.
It’s certainly one of the better middle-sized stations in London.
Loughborough Junction Station And Around
I took these pictures of Loughborough Junction station and its environs.
I do wonder if a four-poster station can be built here, to connect the South London Line that passes over the station to the current Loughborough Junction.
This Google Map shows the station and the surrounding area.
Loughborough Junction Station
Note the following about the railway lines and Loughborough Junction station.
- There are four lines going over the station, with the London Overground being the two lines on the southern side.
- The Thameslink lines are the ones going North-South through the area.
- The station only has two platforms on these lines.
- Platforms on the two spurs; Brixton and Cambria, were closed many years ago.
The height difference between the two sets of lines is probably no more than at Smethwick Galton Bridge station, where a four post station has been successfully built.
To say there are a mass of lines and the associated railway arches, filled with small businesses, would be an understatement.
This area should be able to be developed to provide what the people of the area need. A stylish and practical station linking both lines could be part of the development.
Herne Hill Station
I visited Herne Hill Station and took these pictures.
It is a bit of an odd station, in that although it is fully step-free and has a ticket office, it is a station without ticket gates.
It was also surprisingly short on information about buses, as due to a train being cancelled, I thought I might get a bus to Loughborough Junction station.
But there was no map!
This is a Google Map of the station
Herne Hill Station
It clearly shows how the four lines through the station divide both North and South of the station, into two pairs of lines.
It is noteworthy that where the lines split in the North, the area is a Network Rail depot, so it would be ideal to create a shaft to a Victoria Line tunnel.
I have seen or found nothing to definitely answer the question I posed in Will The Victoria Line Go To Herne Hil?
Changing Trains At Brixton
These pictures are a record of changing from Brixton tube station on the Victoria Line to Brixton station for a train to Herne Hill.
Note the following.
- The Underground station is step-free, but the rail station definitely isn’t!
- Platform 1 at Brixton station for Victoria is only accessible with difficulty.
- Platform 2 is by internal staircase with artwork.
- The platforms have two bronze figures on the platforms. I’d like to see more of the bronzes in store in our galleries exhibitied on stations. You certainly couldn’t nick them from Brixton station.
The Underground station is one of the best, but the rail station is best described as unusual.
This Google Map shows the two stations.
Brixton Station
Simple it isn’t!
How complicated and expensive a new station would be depends on how many connections, you want passengers to have.
Building an Overground station in the sky would be expensive, as height always costs money.
But putting decent stairs and lifts into the existing Brixton station would be routine compared to linking to the Overground.
The only way to connect all three lines would be to rebuild the Argos building as a triple dcker station with lifts and escalators.
But it would be horrendously expensive, even if there were some shops and a lot of flats on the top of everything.
But the bulding would be well connected!
I think that the best that can be hoped for is lifts and decent stairs in the main line station.
Will The Victoria Line Go To Herne Hill?
The Wikipedia entry for the Victoria Line has a section entitled Possible Future Projects. This is said.
For many years there have been proposals to extend the line one stop southwards from Brixton to Herne Hill. Herne Hill station would be on a large reversing loop with one platform. This would remove a critical capacity restriction by eliminating the need for trains to reverse at Brixton. The Mayor of London’s 2020 Vision, published in 2013, proposed extending the Victoria line “out beyond Brixton” by 2030.
Now that the dodgy crossover on the approach to Walthamstow Central station has been replaced, this extension to Herne Hill station must be higher up Transport for London’s list of priorities, as they try to squeeze more capacity out of London’s railways.
This metro map from carto.metro.fr, shows the lines around Herne Hill.
Victoria Line And Herne Hill
Note the blue lines of the Victoria Line going a short distance past the terminal platforms at Brixton tube station.
The plan calls for these stubs to be extended in a wide loop under Herne Hill station, where there would be a single platform beneath the current platforms.
I think that this was a project that should have some years ago, as it would surely have taken some of the pressure off Victoria tube station, during the current rebuilding.
In the London Transport Infrastructure Plan for 2050, under New Links and/or stations for Strategic Interchange, there is a mention of Brixton High Level, which I wrote about in Could The Various Lines At Brixton Be Connected?. I finished with.
So it would appear that substantial improvement at Brixton could be achieved by creating a High Level station linking the various lines together and perhaps using an iconic lift tower to the ground.
Brixton needs an iconic creation to go with the vibrancy of the area, that doesn’t destroy everything. This could be the High Level station. Having seen the way that the walkway was threaded through at Hackney, I think there are at least one set of engineers and architects up to the challenge.
But building an iconic station at Brixton would cause a lot of disruption.
However, it could be argued and the passenger figures might show it, that another station at Herne Hill might help in giving passengers another way to get on the Victoria Line.
This section is taken from the Transport Infrastructure Plan.
Some examples of the types of schemes to address these issues are an upgrade of the London Overground network to provide 6 car trains and new stationson existing lines, eg at Camberwell, that can plug connectivity gaps and act as development nodes.
Look at the map of the Victoria Line and Herne Hill and you’ll see the orange line of the London Overground passing across and going over the top of Loughborough Junction station. Surely a four-poster station could be built to improve the connectivity. For a start, it would give Dalstonistas like me, good access to Thameslink.
South London often gets overlooked in the development of London’s railways, but done in the right sequence, I think these projects would be a welcome addition to London transport network.
- Victoria Line Extension to Herne Hill
- Brixton High Level Station, which would connect the Overground to lines out of Victoria.
- Loughborough Junction High Level Station, which would connect the Overground to Thameslink.
I would start with the Victoria Line extension to Herne Hill. After all it would be a nice follow-on job to the Northern Line Extension to Battersea.
The Anonymous Widower 