The Anonymous Widower

More Frequent Trains And A New Station For The London Overground

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on IanVisits.

This is said.

In a statement, the government agreed to requests for £80.8 million from the GLA to support transport upgrades so that 14,000 homes can be built along the East London Line.

Upgrades include.

• New Bermondsey station, which was originally to be called Surrey Canal Road, will be built.
• A second entrance will be built at Surrey Quays station.
• Frequency between Dalston Junction and Clapham Junction stations will be increased from four trains per hour (tph) to six tph.
• Frequency between Highbury & Islington and Crystal Palace stations will be increased from four tph to six tph.

The frequency upgrades will mean twenty tph between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays stations, or a train every three minutes as opposed to the  current three minutes and forty-five seconds.

A few thoughts follow.

Surrey Quays Station Upgrade

Ian’s article says this about the new entrance at Surrey Quays station.

The very cramped Surrey Quays station gets a second entrance, which will run under the main road and be based on the north side, where the shopping centre car park is today. That avoids crossing two busy roads, which can take some time if you’re waiting for the lights to change.

This Google Map shows the station and the car park of the Shopping Centre.

These are my pictures, taken at and around the station.

Traffic is bad and the subway suggested by Ian’s wording will be very welcome.

Collateral Benefits At New Cross Gate

New Cross Gate station will be one of several stations along the East London Line to see benefits in service frequency and quality.

The train frequency on East London Line services will rise from eight tph to ten tph.

But this is not all that should or could happen.

• The service between Highbury & Islington and West Croydon stations could rise from four tph to six tph.
• This would mean that New Cross Gate would have a twelve tph service to and from Whitechapel, which in a year or so, will have Crossrail connections to Canary Wharf, Bond Street, Paddington and Heathrow.
• Southeastern should be getting new higher-capacity, higher-performance and possibly longer trains to replace their elderly trains into London Bridge.
• Charing Cross station is redeveloped into a higher-capacity, cross-river station, to allow more trains.
• Digital signalling, as used on Thameslink will be extended to cover all trains through New Cross and New Cross Gate.
• The Docklands Light Railway to Lewisham will get new and higher-capacity trains.
• Southeastern Metro services could go to the London Overground.

Could this all mean that the East London Line, Southeastern and Crossrail will more than hold the fort until it is decided to build the Bakerloo Line Extension?

The Bakerloo Line Extension

This map from TfL shows the route of the Bakerloo Line Extension.

If and when the Bakerloo Line Extension is built, New Cross Gate will surely become a major transport hub.

If you look at the current and proposed stations on the Southern section of an extended Bakerloo Line, you can say the following.

• Paddington will get a step-free pedestrian link between Crossrail and the Bakerloo Line.
• Charing Cross will benefit from more Southeastern Metro services into the main line station.
• Waterloo will benefit from more Southeastern Metro services through the attached Waterloo East station.
• Elephant & Castle station will benefit from more Thameslink services through the attached main line station.
• New Cross Gate will benefit from more Southeastern Metro and East London Line services through the station.
• Lewisham will benefit from more Southeastern Metro services through the station.

But there are no interim benefits for the blue-mauve area, that will be served by the proposed Old Kent Road 1 and Old Kent Road 2 stations.

In addition, is there a need to add capacity between  the New Cross area and Lewisham? Southeastern improvements will help, but the Bakerloo Line Extension will do a lot more!

Except for these two stations, is there a reason to build an extension to the Bakerloo Line, as train services between Charing Cross, Waterloo East and New Cross and Lewisham will be significantly increased in frequency, reach and quality?

A Bakerloo Line Extension Redesign

Whatever happens to the Bakerloo Line, the following should be done.

• New walk-through trains running at a higher-frequency on the current route.
• Major access improvements and better connection to main line services at Elephant & Castle, Waterloo East, Charing Cross and Willesden Junction stations.
• A radical reorganisation North of Queen’s Park station, in conjunction with the Watford DC Line and the proposed West London Orbital Railway.

This would improve the current line, but it would do nothing for those living where the extension will go!

So why not do what is happening to the Northern Line at Battersea and create a short extension to the Bakerloo Line that serves the areas that need it and one that can be extended in the future?

• You could argue, that the extension to Lewisham is short and it could be extended to Hayes and other places.
• I also think, that the route goes via New Cross Gate, as that is one of the few sites in the area, from where a large tunnel could be built.

Ideally, what could be needed is a high-capacity public transport link from Elephant & Castle and Greenwich and/or Lewisham via the Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and New Cross.

The Germans, the Dutch and others wouldn’t mess about and would run trams along the road, but that would go down with the locals like a lead West London Tram.

So it looks like some form of extension of the Bakerloo Line is the only way to go.

Consider.

• Two-platform terminal stations at Brixton and Walthamstow Central handle up to thirty-six tph on the Victoria Line.
• New Cross Gate and New Cross stations are about five hundred metres apart.
• Double-ended stations like Knightsbridge on the Piccadilly Line and Kings Cross on the Victoria Line work very well.

I would look at building a double-ended Bakerloo Line station deep underneath New Cross Road.

• It would be connected by escalators and lifts to the existing stations at New Cross Gate in the West and New Cross in the East.
• Provision would be made to extend the line further to either Greenwich or Lewisham.
• New Cross and Lewisham already have a high-frequency connection of six tph.
• The whole extension could be built from the single tunnelling location on the Sainsbury’s site at New Cross Gate.
• There would be no necessity for any works at Lewisham station.

It would probably need more services to be run between New Cross and Lewisham.

Current Services Between New Cross And Lewisham

Southeastern currently runs these services  between New Cross and Lewisham.

• London Cannon Street and Slade Green via Sidcup
• London Cannon Street and Orpington via Grove Park
• London Cannon Street and Hayes

All services are two tph.

Extending The East London Line Service South From New Cross

New Cross is served by the only short service on the London Overground; the four tph between Dalston Junction and New Cross stations.

So could this East London Line service be extended South to serve Lewisham to increase services between New Cross and Lewisham?

This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines at New Cross station.

Note how the double-track East London Line, shown in orange, arrives from Surrey Quays station arrives in the North-Western corner of the map, becomes a single-track and then goes under the main lines before going into the bay platform D.

This Google Map shows the same area.

The London Overground track is clearly visible.

Could extra track be added, to enable the following?

• Southbound trains could join the main line and stop in Platform C
• Northbound trains could leave the main line after stopping in Platform A and go towards Surrey Quays station.

If this is possible, then  it would give a four tph service between Dalston Junction and Lewisham, with an important stop at Whitechapel to connect to Crossrail.

Lewisham doesn’t have the space for a terminal platform, but there would appear two possible terminals South of Lewisham.

• Hayes – Journey time to and from Dalston Junction would take around 53 minutes.
• Orpington – Journey time to and from Dalston Junction would take around 50 minutes.

Both stations would make ideal terminals.

• They have bay platforms for terminating the trains.
• Round trips would be a convenient two hours.
• Eight trains would be needed for the service.
• New Cross will have the same four tph to and from Dalston Junction as it does now!
• Lewisham and Dalston Junction would have a four tph service that would take 27 minutes.

The service could even be split with two tph to each terminal.

Will the Extended Services Need To Replace Other Services?

Currently Hayes has these current Off Peak services.

• Two tph to Cannon Street via London Bridge
• Two tph to Charing Cross via London Bridge

I would expect that if digital signalling is applied through the area, that the extra services could be added to Hayes and Orpington as decided.

An Improved Hayes Line

Transport for London and various commentators always assume that the Bakerloo Line will eventually take over the Hayes Line.

This will or could mean the following.

• Passengers used to a full-size train looking out on the countryside and back gardens through big windows, will have to get used to a more restricted view.
• Platforms on the Hayes Line will need to be rebuilt, so that two different size of train will be step-free between train and platform.
• The service could be slower.
• The ability to walk through an increasingly pedestrianised Central London to and from Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Bridge will be lost.
• Loss of First Class seats. which will happen anyway!

I think that passengers could want to stick with the current service.

The only reason to allow the Bakerloo Line Extension to take over the Hayes Line, is that it would allow another four tph to run between Lewisham and London Bridge. But digital signalling could give the same benefit!

But what if the Overground muscled in?

The Hayes Line could take up to four tph between Dalston Junction and Hayes, via Lewisham and New Cross, which would give these benefits.

• Increased capacity on the Hayes Line.
• An excellent connection to Crossrail, which would give a better connection to the West End, Liverpool Street and Heathrow.
• Better connection to the Eastern side of the City of London and Canary Wharf.
• It could free up four tph between New Cross and London Bridge.
• Same-platform interchange between Southeastern and East London Line services at Lewisham and New Cross.

There would need to be these changes to the infrastructure.

• A new track layout at New Cross.
• Installation of digital signalling.

The latter will happen anyway.

Times To And From Crossrail

Times to and from Whitechapel, with its Crossrail connection are.

• Lewisham – 17 minutes
• Hayes – 44 minutes
• Orpington – 41 minutes

The current service between Orpington and Farrington, which also will connect to Crossrail, takes 52 minutes.

Penge Interchange

Although, this has not been funded, I think that this new interchange could be very much in Transport for London’s plans.

I discuss the possible Penge Interchange station in Penge Interchange.

It’s certainly something to watch out for, as it could improve connectivity by a large amount.

The View From The Dalston Omnibus

For decades, Dalston had a terrible reputation and then came the Overground, which changed everything.

There are now these combined devices from the two Dalston stations.

• Eight tph to Stratford
• Four tph to Richmond via Willesden Junction
• Four tph to Clapham Junction via Willesden Junction
• Four tph to Clapham Junction via Surrey Quays
• Four tph to Crystal Palace via Surrey Quays
• Four tph to New Cross via Surrey Quays
• Four tph to West Croydon via Surrey Quays

There is also a useful eight tph connecting service between Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington.

In the next couple of years, these developments should happen.

• Services on the East London Line will be increased with an extra two tph to Clapham Junction and Crystal Palace.
• Services on the North London Line will be increased to cope with overcrowding. As the Dalston Junction and Highbury & Islington connecting service will be going to ten tph, it would seem logical that the North London Line service should match this frequency.
• Crossrail will open and Dalston will have a twenty tph connection to its services at Whitechapel.

Dalston needs better connections to either main line terminal stations or their interchanges a  few miles out.

Currently, Dalston has very useful connections to the following main interchanges.

• Stratford for the Great Eastern Main Line.
• Clapham Junction for the South Western Railway and Southern services.
• Richmond for Windsor and Reading services.
• Whitechapel will provide a link to Crossrail.
• In addition the planned update at Norwood Junction will give better connection to services to Gatwick, Brighton and other services to the South of Croydon.

Better interchanges are needed with services to the North and the South East of London.

Extending the Dalston Junction and New Cross service to Hayes or Orpington via Lewisham could greater improve the train service from Dalston, by providing interchange to services fanning out into and beyond South East London.

Conclusion

I am drawn to these two conclusions.

• The Bakerloo Line should be extended via two new Old Kent Road stations to a double-ended terminal station in New Cross with interchange to both New Cross Gate and New Cross stations.
• The New Cross branch of the London Overground should be extended through Lewisham to Orpington and/or Hayes.

My preferred destination for the London Overground service could be Hayes, as this would surely help to free up paths through Lewisham and London Bridge.

September 12, 2019 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Bakerloo Line, Bakerloo Line Extension, Crossrail, Dalston Junction, Digital Signalling, East London Line, Hayes Line, Lewisham Station, London Overground, North London Line, Orpington Station, Southeastern Metro, Surray Quays Station, Watford DC Line