The New Light Freight Terminal At Liverpool Street Station
These pictures show the old cab road at Liverpool Street station, where the proposed light freight terminal will be developed.
The spacious cab road shut a few years ago and was moved to its current position in front of the station. Nowadays it is used mainly for deliveries to the station and the retail units, by Network Rail maintenance vehicles and sometimes by Rail Replacement Buses.
This second set of pictures show the exit of the cab road in Primrose Street, behind the station.
Note these points about the old cab road.
- There is some nice ironwork and a vaulted ceiling, but nothing that would be damaged if electric vans and cargo bikes used the cab road to serve freight shuttles.
- The road surface and the brickwork all appear to be in good condition.
- By removing the barrier between the cab road and platform 10, there would be no problem loading and unloading trains.
- There is also a good wide passage leading from the old cab road to the main concourse of the station.
I suspect that the only functional building in the area, which is the Left Luggage Office, will have to be moved. But it might be better placed on the main concourse.
Platform 10 Looks Very Convenient For The Freight Shuttle
The closeness of Platform 10 and the old cab road makes the platform look very convenient for the terminus of freight shuttles from London Gateway
How Will The Freight Shuttles Travel Between London Gateway And Liverpool Street Station?
The route from London Gateway to Liverpool Street station will be as follows.
- From London Gateway, the train will join the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway between Stanford-le-Hope and East Tilbury stations.
- The train will only run using diesel on the spur to London Gateway.
- The train will continue to Barking, where it will take the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the tracks, where the Gospel Oak to Barking Line crosses over the Great Eastern Main Line.
The train will join the Great Eastern Main Line here for a fast run into Liverpool Street station.
- I suspect the train will switch to the fast lines using the crossovers shown in the map.
- Note that the performance of a Class 769 train on electrified track, will be only slightly less than the expresses.
At Liverpool Street station, the train will run into Platform 10.
Will Liverpool Street Station Lose A Platform?
Currently, Platforms 9 and 10 are generally used for the London and Norwich services.
- These trains run at a frequency of two trains per hour (tph).
- They are formed of a rake of Mark 3 coaches topped sand tailed by a Class 90 locomotive and a driving van trailer.
- They call at various stations en route including Chelmsford, Colchester and Ipswich and are very heavily used at peak times.
- Entry to and exit from the trains is not of a modern standard and I suspect turnround times can sometimes must be very slow.
From next year, these trains will be replaced by modern twelve-car Class 745 trains.
- These trains have 757 seats, which I have read somewhere is more than the current trains.
- The trains will have level access between train and platform at all stations.
- I suspect turnround times will be shorter, due to the modern design.
Frequency between London and Norwich will also be increased yp three tph, by extending a service between London and Ipswich, which will be run by a Class 720 train.
Will it be possible to fit three tph into Platforms 9 and 10?
I suspect that it might be tight, as over the last few months, Norwich trains have sometimes been using higher numbered platforms like 14.
So will the proposed three tph to Colchester, Ipswich and Norwich be moved to two higher numbered platforms.
This would enable platform 10 to be used by freight shuttle trains, but will the station be able to run all the services, with one platform less?
Current Services Into Liverpool Street Station
Current services from Liverpool Street station are as follows.
- Six tph – GEML – TfL Rail – Shenfield
- Three tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Southend
- Two tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Norwich
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Ipswich
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Clacton
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Colchester Town
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Braintree
- Four tph – WAML- London Overground – Chingford
- Two tph – WAML- London Overground – Cheshunt
- Two tph – WAML- London Overground – Enfield Town
- Four tph – WAML- Greater Anglia – Stansted Airport
- Two tph – WAML- Greater Anglia – Hertford East
- Two tph – WAML- Greater Anglia -Cambridge
Totalling these up means the following.
- 16 tph use the double-track West Anglia Main Line (WAML)
- 15 tph use the four-track Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) as far as Shenfield.
- 6 tph use the double-track GEML to the North of Shenfield.
It looks neatly balanced.
Would moving Norwich services to a pair of the higher-numbered platforms improve operation?
All WAML services would be in platforms 1 to 9, as against platforms 1 to 8 now!
All GEML services would be in platforms 10 to 18, as against platforms 9 to 18 now!
If platform 10 is used by the freight shuttles, this would make operational sense, as the shuttle will approach Liverpool Street along the GEML after joining at Manor Park station.
Future Services Into Liverpool Street Station
From 2021 or so, these could be the from Liverpool Street station.
- Three tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Southend
- Three tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Norwich
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Clacton
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Colchester Town
- One tph – GEML – Greater Anglia – Braintree
- Four tph – WAML- London Overground – Chingford
- Two tph – WAML- London Overground – Cheshunt
- Two tph – WAML- London Overground – Enfield Town
- Four tph – WAML- Greater Anglia – Stansted Airport
- Two tph – WAML- Greater Anglia – Hertford East
- Two tph – WAML- Greater Anglia -Cambridge
Totalling these up means the following.
- 16 tph use the double-track West Anglia Main Line (WAML)
- 9 tph use the four-track Great Eastern Main Line (GEML) as far as Shenfield.
- 12 tph from Crossrail will use the slow lines as far as Shenfield.
- 3 tph use the double-track GEML to the North of Shenfield.
Crossrail has opened up capacity on the Great Eastern Main Line.
- Currently, there are 15 tph on the GEML using platforms 9 to 15.
- In 2021, there will be just 9 tph on the GEML using platforms 10 to 17.
There will be extra services to Lowestoft and Crossrail’s Peak Hour service to Gidea Park station.
But even so, I suspect there will be space for more services.
The Anonymous Widower 
Would there be capacity to run daily C2C services into Liverpool Street as now happens only at weekends?
Comment by JohnC | November 3, 2019 |
I’ve read somewhere that that has been ruled out. Platform 18 is also being closed, which I think is because it can’t be lengthened for 240 metre long trains.
Comment by AnonW | November 4, 2019 |
There are probably also many residents of Barking Riverside who would have preferred the new Overground service to run into Liverpool Street or Fenchurch Street rather than having to change onto often overcrowded trains at Barking.
Comment by JohnC | November 4, 2019 |
The Barking Riverside service will have a same platform interchange with the c2c’s Grays services and step-free interchange with District and Hammersmith & City services as Barking station is getting a step-free interchange. I have seen it written, that Uxbridge services will terminate at Barking instead of Aldgate, so this will see much higher frequency and capacity to the City and Kings Cross.
I feel there could be a bit of a sort out of the Grays services with frequency raised from two trains per hour (tph) to four.
Perhaps we could see two tph from Fenchurch Street and Gospel Oak going to both Barking Riverside and Grays.
The problem is probably capacity at Fenchurch Street, which unless it is rebuilt could probably only handle two tph on the Grays/Barking Riverside route
Comment by AnonW | November 5, 2019 |
I struggle to see who would actually want to use this light freight service with converted passenger trains. There may be a market for the service, but not much. Would not expect parcel services or local retailers (other than in-station retail) to want such a service, would add too much delay and operational complexity for too little benefit.
Comment by MilesT | November 28, 2019 |
UPS have a big depot at London Gateway and getting parcels into London is becoming increasingly difficult and by bringing them into the City by electric train sorted and then delivering by cargo bike and electric van, they can provide a speed increase and a massive drop in carbon footprint. Also no-one makes a viable zero-carbon truck for delivery next year.
Comment by AnonW | November 28, 2019 |
Fair enough, maybe it would work for one specific premium parcel carrier, maybe the other premium carriers, in effect reviving rail-based parcel services. But I think it would be too expensive for 2nd tier parcel carriers (carriers that franchise out the last mile to local contractors), and also operationally difficult for higher-volume retailers (who can schedule out of hours deliveries).
Would the service “break even” on just premium parcel carriers 52 weeks a year (peaks and troughs)? I’m not convinced.
Comment by MilesT | November 29, 2019
The guy, who is funding the trial has a good record of innovation. I suspect he has some basic figures to show it might work and wants to improve the model!
It’s also self-advertising, as loads of passengers each day will see the trains in the middle of Liverpool Street!
Could Boots, M & S, Smith’s and other shops in the station, deliver their roller cages by train, rather than truck? M & S have three shops in the station and Smith’s have two.
Comment by AnonW | November 29, 2019
I work in retail supply chain, and handing over tote dollys and rollcages of potentially valuable/sensitive stock to a 3rd party as part of the last mile is not popular/desireable–issues with tracking locations on systems etc.
Similar happens for airports to get to sterile/airside areas and the process is tolerated as a necessary evil in that scenario.
Comment by MilesT | December 2, 2019 |
That’s why they’re doing a trial! Find out the problems!
Comment by AnonW | December 2, 2019 |
This popped up which may be related or a solution
https://tech.london/challenges/tackling-congestion
(via london reconnections)
Comment by MilesT | February 11, 2020 |