Extending The Elizabeth Line – Connecting West Anglia Main Line Services To The Central Tunnel
If say it was ever needed to run a train between Cambridge or Stansted stations and the Central Tunnel of the Elizabeth Line, three things must be possible.
Trains Would Have To Be Compatible With The Central Tunnel Of The Elizabeth Line
As any train would have to be compatible with the platform-edge doors in the central tunnel of the Elizabeth Line, the trains would have to be dimensionally identical to the current Class 345 trains.
- Nine cars
- Possibility of lengthening to ten cars.
- 204.73 metres long.
- 6 sets of doors per carriage
- Ability to run under full digital signalling.
I covered this in detail in Extending The Elizabeth Line – High Speed Trains On The Elizabeth Line.
Trains Would Need A 100 mph Capability To Travel On The Fast Lines Of The West Anglia Main Line
They would be designed for a higher speed of at least 100 mph, to enable running on the fast lines.
The faster running would ease scheduling of the trains.
Effectively, the train would be a Class 345 train with more features and considerably more grunt.
Trains Must Be Able To Connect Between The West Anglia Main Line And The Central Tunnel Of The Elizabeth Line At Stratford
This map from cartometro.com shows the track layout at Stratford.
Note.
- The Elizabeth Line is shown in black and purple.
- The Elizabeth Line enters and leaves the Central Tunnel at the Pudding Mill Lane Portal Eye.
- The West Anglia Main Line to and from Stansted and Cambridge goes through Platforms 11 and 12 at Stratford station, before crossing over Stratford International station and going through Olympic Park Junction.
I am fairly sure that the track layout at Stratford does not allow trains to go both ways between West Anglia Main Line and the Elizabeth Line Central Tunnel.
But I suspect with the addition of a couple of extra crossovers, that this could be arranged.
The Anonymous Widower 
[…] Extending The Elizabeth Line – Connecting West Anglia Main Line Services To The Central Tunnel, I describe how it could be possible to connect the West Anglia Main Line to the Elizabeth Line at […]
Pingback by Could An Oxford And Cambridge Service Be Run Via The Lizzie Line? « The Anonymous Widower | February 5, 2023 |
W Anglia is running at full capacity now. If anything, run the Liz Line to Chingford via a newly installed hall farm curve. But even so would paths be available to cross the GEML at Stratford
Comment by Dave | August 13, 2023 |
I can see some politicians, given all the problems with a route of an Oxford-Cambridge railway, proposing running one via Central London. As Liverpool Street and Cambridge services terminate close to the Elizabeth Line and Thameslink Cambridge services connect at Farringdon, the most efficient way is probably to add Oxford to the Elizabeth Line.
Comment by AnonW | August 13, 2023 |
Why, it won’t run fast to Oxford? It will be a slow service, and the numbers using the service is debatable. Knowing people who both live and work in both city’s have said the East West Route is not going to make much if any difference as demand for travel between them is low.
Comment by Dave | August 13, 2023
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Pingback by Extending The Elizabeth Line « The Anonymous Widower | August 13, 2023 |
I’ve met people in Cambridge, who’ve said the opposite.
Additionally, Chiltern’s service to Oxford probably does better than they expected.
But we won’t know until it’s been built.
I also had a chat with an academic at a Russell Group University, who had done some serious analysis on passenger numbers, when services are increased. Some of his answered surprised me.
At the moment, it looks like an interesting experiment is being conducted in London, where the Elizabeth Line appears to be giving Heathrow Express a good kicking.
From what I’ve observed since the Elizabeth Line has opened, I suspect a Southend and Oxford service linking at Farringdon and Liverpool Street to Cambridge service could satisfy current demand.
Comment by AnonW | August 13, 2023 |