Improvements To Enfield Town Station
This post on IanVisits is entitled Enfield Council Outlines Possible Rail Station Upgrades.
By reading Enfield Council documents, Ian has found possible station improvements that might happen.
Ian says this about Enfield Town station.
There’s an empty plot of land next to Enfield Town station which used to be the Enfield Arms pub until it was demolished in 2005. The council wants that site to be used for housing, and to fund improvements to the pedestrian space outside the station.
They also suggest it may also contribute to increased peak hour trains on the London Overground, which would likely need a far bigger development than could be achieved in the site.
This Google Map shows the station.
Note.
- The station has three platforms.
- The Enfield Arms pub was at the North end of Genotin Road.
- There is a Tesco Superstore on the other side of the railway.
I took these pictures of the station.
It looks like there is building being carried out on the Royal Mail site.
Improvements To Southbury Station
This post on IanVisits is entitled Enfield Council Outlines Possible Rail Station Upgrades.
By reading Enfield Council documents, Ian has found possible station improvements that might happen.
Ian says this about Southbury station.
A mixed-use redevelopment of the Morrisons and Tesco supermarkets on either side of the station which could add about 820 new homes would also be expected to contribute to improvements at the railway station.
The redevelopment of the Crown Road lorry park would be expected to improve cycle and pedestrian routes to the station.
This Google Map shows the station.
Note.
- The London Overground orange roundel indicates the station.
- The station is on Southbury Road, which runs East-West across the map.
- At the Western edge of the map, the dual-carriageway is the A10.
- Morrisons is to the South-East of the junction.
- Tesco is at the Eastern edge of the map.
This Google Map shows the Morrison’s site.
Today, there is an article in The Times, which is entitled Morrisons To Sell Petrol Forecourts.
Perhaps, Morrisons have told Enfield Council, that they wouldn’t be against a mixed development.
This Google Map shows the Tesco site.
The two sites, if they were rebuilt with flats on top of new supermarkets could yield a lot of new housing.
I took these pictures of the station.
Note.
- The station has an attractive building.
- The station sits on a bridge over the railway.
- The station needs lifts, a light-controlled crossing across the busy road and a professional makeover.
- The two supermarkets are about 500 metres from the station.
- The bus stops are badly-placed for the station entrance.
- The art-deco building is the former Ripaults factory and is Grade II Listed.
But by spending a bit of money, it could be a much better station.
A New Future Beckons For Scotland’s Historic Canals
The title of this post is the same as that as this article on The Herald.
This is the sub-heading.
Scotland’s canals, created for the industrial revolution but in recent times focused more on leisure than industry, are finding a new purpose as a different revolution, this time a green one, gets underway
The article was found by my Google Alert for the Coire Glas project, which is one of the UK’s largest green projects.
The article describes how Scotland’s canals are helping a green revolution and is well worth a read.
Improvements To Turkey Street Station
This post on IanVisits is entitled Enfield Council Outlines Possible Rail Station Upgrades.
By reading Enfield Council documents, Ian has found possible station improvements that might happen.
Ian says this about Turkey Street station.
Redevelopment of the Exeter Road estate could contribute to public realm improvements to Turkey Street station.
I took these pictures of the station.
Note.
- The station has improved since I visited in 2014 and wrote Before Overground – Turkey Street.
- The station is rather a windy place and could do with some better shelters.
- It could also do with some lifts.
Let’s hope the station improves by a similar amount by the next time I visit.
Are Londoners The Tunnel Kings?
I was born in 1947 and it was in the early 1960s, that I started to develop an interest in engineering, which eventually led me to study Electrical Engineering and Electronics at Liverpool University.
Like most Londoners, I was a frequent user of the Underground and for six or seven years, I took the Piccadilly Line many days between Oakwood and Southgate to go to Minchenden Grammar School. Often, after school, I would go on to my father’s print works near Word Green tube station.
But not memories of London’s tunnels were so memorable at that time. One day, we were driving to see my Uncle Bert in Broadstairs and we were held in the Blackwall Tunnel for an hour or so because of an accident.
Perhaps, this is why I can remember a black-and-white video of digging the Western Tunnel of the Dartford Crossing so vividly. But as Raymond Baxter probably explained to BBC viewers at the time, it dug using a Greathead shield under pressure to keep the water out. It was probably the last tunnel dug under the Thames using methods, that would have been familiar to Victorian engineers.
This British Pathe video shows some of the construction of the Western tunnel.
This paragraph from the Wikipedia entry for the Eastern Tunnel describes its construction.
Construction was approved in April 1971, with an initial expected opening date in 1976. Work was delayed due to a lack of funds, which was resolved by EEC funding granted in 1974. The second tunnel opened in May 1980, allowing each tunnel to handle one direction of traffic, by which time the joint capacity of the two tunnels had increased to 65,000 vehicles per day. Connection of the crossing to the M25 was completed on the northerly Essex side in September 1982 (Junction 31), and to the southerly Kent side in September 1986 (Junction 1a)
The tunnels may be inadequate in terms of capacity, but they have certainly done a reliable job for sixty and forty-three years respectively.
There are other tunnels under the Thames, that have been built in my lifetime.
- Thames Cable Tunnel – 1970 – National Grid’s 400 kV cable.
- High Speed One – 2007
- Dartford Tunnel (East) – 1980
- Dartford Tunnel (West) – 1963
- Dartford Cable Tunnel – 2004
- Docklands Light Railway Tunnel – 2009
- Elizabeth Line Tunnel – 2014
- Millennium Dome Cable Tunnel – 1999
- Jubilee Line Tunnels – 1999 – Planned by Artemis
- Blackwall Runnel (East) – 1967
- Isle of Dogs Jubilee Line Tunnels – 1999 – Planned by Artemis
- Docklands Light Railway Tunnel – 1999 – Planned by Artemis
- Deptford Cable Tunnel –
- Jubilee Line Tunnels – 1999 – Planned by Artemis
- Victoria Line Tunnel – 1971
- New Cross to Finsbury Market Cable Tunnel – 2017
- Wimbledon to Pimlico Cable Tunnel – 1996
- London Power Tunnels – 2018, 2011
There are also these tunnels, which don’t go under the Thames
Bank Station Expansion And New Southbound Northern Line Tunnel – 2022
- Elstree to St. John’s Wood Cable Tunnel – 2005
- Heathrow Rail Tunnels – 1998
- Lee Tunnel – 2016
- Limehouse Link Tunnel – 1993
- Lower Lea Valley Cable Tunnels – 2008
- Northern Line Extension To Battersea – 2021
- Piccadilly Line Extension To Heathrow – 1975-2008
- Thames Tideway Tunnel – Estimated completion in 2025 – Tunnelling ended in 2022.
- Thames Water Ring Main – 2010
Note.
- The date is the opening date.
- I am pleased to see that at least some projects were planned, with the software, I wrote in a Suffolk attic.
In my lifetime, at least 27 substantial tunnels have been completed, a very large proportion of which have been on time and on budget, with the possible exception of the Heathrow Rail Tunnels, which collapsed.
So Why Has London Got A Good Record On Tunnelling?
In Millicent And Ursula Prepare To Go Tunnelling, I describe my visit to the Tideway Open Day today to see the tunnel boring machines; Millicent and Ursula before they went tunnelling.
On that Sunday morning, I also chatted with the engineers and tunnelers.
- All had worked on at least one of London’s previous tunnels.
- One had worked on the Second Dartford Tunnel, the Channel Tunnel and Crossrail.
- A couple said, that after the Tideway finished, they would be off to High Speed Two.
Is London’s good record on delivering tunnels safely and on time and on budget, a case of lots of experience and practice makes perfect?
If it is, we should definitely think hard about how we handle large projects.
Wind Farms
Many have been constructed this way.
- The grid substation and connection to the grid is built.
- The foundations of the turbines are installed.
- The turbines are erected.
- All the turbines are commissioned.
This sequence or something like it can be applied to onshore and offshore wind farms.
- Most jobs are repeated many times by specialist teams using purpose-built cranes, ships and other equipment.
- Bigger wind farms, just need more repeated operations.
- All operations are generally in a small geographical area.
- I suspect specialist software has been built to project manage, the building of wind farms. If it hasn’t, I have my ideas.
Project management should be relatively easy.
Improvements To Edmonton Green Station
This post on IanVisits is entitled Enfield Council Outlines Possible Rail Station Upgrades.
By reading Enfield Council documents, Ian has found possible station improvements that might happen.
Ian says this about Edmonton Green station.
A proposed redevelopment of the shopping centre could add upwards of 1,000 new homes in time, and fund improvements to both the railway station and the bus station.
I took these pictures of the station.
Note.
- The station has lifts to both platforms.
- The station has some excellent period features.
- I have indicated a couple of possible development sites.
- The station does not appear to be listed.
A good architect and some good craftsmen could improve this station substantially.
Wrightbus Nears Completion Of First Hydrogen Buses For Continental Europe
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Sustainable Bus.
This is the first paragraph.
UK bus manufacturer Wrightbus announced through a Linkedin post it is in the final stages of completing its first batch of left-hand-drive single-deck hydrogen buses, known as the Kite Hydroliner, destined for Germany and adhering to full VDV compliance. In May 2022 Wrightbus secured an order from RVK Cologne for 20 fixed and 40 optional orders.
This paragraph is also significant.
The buses come equipped with stated range of 1,030 kilometers, a fully flat saloon floor, rapid refueling in under 8 minutes, and are crafted “using key components from tier 1 global suppliers”.
A 1030 kilometre (640 miles) range is enough to go between London and Carlisle and back.
The Long Platforms At Liverpool Street Station
I was on Liverpool Street station today and I took these pictures.
It got me thinking.
- I was standing On Platform 1 and on Platform 2 was a pair of five-car Class 720 trains coupled together.
- The pair of five-car Class 720 trains would be 244 metres long, which mean that the platforms could handle nine-car Class 800 or Class 345 trains.
- There would appear to be plenty of platform space in Liverpool Street station.
- In Azuma Test Train Takes To The Tracks As LNER Trials Possible New Route, I talked about how LNER were checking an Azuma train could use the route to Cleethorpes.
- In London North Eastern Railway Runs Trial Train To Liverpool Street, I talked about how LNER had ran a train into Liverpool Street.
The general consensus seems to be, that points 3 and 4, are about several things.
Adding Grimsby and Cleethorpes to LNER’s list of destinations.
Possibly adding Spalding, Sleaford, Market Rasen and Barnetby to LNER’s list of destinations.
Providing a faster service between London and Grimsby/Cleethorpes.
Providing a diversion route because of engineering or blockades on the East Coast Main Line.
Nearly twenty years ago, I used to play real tennis, with a guy, who was on a committee, that planned the future of the Cambridge region.
- One of the things he said was that Cambridge was full and there is not enough lab space, factories and housing.
- He felt that Peterborough would make an excellent satellite for Cambridge.
- However, transport links and especially the trains are not the best between Cambridge and Peterborough.
- I wonder, if Cambridge’s overcrowding is spreading the Cambridge Effect into Lincolnshire and the number of rail passengers between Lincoln and Cambridge is growing.
So have LNER taken the bull by the horns and are planning to run a London Liverpool Street and Cleethorpes service via Cambridge?
- It might perhaps run at least six trains per day (tpd) in both directions.
- Stops could include Stratford, Cambridge South, Cambridge, Cambridge North, Ely, March, Peterborough, Spalding, Sleaford, Lincoln, Market Rasen, Barnetby and Grimsby Town.
- Trains could be a five-car Class 800 train.
- The route is fully-electrified between London and Ely.
Note.
- The London King’s Cross and Lincoln service could be discontinued.
- Connection between Cambridge and Lincolnshire is much improved.
- The developing energy powerhouse in North-East Lincolnshire gets a connection to Cambridge and London.
- There could be same-platform interchange at Peterborough for passengers between Cambridge and the North.
- By going via Cambridge, one less train needs to use the bottleneck over the Digswell viaduct.
LNER are trying to get the most out of the new December 2024 East Coast Main Line timetable and I do wonder if a London Liverpool Street and Cleethorpes servce is part of that exercise.
The Anonymous Widower 