The Development Of White Hart Lane Stadium And Station
This report in Construction News is entitled Mace selected as construction partner on £400m Spurs stadium job.
The report talks about the next major milestone, being the decision of Haringey Council’s Planning Committee on December the 8th.
Let’s hope that this drawn-out saga is at last getting near to the next phase.
This picture taken from the report, shows an architect’s impression of the area after the stadium has been built.
New White Hart Lane Stadium
The image is from the South and you can see the railway line through White Hart Lane and Bruce Grove stations to the left of the stadium and Tottenham High Road.
It also shows a direct approach from the stadium to the railway line, where it will connect to a new southern entrance to White Hart Lane station.
This Google Map shows the area now.
White Hart Lane Stadium And The Rail Lines
Note.
- The site acquired by Tottenham Hotspur around the current stadium is substantial and there is plenty of space to create one of the best stadia in London.
- White Hart Lane station is to the West of the stadium site on the Lea Valley Lines on the West side of Tottenham High Road. It is a walk of about two hundred metres from the stadium.
- Northumberland Park station is to the East of the stadium on another of the Lea Valley Lines. It is a walk of about five to six hundred metres from the stadium.
- Note the Sainsbury Superstore on the North Side of the already cleared site for the new stadium.
The relationship of the new stadium to White Hart Lane station, is illustrated by this enlarged Google Map of the proposed route between the two.
White Hart Lane Station To Stadium
Note how the platforms of the current station extend to Whitehall Street, so the proposed new Southern entrance to the station, would be on a walking route to the front of the stadium. Plans on the web hint, that a wide high-capacity walking route will be provided between the station and stadium.
As to the design of the station itself, I found this image on the web.
Proposed Southern Entrance To White Hart Lane Station
Bruce Castle, which is a magnificent Grade 1 Listed sixteenth century manor house is on the other side of the line , in the extensive Bruce Castle Park.
Bruce Castle Park
So the design of open arches would link the whole area together.
As I’ve said many times on this blog, all stations should provide a proper entrance into their destination!
It should also be noted, that the current White Hart Lane station has platforms capable of taking the new Class 710 trains of eight or more carriages. So there should be enough capacity to get passengers to the new stadium by public transport, especially as the other side of the stadium can be walked from the slightly further away, Northumberland Park station, which if plans are carried through could be on Crossrail 2 by 2030.
If Tottenham Hotspur, with the help of Haringey Council and Transport for London, don’t bring all this together to create one of the best stadiums in Europe, then they don’t deserve to be successful.
Whitechapel Station – Steelwork Against The Sky
I took these pictures of the structures above the East London Line at Whitechapel station, as it is being rebuilt for Crossrail.
I do hope that when the station is completed, that a lot of the roof is clear to let in the natural light.
This image from the Crossrail page for Witechapel station gives hope.
I once wrote Is Whitechapel Station Going To Be The Jewel In The East?
We’ll see in a couple of years!
From Monument To Westminster Along The East-West Cycle Superhighway
I walked the East-West Cycle Superhighway in two sections, as I crossed the bridges to have lunch on the South Bank by the Tate Modern.
It certainly is getting a move on, with some sections almost ready to open.
A few notes follow.
The Arthur Street Site
A new block is being created on this site, but before that happens, the site is being used to access the underground parts of Bank station.
This map from a TfL document show the site.
The Arthur Street Site
This fact sheet explains how the Arthur Street Site is to be used. This is said.
To deliver the proposed station improvements there is a need for a worksite in Arthur Street. This site is above the new tunnel alignment, and enables access via a shaft directly down to the new tunnel. This separates the underground tunnelling works from the extensive demolition and basement construction works on the Cannon Street site, facilitating an earlier completion of the tunnelling works and a reduction of the overall impact of the project on the City.
As with everything in the City of London, it all seems very crowded.
Along Upper Thames Street
As the pictures show the Cycle Superhighway is going on the North side of this road.
This road has always been jammed solid with cars, taxis and a lot of trucks.
The construction phase of the Cycle Superhighway isn’t exactly helping traffic flows.
The Millennium Inclinator
The Millennium Inclinator is by the Millennium Bridge and I used it to get up the steps to the bridge, before crossing to get some lunch on the South Bank.
Westward From Blackfriars
After lunch, I crossed back to the North over Blackfriars Bridge and followed the Cycle Superhighway to Westminster station.
Conclusions
As with Cycle Superhighway CS5 from Oval to Pimlico, from what I could see, it seems to be well-designed and built.
I’ll look forward to hiring a bike at one end and riding it to the other.
The Midland Metro Is Set For Expansion
This article in Rail News is entitled .Major Midland Metro expansion plans unveiled. It lays out how after a devolution deal for the West Midlands there is going to be new lines on the Midland Metro. The article says this.
A new ‘HS2 connectivity package’ will include new tram lines from the HS2 station at Birmingham Curzon Street to Birmingham Airport via Bordesley Green and Chelmsley Wood, and between Wednesbury and Brierley Hill — a destination which was an aspiration of local Metro planners even before the first section opened in 1999 between Snow Hill and Wolverhampton St George’s.
It is certainly a substantial expansion.
Birmingham Curzon Street to Birmingham Airport
The history of the proposed Line Two linking to Birmingham Curzon Street station for HS2 and Birmingham Airport, is given in Line Two East Side Extension of the Wikipedia entry for the Midland Metro.
There would appear to be no mention of Bordesley Green and Chelmsley Wood, so I would assume that the route has been changed.
Wikipedia also mentions serving Coventry station, but the Rail News article doesn’t. I suspect that as Coventry is part of the devolution plans, that Line Two will go to the city!
Wednesbury To Brierley Hill
This proposal for this line, which links both Birmingham and Wolverhampton to the Merry Hill Shopping Centre, is better developed and some details are given in this section of the Wikipedia entry for the Midland Metro.
The proposal utilises the disused South Staffordshire Line, which to complicate matters Network Rail want to open for freight.
In January I published Will Dudley Get A National Very Light Rail Innovation Centre?, which also throws some extra factors into the knitting.
In the Midland Metro entry for this line, this is said.
Centro has stated that the WBHE would provide 10 trams per hour, alternately serving Wolverhampton and Birmingham. Journey time from Brierley Hill to West Bromwich was stated as 31 minutes.
So if it is intended that this line runs trams to both Birmingham and Wolverhampton and it will also carry freight, then it seems to me, that by using something like Class 399 tram-trains, you can be all things to all stakeholders.
If you look at the South Staffordshire Line north of the proposed junction with the Midland Metro, it is a mass of working and disused railway lines, that ultimately terminate on the West Coast Main Line at Lichfield Trent Valley station.
Given that the article in Rail News talks of improvements to the West Coast Main Line, I can’t believe that in the future the South Staffordshire Line is not developed as a cross city line from Lichfield to Stourbridge.
Conclusion
The West Midlands is going to see a lot of rail and tram development in the next few years.
Councillor David Lawrence, who chair of the West Midlands Integrated Transport Authority, is quoted as saying this about the schemes.
The agreement will see Whitehall make an annual contribution of £40 million for 30 years to support investment worth £8 billion, which it claimed will support the creation of more than half a million jobs.
Will the Brummies go for it?
Walking The Cycle Superhighway CS5 From Oval Station To Pimlico
The pictures tell the story, as I walked from Oval tube station to Pimlico along Cycle Superhighway CS5
This is the official Transport for London map for CS5.
Cycle Superhighway CS5
This is a Google Map from Oval Station To Pimlico
From Oval Station To Pimlico
Some of my thoughts.
- The route is an easy one to cycle, as it is virtually flat.
- I was impressed with the way that the designers of the Cycle Superhighway had threaded it through the area, with good attention to bus stops, traffic signals and signage.
- Before I walked towards Pimlico, I had a quick walk in the direction of Kennington and checked out the other cycle routes being constructed. The walking routes were good.
- I particularly liked the bike rental station in the dry in a railway arch. How many people like getting on a wet saddle? The Brownlees perhaps!
- The route was also an easy one to walk, as the designers had catered for walkers in the design.
- The builders had done an excellent job in making all the surfaces good for cyclists and walking.
- I was a bit surprised on how fast I was walking.
- I did feel though, that at times, there was a very crowded line of traffic alongside an almost empty cycle lane. The Jeremy Clarksons of this world might say something.
If all the Superhighways are designed and built to this standard, they will be a big asset to London.
I think in areas, where people are objecting to their imposition, they may actually win a few friends.
It’s a long time, since I was the parent of a young child and even longer since I used to cycle about four miles to school in the midst of the traffic.
But I would have no worries about my thirteen-year-old granddaughter cycling on a track like I saw today.
Rail Freight At A Crossroads
I take the headline from this article in Rail Magazine, which is entitled Coal power station closures place rail freight at “important crossroads”.
The article talks about how the closure of coal-fired power stations and the reduction in size of the steel industry, will bring about fundamental changes to the pattern of freight on the railways.
The rail freight industry must develop new markets to take more and more trucks off the roads.
The article says that the industry is looking for government support to improve the East Coast Main Line, the West Coast Main Line and the routes to Felixstowe.
I would also add in the routes that serve the poorly-sited London Gateway, which mean too many noisy and smelly Class 66 locomotives pull freight across North London.
Life is about give-and-take, so it would be wrong to electrify routes that could be used by freight, without the freight companies investing in new electric locomotives.
But Class 66 diesel locomotives are a cheap solution that can go anywhere, that are unloved by those living by rail lines and also by drivers.
Diesel locomotives also mean that they make port and distribution depot operations safer and more efficient. You wouldn’t want idiots with cranes in an area with masses of overhead wires.
Incidentally, the Class 66 locomotives do not meet the current European emission regulations.
But solutions have been designed and are now available.
- The Class 88 locomotive is an electro diesel locomotive, that is primarily an electric locomotive, with a large on-board diesel engine, for use when there is no electrification.
- The TRAXX Last Mile locomotive may also be suitable for some routes, but is probably two big for the small British loading gauge.
I feel that as Vossloh Espana, who make the Class 88, has just been taken over by Stadler, who seem to me to have a reputation for innovation, that the Class 88, may be our best hope for less intrusive freight trains.
It is worth looking at how the Class 88 would help on one route that I know well; Felixstowe to Peterborough and then up the East Coast Main Line to the North.
The route is as follows.
- Felixstowe to Ipswich – A branch line that is not electrified. The Port of Felixstowe have said that they would pay for dualling some of the branch, but they haven’t and have pushed fir the removal of passenger trains from the branch.
- Ipswich to Peterborough – Except for a few miles to Haughley Junction the line is not electrified.
- Peterborough to Doncaster – The East Coast Main Line is electrified, but many freight trains now use the Great Northern Great Eastern Joint Line through Lincoln.
- North of Doncaster – Some routes to Leeds, Newcastle and Scotland are electrified.
So a quick naive look, might say that a Class 88 would be ideal for the route.
But.
- A new Class 88 would probably be more expensive to lease than an old Class 66.
- The Class 66 has a power output of 2,460 kW, whereas the Class 88 has only 700 kW from its diesel.
The freight industry’s preferred option is probably that all routes are electrified, but not at their expense!
But even then there are no new electric locomotives, that fit the UK loading gauge! The freight industry is probably looking jealously at the elderly Class 90 locomotives used for London-Norwich trains and hoping that the line gets electric multiple units.
I’m certain that for cost reasons, the industry would prefer to stick to its beloved Class 66.
I think that London is key to weaning the freight companies away from the dreadful Class 66 locomotives.
When the Gospel Oak to Barking Line has been electrified, London could be in the position to ban Class 66 locomotives from that line and the North London Line, if a few extra pieces of electrification were performed.
But it won’t happen!
I would also like to see the Government make freight companies run locomotives that met the current European regulations.
A Video About The Vivarail D-Train
I am sceptical about the Vivarail D-Train, but I do admire companies and organisations that think out of the box.
That is why I’m putting this link to a BBC video about the project.
In the UK, we are in such a great need of new trains, that any idea that works will probably have a niche somewhere. However small!
Of whom does the male BBC presenter remind you?
Crossrail Works Around Pudding Mill Lane Station
I took these pictures as I went through the area on a TfL Rail train to Shenfield and then later, when I took a DLR train!
The Crossrail tunnel portal is now recognisable as two holes leading into the ground.
They appear to be building something over the top of the tunnel just before it goes under the water and on into London. Could this be a ventilation shaft?
East Anglia Has Train Problems
One of my Google Alerts found this article from the Ipswich Star, which is entitled Bus replaces rail services between Ipswich and Felixstowe and Marks Tey and Sudbury.
It turns out that the track is damaging the train wheels.
Sounds like it’s the age-old problem of giving crap trains and not maintaining the track in East Anglia.
I can remember Ipswich to Felixstowe trains from the 1960s, when I thought they were truly dreadful.
It seems nothing changes!
Ten London Overground Stations For Upgrade
This article on Rail Magazine is entitled Murphy wins LO station contract. This is said.
J Murphy & Sons has won a £6.5 million contract from Transport for London to upgrade ten London Overground stations with new shelters and seating, upgraded lighting, better paving and new handrails.
It sounds like the work is not of too much of a major nature, but is more about some small important features.
On a personal note, the only station named, that I use regularly is Hackney Downs.
The Anonymous Widower 