Brentford’s New Stadium Is A Step Nearer
This article in the Construction Enquirer is entitled Go-ahead for Brentford FC stadium and 650 homes.
The article describes how detailed planning permission has been secured and that given the result of a Public Enquiry is settled, construction will be completed for Brentford to move in at the start of the 2018-19 season.
The new stadium will have a capacity 20,000 as opposed to 12,300 for Griffin Park.
This Google Map shows the new stadium’s location in Lionel Road South.
Brentford’s New Stadium
Most of the site and all of the stadium are within the triangle of rail lines above Kew Bridge station, which is at the bottom of the map. The M4 Motorway curves round the North side of the site.
Maps from the club, show that the stadium lies alongside the railway line at the top of the triangle.
This Google Map shows an enlargement of just the area of the development.
Enlarged Map Of Site
This line goes between Brentford and South Acton stations, although there are currently no passenger services, but there have been services in the last twenty years. It should be noted though that Transport for London have thought about using this line to extend the London Overground to Hounslow station.
Having met one of TfL’s property experts, I feel that they would be amenable to plans to use the air space above the line.
The line at the bottom of the triangle is the Hounslow Loop Line, where Kew Bridge station is very convenient for the ground.
The triangle is completed by a curve that connects the North London Line to the Hounslow Loop Line.
It should also be noted that at the eastern edge of the main map is Gunnersbury station, which along with Kew Bridge station is one of the proposed ways to get to the stadium.
I do wonder, if TfL’s ambitions for the London Overground, would be heklped by a station on the line at the top of the triangle.
On a first look, it looks like a good attempt to squeeze a football stadium into West London.
Rochester’s New Station
This morning an article on the BBC, entitled, Rochester’s £26m railway station opens to trains, caught my eye.
So I just had to go and look at Rochester station and take some pictures.
I think the twenty-six million pounds has given Rochester a stylish new station.
- It’s been perfectly positioned to give good access to the City Centre.
- Note that a light-controlled crossing will be added outside the station.
- It’s been built as a gateway to the city and when you arrive you have good views of the river, the castle and the cathedral.
- The toilets must be the best in any smaller station.
- Remember too, that there are still details to finish, like the walls and the railings.
Let’s hope other architects and builders aspire to the high standard that Rochester has set!
The Bletchley Flyover
The Bletchley Flyover is a large flyover that allows trains to cross the West Coast Main Line at Bletchley station.
This Google Map shows the area of Bletchley station and the flyover.
Bletchley Flyover
The double-track Bletchley Flyover starts in the South-West corner of the map and crosses the West Coast Main Line at an acute angle before, splitting into two separate double-track lines, alongside the station and north of the circular roundabout.
- One branch goes North along the West Coast Main Line to Milton Keynes.
- One branch goes East along the Marston Vale Line to Fenny Stratford and Bedford.
It is a massive structure as these pictures show.
I think the problems of incorporating the following services through Bletchley are going to be challenging.
- Oxford to Milton Keynes
- Marylebone to Milton Keynes via Aylesbury.
- Oxford to Bedford.
- Freight Services.
This section in the FAQ of the East West Rail web site is entitled What train services will run on East West Rail (Western Section)? It says that frequencies of one train per hour will be run, but that more information will be released in 2016.
Will one probably four car train per hour be enough?
This would mean that two trains per hour would visit Milton Keynes. As Platform 2A at Milton Keynes Central can accommodate five car trains and it is electrified, it would appear that that station is ready for the East West Rail Link.
The difficulty also depends if the passenger services stop at Bletchley.
The current plans talk of two high-level platforms on the flyover.
This enlarged Google Map shows the platforms and footbridge at Bletchley station and the flyover.
Bletchley Station Platforms And The Bletchley Flyover
Note.
- The entrance to the station is on the west side.
- The two island platforms are 2/3 and 4/5, with two outer platforms 1 and 6.
- Trains on the Marston Vale Line terminate in Platforms 5 and 6.
- The flyover is the easternmost pair of lines.
- It splits into the Milton Keynes and Bedford lines level with the footbridge.
- The two proposed high-level platforms would be on the narrower part of the flyover, south of the footbridge.
A second entrance to Bletchley station has been proposed for the east side in Saxon Street.
One other thing that could help, is there are aspirations to move the concrete plant out of its location between the flyover and Bletchley station. It is certainly no asset to the area.
The following train services, would appear to have to use the flyover.
- Oxford to Milton Keynes
- Milton Keynes to Oxford
- Marylebone to Milton Keynes
- Milton Keynes to Marylebone
If trains between Oxford and Bedford, didn’t need to call at Milton Keynes, they would also be able to go straight over the flyover.
If they did need to call at Milton Keynes, then a train from Oxford to Bedford could take the following route.
- Over the flyover taking the branch to Milton Keynes.
- Call at Milton Keynes in an appropriate platform.
- Reverse out and then call in either Platform 5 or 6 at Bletchley.
- Reverse out and then take the Marston Vale Line.
Effectively, they would call at both the new high-level and current platforms at Bletchley station.
If I was running a train service from say Norwich or Ipswich to Oxford, to maximise my passenger levels, I would want my trains to call at the following stations.
- Cambridge
- Bedford – To also connect to services to Nottingham and Sheffield.
- Milton Keynes – To also connect to services on the West Coast Main Line.
The FAQ says that trains between Oxford to Bedford would not go to Milton Keynes.
I know that passengers would complain, if they had to stand on a draughty Bletchley station for say ten minutes, whilst waiting for a train to Milton Keynes, to get their Glasgow train.
To further complicate matters will other services could want to go between Milton Keynes and Bedford. On current plans, it is probably impossible without a reversal of direction at Bletchley.
A perfect design, would have a double-track chord connecting the Marston Vale Line to the Northbound West Coast Main Line.
Platform Space At Milton Keynes Central
In Future Rail Developments At Milton Keynes, I said that there with all the new services, there would have to be some extra platform space.
So I went to Milton Keynes Central station and took these pictures.
At a quick look there does appear to be more space, than is normal in stations of this size. But then it was only built in 1982.
Platform 2A
The Platforms and Layout section of the Wikipedia entry for the station, says this about the length of Platform 2A.
Platform 2A is a five-car south-facing bay platform.
I would assume, that the car length is the standard British Rail length of twenty metres.
The pictures clearly show that the platform is electrified.
Future Rail Developments At Milton Keynes
The Milton Keynes area and its stations at Bletchley, Bow Brickhill, Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes Central and Wolverton, are in for a lot of development in the next few years.
The East West Rail Link
This map shows the East West Rail Link.
East West Rail Link
Note how it crosses the West Coast Main Line at Bletchley and has a connection to Milton Keynes Central.
The Wikipedia entry for Bletchley station has a section called Future. This is said.
The Marston Vale Line is the passenger carrying remnant of the Varsity Line. As of 2014, the line beyond Bletchley through Winslow to Bicester Town is closed to passenger traffic, with goods traffic going only as far as Newton Longville sidings for the waste disposal site there. The high level crossing (officially named the “The Bletchley Flyover” – built in 1959 as part of the Modernisation Plan, with 7 x 56 ft (17 m) spans and then expected to be used by 80 trains a day) over the WCML at Bletchley remains in place and in occasional use. There is a funded plan to re-open the line to passenger traffic via Bicester to Oxford by 2019 and an unfunded desire to rebuild it from Oxford right through to Cambridge. A key element of the plan is to build a Bletchley high level station so that passengers may transfer between the lines. (Note that there is no corresponding east to north route).
It is obviously, a bit out of date, as the East West Rail Link is now planned and funded to Bedford.
This Google Map shows the track layout at Bletchley with the Marston Vale Line joining from the East and Fenny Stratford station.
Bletchley Station And The East West Rail Link
Note.
- Stadium MK at the top of the map.
- The East West Rail Link can be seen curving to the west to the south of Bletchley station.
- The flyover over Bletchley station.
- Fenny Stratford station is to the south west of the large building at the east.
- The next station to the East is Bow Brickhill.
Bletchley will become a more important station.
East West Rail Link Services From Milton Keynes Central
The Wikipedia entry for Milton Keynes Central has a section called East West Rail. This is said.
From 2019, services are planned to operate (over a rebuilt East West Rail Link) to Oxford via Bletchley, Winslow and Bicester Town; and also to London Marylebone via Aylesbury and High Wycombe. Extension of the Oxford service to Reading has been mooted.
This will definitely need some more platforms at Milton Keynes Central, other than the single one 2A built for the still-born extended Marston Wale service to Milton Keynes.
I published some pictures in Platform Space At Milton Keynes Central, which show that there is some space.
Implications For Bletchley
I have now written The The Bletchley Flyover to cover the implications for Bletchley.
Great North Western To Blackpool
The Wikipedia entry for Milton Keynes Central has a section called Great North Western. This is said.
Great North Western Railway has been given permission to run 6 trains a day from London to Blackpool North from 2018, with conditional permission for a stop at Milton Keynes Central dependent upon future capacity after infrastructural work.
This will probably be very much a development, that will only affect Milton Keynes Central station.
Crossrail To Milton Keynes Central
The Wikipedia entry for Milton Keynes Central has a section called Crossrail. This is said.
Network Rail’s July 2011 London & South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) recommended diverting West Coast Main Line (WCML) services from stations between London and Milton Keynes Central away from Euston, to Crossrail via Old Oak Common, to free up capacity at Euston for High Speed 2. Doing so would provide a direct service from the WCML to the Shenfield, Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood, release London Underground capacity at Euston, make better use of Crossrail’s capacity west of Paddington, and improve access to Heathrow Airport from the north. Under this scheme, all Crossrail trains would continue west of Paddington, instead of some of them terminating there. They would serve Heathrow Airport (10 tph), stations to Maidenhead and Reading (6 tph), and stations to Milton Keynes Central (8 tph).
In August 2014, a statement by the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as Tring and Milton Keynes Central, with potential Crossrail stops at Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley. The extension would relieve some pressure from London Underground and London Euston station while also increasing connectivity. Conditions to the extension are that any extra services would not affect the planned service pattern for confirmed routes, as well as affordability.
Extending Crossrail to Milton Keynes would seem to be a sensible idea.
It would increase the capacity and frequency of services between Milton Keynes and London and open up several more direct destinations.
The quote from Wikipedia talks of increasing connectivity to Crossrail.
- The Watford DC Line is joined is joined at Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey and Watford Junction
- The Bakerloo Line is joined at Wembley Central and Harrow & Wealdstone
- The Metropolitan Line will be joined at Watford Junction.
This connectivity is in addition to that created by an Old Oak Common station.
As with the East West Rail Link, it will probably need extra platforms at Milton Keynes Central. But there is at least some space to create them.
Conclusion
Milton Keynes Central will be a lot bigger and busier than it is now.
But it will join that elite group of stations that are Crossrail’s and Thameslink’s super-hubs.
Report from Sir Peter Hendy to the Secretary of State for Transport on the Replanning of Network Rail’s Investment Programme
This report is crucial to a lot of reconstruction work continuing on railways in parts of the UK.
I’ve put the link, so I can find the report easily.
Here’s a taster of what the report contains.
This extract is entitled Case study – Aristotle Lane, Oxford and talks about the problems of closing a private level crossing in Oxford.
Network Rail planned to install a replacement footbridge over the Oxford to Banbury Line north of Oxford Station and close an adjacent private level crossing for safety reasons. People walking from a nearby car park, across some allotments to the other side of the tracks, used the level crossing. The new bridge will have a link to the allotments removing the need for people to cross the tracks.
The level crossing is not a public right of way and the rights to use it are owned by Oxford City Council. As part of the East West Rail (phase 1) improvement scheme, Chiltern Railways made an application in 2009 to close the level crossing as part of a wider project to upgrade the railway line.
Objections from allotment holders at the Public Inquiry meant that the approval was not granted. This meant that Network Rail needed to pursue a separate planning application in order to complete the work and deliver Marylebone to Oxford services.
Efforts to close the crossing and deliver the scheme continued. Meetings were held in 2012 between Network Rail, ORR and the Council to find a solution. Finally, in 2014 the principle to close this one level crossing was granted, but with the conditions that Network Rail had to fund and construct better access to the allotments, arrange a land swap so the local school could be expanded and to fund and build a new car park. All of these require further, and separate, planning permissions.
A planning application was submitted in May 2014 and approved a year later after three separate planning committee presentations. Construction of the bridge is now planned to start in January 2016 with completion in September 2016. The level crossing will then be closed seven years after the first application.
Kafka is certainly alive and well and living in Oxford.
For more information on this fiasco/farce/cock-up/vexacious litigation/waste of money (delete as appropriate!) read this article in the Oxford Mail, entitled Network Rail changes its plan for new Aristotle Lane bridge after protests.
Some of the comments are priceless.
I am very much of the opinion that all level crossings should be shut on safety grounds. If there are serious objections, then surely the railway should be closed until an agreed solution is negotiated.
A Better Experience In Milton Keynes
Milton Keynes has never been my favourite place, since I used to take my late son; George, to his boarding school, which inevitably meant a trip round the endless roundabouts. I was then mugged in the city by the street furniture, that I wrote about in A Pedestrian-Unfriendly City.
So when Ipswich were playing MK Dons, I thought I’d give the city one more chance.
These are a few observations.
- The London Midland train was filthy and swimming in beer. I would assume it was supporters going to London.
- There is no information at Milton Keynes Central station, as to how you get to the ground.
- Bus 1 from Milton Keynes Central station, drops you just a rather cluttered short walk from Stadium MK.
- There are no signs or maps for Away supporters, as to what is the best route.
- Someone told me, that if you drive to the ground, parking costs £7 and you have to pay on-line.
- I’ve never been to a British stadium before, where burger vans and tea stalls outside the ground, were conspicuous by their absence.
- Several of the larger restaurants outside serve gluten-free food.
- The stadium has some of the best handrails I’ve seen in a ground.
- Coming back I just missed a bus and had to wait half-an-hour for the next small but full bus in a freezing cold shelter. I’d have taken a taxi, but there was no sign of a taxi rank.
I’ve never seen a ground, where it is assumed that everyone comes by car or supporters coach before.
I would have been distinctly miserable if Ipswich hadn’t won!
Milton Keynes is going to have to improve the buses. The number one bus, that I caught links Stadiujm MK and Milton Keynes Hospital to the stations at Milton Keynes Central and Bletchley.
This Google Map shows the area of Milton Keynes.
Milton Keynes Stations, Stadium MK And The Hospital
Milton Keynes Central station is in the North West corner, with Bletchley station st the bottom. The other station at the right is Fenny Stratford station on the Marston Vale Line, which will be incorporated into the East West Rail Link.
This map shows the route of the proposed line.
East West Rail Link
Wikipedia talks about extending the Marston Vale line to Milton Keynes Central, but although the track has been created, no trains have run.
Chiltern are also looking to extend their Aylesbury service to Milton Keynes Central via Bletchley, so hopefully this might prompt improvement in the bus services to Stdium MK and the Hospital.
I doubt it will, as Milton Keynes is one of those places where you’re a total loser, if you don’t have car and why should their taxes provide for better bus transport for the disabled, elderly and those that can’t drive.
I think we need a law in this country, that every hospital should have at least a four buses per hour direct service to the main railway and bus stations.
What Development Is Going On Around You?
I found Planning Finder through an on-line advert. I’ve just tried it for my home and it has found some interesting but innocent planning applications.
I would certainly use this web site to check out, where I was buying a house.
While Cameron Dithers About London, Manchester Decides!
I picked up two reports on airports this week.
This report on the BBC is entitled Heathrow airport delay gutless, says business group and talks about a lot of the fallout from David Cameron’s decision not to decide on a new runway for the South-East.
In contrast, you have this report in the Manchester Evening News entitled New images shows possible high-tech future of Manchester Airport’s check-in after ‘Super Terminal’ transformation, which describes the airports expansion plans.
Expanding Heathrow seems to generate controversy in super-tanker loads, whereas Manchester doesn’t sem to attract anything like the same level, even when you take the different sizes into account.
Look at this Google Map of Heathrow.
Heathrow Airport
Compare it with this one of Manchester Airport.
Manchester Airport
I don’t know for sure, but it would appear from these maps and larger ones, that Heathrow has used up much more of the available space around the runways, whereas Manchester hasn’t!
When Heathrow wanted to build Terminal 5, they had to move a sewage works, and another terminal would be difficult on the same site. Manchester has some space left.
So any expansion at Heathrow needs to expand the airport site, which is where a lot of the opposition comes from.
In my view the only way to expand Heathrow is to make better use of the current runways and the terminals. But that can only go on for so long!
And would the locals object to more landings and take-offs? You bet they would!
David Cameron is no fool and he knows that with the opposition of Boris Johnson and nearly all the candidates for the London Mayor against Heathrow, that it will never gain a third runway.
I hate to look backwards but the Roskill Commission of the 1960s and their eventual decision by a roundabout route was for an airport on Maplin Sands to the East of Southend.
But Harold Wilson’s government cancelled this airport, just as they did the Picc-Vic Tunnel in Manchester and improvement of the rail lines across the Pennines.
In my view as air traffic increases, Heathrow needs to expand to just survive, as there is competition all around.
- Schipol, Paris Charles de Gaulle and even Manchester competing for the interchange traffic.
- Trains to the Continent
- Birmingham, Gatwick, Luton, Southend, Stansted and others nibbling Heathrow’s markets.
- HS2
- Passengers are increasingly savvy and go from any convenient airport, using an acceptable airline at the right time and price.
- Internet technology will guide people to the best and cheapest way to travel from say Cambridge to Boston. An expensive Heathrow could be its own worst enemy.
- Other airports will offer better car-friendly solutions.
So as it can’t expand, due to the politicians and local residents, Heathrow must accept that it can’t and it must prepare itself for downgrade to just an airport for London and those living locally.
It also means, the South East must eventually find another site for a new airport to replace Heathrow.
The only place is the Thames Estuary!
So why didn’t the Davies Airport Commission recommend the Boris Island?
Howard Davies is a man of the City Establishment, who are very conservative with a small c and love the convenience, which Crossrail will make better, of Heathrow. How many submissions were against the Boris Island because it would mean too much change in their business?
But a properly designed Thames Hub Airport, could also incorporate the new Thames Barrier and Lower Thames Crossing that London needs.
To many of London’s residents and a lot of their politicians, it is a no-brainer! But for the City, only an expanded Heathrow will do!
So how will Manchester Airport affect London’s Airport mess in the future.
I believe that Manchester Airport will start to dominate air transport in the North of England and Scotland, just as Heathrow used to dominate the South.
- It has space for new terminals and aircraft and car parking.
- A rail network is developing to bring passengers to the airport from all over the North and Scotland.
- HS2 and probably HS3 are coming to the Airport.
- When it needs to expand it decides to and does!
It could also be combined with Liverpool Airport using a very high speed train, if it needed more runway capacity. It’s just forty-four kilometres as a Maglev would fly at 200 kilometres per hour, up the Mersey. Manchester and Liverpool airports could work together, much better than Heathrow can work with either Gatwick, Luton or Stansted.
So will an expanded Manchester Airport take a big bite out of Heathrow’s traffic? You bet it will. Especially, if Heathrow continues to not expand.
I think we should start to plan a Thames Estuary Airport now, even if we don’t built it for twenty years.. If we don’t, then when we need to start building, we’ll take another fifty years to make a decision.
Or we could always do what we’re doing now and let market forces, various interests and passenger choice decide our airports policy?
And as ever, engineers and architects, will improve aircraft and airports, so that we find them acceptable.
The airports problem won’t be solved until perhaps in about 2060, when the Dutch get fed up with Schipol and we join with them and the Belgians to create an airport perhaps slightly east of the Thames Estuary connected to various countries by high speed rail lines. It could be called Canute International!
The only certainty, is that I won’t be here to see it built!
The Anonymous Widower 