The Anonymous Widower

Could The Fenchurch Street And Grays Service Be Handed Over To The Elizabeth Line?

Before I discuss the suggestion in the title of this post, I will write down some thoughts.

The Capacity And Connection Problems At Fenchurch Street Station

If you read the Wikipedia entry for Fenchurch Street station, this paragraph sums up some of the problems of the station.

Fenchurch Street is one of the smallest railway terminals in London in terms of platforms, but one of the most intensively operated. It is the only London terminal with no direct interchange with the London Underground. Plans to connect it stalled in the early 1980s because of the lack of progress on the Jubilee line, but it is close to Tower Hill on the Underground and to Tower Gateway on the Docklands Light Railway.

I live in Dalston and if I want to use the services out of Fenchurch Street station to get anywhere it is a struggle.

As all services out of Fenchurch Street station stop at Limehouse, West Ham and Barking stations on the approach into London, I will usually go via either West Ham or Barking stations. As the three services out of Fenchurch Street are each two trains per hour (tph), this can mean a near-thirty minute wait at either West Ham or Barking stations, which at some times of the year are not the most customer-friendly of stations.

More services out of Fenchurch Street station would help to ease the problem, but the station is at capacity and nothing short of a complete rebuild of the station will solve the problems the capacity and connectivity..

There is a section called Future in the Wikipedia entry, where this is said.

There have been proposals to move the station 380 yards to the east to allow the station to expand to 6 platforms, (up from the current 4) and would be built partly on the site of Tower Gateway DLR station, which would likely be permanently closed.

The new station could be built with direct interchange with Tower Hill tube station, which could also have a replacement DLR station for Tower Gateway as Transport for London have looked into closing Tower Gateway and constructing a replacement on the Bank branch to increase capacity.

This project sounds like it would take a long time and cause a lot of disruption and inconvenience. But it would add capacity and connectivity.

This Google Map shows the location of the station.

Note.

1. Fenchurch Street station is towards the bottom of the map in the centre.
2. It is completely hemmed in by buildings.
3. There is just a small square in front.

I feel it would be very difficult to rebuild a larger station in the same place.

Services Into Fenchurch Street Station

Currently, there are three services into Fenchurch Street station.

• Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness via Limehouse, West Ham, Barking, Upminster, West Horndon, Laindon, Basildon, Pitsea, Leigh-on-Sea, Chalkwell, Westcliff, Southend Central, Southend East and Thorpe Bay.
• Fenchurch Street and Southend Central via Limehouse, West Ham, Barking, Upminster, Ockendon, Chafford Hundred Lakeside, Grays, Tilbury Town, East Tilbury, Stanford-le-Hope, Pitsea, Leigh-on-Sea, Chalkwell and Westcliff
• Fenchurch Street and Grays via Limehouse, West Ham, Barking, Dagenham Dock, Rainham and Purfleet.

Note.

1. All services are two tph.
2. All services call at Limehouse, West Ham and Barking.

Each station gets the following frequency of trains.

• Barking – 6 tph
• Basildon – 2 tph
• Benfleet – 2 tph
• Chafford Hundred Lakeside – 2 tph
• Chalkwell – 4 tph
• Dagenham Dock – 2 tph
• East Tilbury – 2 tph
• Grays – 4 tph
• Laindon – 2 tph
• Leigh-in-Sea – 4 tph
• Limehouse – 6 tph
• Ockendon – 2 tph
• Pitsea – 4 tph
• Purfleet – 2 tph
• Rainham – 2 tph
• Southend Central – 4 tph
• Southend East – 2 tph
• Stanford-le-Hope – 2 tph
• Thorpe Bay – 2 tph
• Tilbury Town – 2 tph
• Upminster – 4 tph
• Westcliff – 4 tph
• West Ham – 6 tph
• West Horndon – 2 tph

c2c would appear to be offering a service, that is well-balanced about the stations it serves.

Can Elizabeth Line Trains Reach Barking?

This map from cartometro.com shows Woodgrange Park junction, where the Gospel Oak and Barking Line crosses over the Great Eastern Main Line.

Note.

1. The Gospel Oak and Barking Line is shown in orange.
2. Gospel Oak station is to the North-West and Barking is to the South-East.
3. The Elizabeth Line tracks are shown with a dash of purple.
4. It looks to me, that a train on the Elizabeth Line going East could come through Platform 2 in Forest Gate station and then take the Gospel Oak and Barking Line through Platform 2 at Woodgrange Park station.
5. It also looks as if trains could go through Platform 1 at both Woodgrange Park and Forest Gate stations to go West on the Elizabeth Line.

I don’t know whether they still do, but c2c trains used to use Woodgrange Park junction to access Liverpool Street station, when Fenchurch Street was closed or at weekends.

At Barking station, they would take the flyover over the station call in Platforms 7 and 8 in the station.

From the Eastern ends of Platforms 7 and 8, trains can use one of three routes.

• The London Overground route to Barking Riverside station.
• The c2c route to Grays via Purfleet.
• The c2c route to Upminster.

Note.

1. The platforms at Barking Riverside station are probably too short for the Elizabeth Line trains.
2. The Class 345 trains would fit into the bay platforms at Grays and Southend Central.

The simplest thing to do would probably be to divert the two tph between Fenchurch Street and Grays to either Liverpool Street or Paddington at the London end.

Each station would now get the following frequency of trains.

• Barking – 6 tph
• Basildon – 2 tph
• Benfleet – 2 tph
• Chafford Hundred Lakeside – 2 tph
• Chalkwell – 4 tph
• Dagenham Dock – 2 tph
• East Tilbury – 2 tph
• Grays – 4 tph
• Laindon – 2 tph
• Leigh-in-Sea – 4 tph
• Limehouse – 4 tph
• Ockendon – 2 tph
• Pitsea – 4 tph
• Purfleet – 2 tph
• Rainham – 2 tph
• Southend Central – 4 tph
• Southend East – 2 tph
• Stanford-le-Hope – 2 tph
• Thorpe Bay – 2 tph
• Tilbury Town – 2 tph
• Upminster – 4 tph
• Westcliff – 4 tph
• West Ham – 4 tph
• West Horndon – 2 tph

Only Limehouse and West Ham would get fewer trains.

But there would surely, be an extra pair of paths between Fenchurch Street and Barking.

I have also looked at trains through Pitsea, Upminster and Westcliff it appears that nearly all of the traffic is c2c’s passenger trains.

So would it be possible, with perhaps improved signalling to add an extra two trains between Fenchurch Street and Shoeburyness?

Each station would now get the following frequency of trains.

• Barking – 8 tph
• Basildon – 4 tph
• Benfleet – 4 tph
• Chafford Hundred Lakeside – 2 tph
• Chalkwell – 6 tph
• Dagenham Dock – 2 tph
• East Tilbury – 2 tph
• Grays – 4 tph
• Laindon – 4 tph
• Leigh-in-Sea – 6 tph
• Limehouse – 6 tph
• Ockendon – 2 tph
• Pitsea – 6 tph
• Purfleet – 2 tph
• Rainham – 2 tph
• Shoeburyness – 4 tph
• Southend Central – 6 tph
• Southend East – 4 tph
• Stanford-le-Hope – 2 tph
• Thorpe Bay – 2 tph
• Tilbury Town – 2 tph
• Upminster – 4 tph
• Westcliff – 6 tph
• West Ham – 6 tph
• West Horndon – 4 tph

More stations are getting four and six tph.

Conclusion

There are certainly possibilities to improve c2c by running services on the Elizabeth Line route.

March 2, 2023 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | c2c, Class 345 Train, Class 357 Train, Elizabeth Line, Fenchurch Street Station, Gospel Oak And Barking Line, Grays Station, London Overground | Leave a comment