Crossrail Pushing Hard For A March Opening Date
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
These are the first two paragraphs.
The Crossrail project is pushing hard to open the new Elizabeth line by the end of March, although there is a warning that this could delay some of the later phases of completing the line.
There have been suggestions that the project team is now confident that the latest tests and the works over Christmas to update ventilation and train software systems could see the line open potentially as soon as Sunday 6th March.
Ian’s article mentions nothing about the feel-good factor that the opening would surely bring.
I feel that this is the main reason the line should open as soon as possible.
I also feel, that as the line has been a long time coming, that passenger numbers will ramp up quickly and bring in more revenue than expected. Just look at the way, passengers used the Borders Railway, the Dartmoor Line and the Overground after they opened.
The line certainly needs to be opened before the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
HS2 Reveals Images Of First Landscaped ‘Green Tunnels’ For Bucks And Northants
The title of this post, is the same as this press release from High Speed Two.
This image shows one of the proposed tunnels.
The article explains the design and describes how the tunnels will be built in a factory in Derbyshire and assembled on site.
Off-site concrete construction was used at Custom House station on Crossrail. I wrote about the construction of this station in An Express Station.
The picture shows Custom House station under construction. One of the engineers told me, that the quality of the concrete in the station, is so much better than normal.
Structural Engineering At Work!
I took this picture of the new block on top of the Moorgate entrance to Liverpool Street Crossrail station.
I like structures and this could turn out to be a good example of their use.
Heavy Fire Doors At Moorgate Stations – 6th December 2021
They’re certainly not stinting on safety in Moorgate station.
These doors will cut off the passages between Crossrail and the Northern Line.
Oversite Development At Moorgate Station – 10th December 2021
These pictures were taken in Moorgate of the development over the station.
I was walking up from Bank station.
Trial Operation Begins On London’s Crossrail
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
Trial running is one of the last stages before opening.
Hopefully it will open early in 2022.
Digital Signalling Work Outlined By Network Rail For Northern City Line
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Business Daily.
This is the first paragraph.
Network Rail has detailed work due to be delivered on the Northern City Line to Moorgate.
I use this line regularly and I believe that with digital signalling the Northern City Line could see a large increase in frequency.
Currently, the service from Moorgate is as follows.
- 4 tph to Welwyn Garden City via Potters Bar
- 4 tph to Hertford North of which 2 tph extending to Watton-at-Stone and 1tph of those continuing to Stevenage.
Note.
- tph is trains per hour.
- Although the service is reduced from that shown, because of the pandemic and lower passenger demand.
But eight tph means a train every seven minutes and thirty seconds.
If you look at London’s high frequency lines, they have or will have passenger frequencies as follows.
- Crossrail – 24 tph on dedicated tracks with digital signalling.
- East London Line – 16 tph on dedicated tracks.
- North London Line – 8 tph on tracks shared with freight trains.
- Thameslink – 24 tph on dedicated tracks with digital signalling.
Note.
- The East London Line is planned to go to 20 tph with two extra tph to Clapham Junction and Crystal Palace.
- 20 tph means a headway between trains of three minutes.
- 24 tph means a headway between trains of two minutes and thirty seconds.
It should also be noted that the Victoria Line runs upwards of thirty tph on a fully digitally-signalled line.
What Level Of Service Would Be Possible?
These are my thoughts on various aspects of the Northern City Line.
How Many Trains Could Be Handled Between Finsbury Park And Moorgate?
This section of track is a simple double-track with a diamond crossing to the North of the two platforms at Moorgate, so that trains can use either platform.
This layout is used at Brixton and Walthamstow Central on the Victoria Line and Battersea Power Station on the Northern Line to name just three of many.
So I suspect that the track layout at the terminus at Moorgate can handle well-upwards of twenty tph.
The new Class 717 trains that run into Moorgate have an operating speed of 85 mph, which is faster than the previous Class 313 trains, which appear to have run at 30 mph South of Drayton Park.
I suspect that eventually twenty or even twenty-four tph will be possible on a digitally-signalled route between Finsbury Park and Moorgate.
But in the interim, sixteen tph would be a good compromise.
How Many Trains Could Be Handled On The Current Routes?
Currently, four tph use the both the Welwyn Garden City and the Hertford East/Stevenage routes.
I am fairly sure that both routes could handle eight tph, with the only proviso, that there is enough terminal capacity to turn the trains.
Looking at the layout of Welwyn Garden City station, I am certain that it could be modified to be able to handle eight tph.
I would hope that the new platform at Stevenage station, built to handle trains to and from Moorgate, can cater for four tph. As there are turnback platforms at Gordon Hill and Hertford North stations, I’m sure the other four tph could be handled.
The Piccadilly Line And The City of London
It has always been difficult to get between the Northern section of the Piccadilly Line and the City of London.
In the 1960s, I used to use my bicycle. By public transport, you generally had to use the bus or the 641 trolley bus to Moorgate.
With the improvement of the Northern City Line and Finsbury Park station, the fastest route to Moorgate is probably to change between the Piccadilly and Northern City Lines at Finsbury Park station.
Increasing the frequency of Northern City Line services between Finsbury Park and Moorgate would create a high-capacity route to the City for those commuting from the Northern section of the Piccadilly Line.
The Piccadilly Line And Crossrail
There is no connection between the Piccadilly Line and Crossrail.
A trip between Oakwood and Canary Wharf would be difficult.
As with getting to the City of London, the improvement of the Northern City Line and Finsbury Park station offers a route to Crossrail.
Oakwood and Canary Wharf would probably be done with changes at Finsbury Park and Moorgate.
The Victoria Line And The City of London
There is a cross-platform interchange at Highbury & Islington station between the Victoria and Northern City Lines.
With an increased frequency of Northern City Line services between Finsbury Park and Moorgate, I would expect that more people would use this route.
The Victoria Line And Crossrail
There is no connection between the Victoria Line and Crossrail.
The easiest route will be to take the route in the previous section and join Crossrail at Moorgate.
Conclusion
It does look that with the current routes sixteen tph to and from Moorgate could be a practical limit.
But that would still be a train every three minutes and forty-five seconds between Finsbury Park and Moorgate.
This increased frequency could be needed to create a high capacity link between the Northern sections of the Piccadilly and Victoria Lines and the City of London and Crossrail.
Councils Back Cheaper Crossrail Extension Option To Kent
The title of this post, is the same as that as this article on New Civil Engineer.
These two paragraphs describe the preferred scheme.
The council’s opted for the cheaper extension option which would see Crossrail extended from Abbey Wood east to Slade Green, Dartford, Greenhithe and Swancombe before stopping near to HS1 station at Ebbsfleet with a stop at Northfleet.
The report notes: “The preferred scheme is one that would see 8 of the 12 Elizabeth Line trains per hour that are currently planned to terminate at Abbey Wood be extended eastwards, sharing the existing North Kent line tracks with the Southeastern and Thameslink services.
Currently, the following services use the proposed route between Abbey Wood and Northfleet.
- Southeastern – two tph – London Cannon Street and London Cannon Street via Abbey Wood, Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green.
- Southeastern – two tph – London Cannon Street and Dartford via Abbey Wood, Belvedere, Erith and Slade Green.
- Southeastern – two tph – London Charing Cross and Gravesend via Dartford, Stone Crossing, Greenhithe, Swanscombe and Northfleet
- Thameslink – two tph – Luton and Rainham via Abbey Wood, Slade Green, Dartford, Stone Crossing, Greenhithe, Swanscombe and Northfleet.
Note that tph is trains per hour.
These services provide these frequencies at the stations between Abbey Wood and Northfleet.
- Abbey Wood – eighteen tph, which assumes twelve tph from Crossrail.
- Belvedere – four tph
- Erith – four tph
- Slade Green – six tph
- Dartford – four tph
- Stone Crossing – four tph
- Greenhithe – four tph
- Swanscombe – four tph
- Northfleet – four tph
Note twelve tph from Crossrail terminate at Abbey Wood.
If Crossrail were to run eight tph to Northfleet, this would provide these frequencies at the stations.
- Abbey Wood – eighteen tph, which assumes twelve tph from Crossrail.
- Belvedere – twelve tph
- Erith – twelve tph
- Slade Green – fourteen tph
- Dartford – twelve tph
- Stone Crossing – twelve tph
- Greenhithe – twelve tph
- Swanscombe – twelve tph
- Northfleet – twelve tph
Note four tph from Crossrail terminate at Abbey Wood and eight tph at Northfleet.
These are my thoughts.
A Turnback Facility At Northfleet Station
There will need to be a turnback facility at Northfleet station.
- It will have to handle eight tph
- Nine-car Class 345 trains used by Crossrail are 205 metres long.
Eight tph would suggest that two platforms would be needed.
This Google Map shows Northfleet station.
Note.
- The North Kent Line goes diagonally across the map from North-West to South-East.
- Northfleet station is a two-platform station.
- To the South of the station, there are sidings, which are connected to the North Kent Line.
This picture shows the sidings from Northfleet station, with Ebbsfleet station about a mile away.
It appears that there would be space to add two well-appointed turnback platforms at Northfleet station.
These pictures show some of the features of the current Northfleet station.
Rebuilding to add the turnback facility, could also include.
- Full step-free access
- Modern station buildings
- A deep clean of the pedestrian tunnel.
- An appropriately-sized bus station, with a zero-carbon shuttle bus to Ebbsfleet station.
- Future provision for a high-tech people-mover to Ebbsfleet station.
It is not one of the better stations on the Southeastern network.
But it certainly could be!
I very much feel that Northfleet station needs to be rebuilt with at least two extra platforms.
A People-Mover Between Ebbsfleet And Northfleet Stations
I wrote So Near And Yet So Far! about the poor connection between Ebbsfleet And Northfleet stations.
It is a design crime of the highest order.
There has been a lot of pressure in the past to build a pedestrian link between the two stations, as reported by the Wikipedia entry for Northfleet station.
The station is very close to Ebbsfleet International station (the NNE entrance is only 334 yards (305 m) from Northfleet’s station), but passengers (using public transport) will find it far easier to access Ebbsfleet International from Gravesend or Greenhithe, as these stations are more accessible and offer easy access to Fastrack bus services. The walking route between the two stations is 0.6 miles (1 km) or 0.8 miles (1.3 km) and a suitable pedestrian link has not been built because of funding issues and objections from Land Securities.
Why when Ebbsfleet International station was built in the early 2000s for opening in 2007, was a pedestrian link not built between the two stations?
It sounds like it was a Treasury design for Civil Servants, who work in Westminster and wouldn’t dream of living in Gravesend.
How much did omitting the link save?
Probably in the the long term, about two-fifths of five eighths of f***-all!
The specialists in this type of people-mover are the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group, who in the UK have built the Emirates Air Line and the Air-Rail Link at Birmingham Airport. Currently, they are building the Luton DART people mover.
Wikipedia says that the Emirates Air-Line cost £60 million.
Wouldn’t something similar be an ideal way to welcome people to the UK?
The London Resort
The London Resort, is described like this in its Wikipedia entry.
The London Resort is a proposed theme park and resort in Swanscombe, Kent. The project was announced on 8 October 2012 and, if given planning permission, it is estimated that construction will begin in 2022, with a first gate opening in summer 2024 and a second gate by 2029.
It certainly sounds the sort of place I avoid, but just like Disneyland Paris, I feel the developers will want a rail connection.
They could even want to have another people-mover from Ebbsfleet station.
The Final Crossrail Station Oversite Has Been Handed To The Developer
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
This is the first paragraph.
The last of the Elizabeth line stations to have a building built above the station has been handed over to the developer, Grosvenor for an office development. The site, at 65 Davies Street will sit above the back of Bond Street station where a classic Edwardian style brick building occupied by the University of Arts had been based.
I went today and took these pictures.
It doesn’t look it, but the building should be ready by the end of 2023.
I used to visit this area regularly from the age of about fourteen. My uncle; Dick had a newsagents shop at the back of Bond Street station at 2 Weighhouse Street and I used to come up to see him and his wife; Rene.
Why Do 21 And 141 Buses Always Come Together?
To get between my house and Moorgate station, I use either a 21 or a 141 bus.
During the day, both buses run at a frequency of about one bus every ten minutes.
As the buses take exactly the same route between Bank station and Newington Green, surely it would be logical, if the buses were timed on this section, so that the buses ran every five minutes.
But inevitably, a 21 and a 141 bus always turn up together, which generally means if you miss both, you have to wait ten minutes until another pair come along.
Surely, a bus every file minutes might encourage more people to use the buses.
The Anonymous Widower 