A Vision Of Old Oak Common In The Future
Transport for London’s Transport Plan for 2050 is particularly forceful about what will happen at Old Oak Common.
A key aim beyond this is to integrate Old Oak Common as a Canary Wharf of the future, with around 90,000 jobs and 19,000 homes
They also have a detailed map, showing lines reaching out in all directions, from the junction of Crossrail, HS2 and the Overground. In addition to the links through the Goblin Extension, I’ve traced earlier, there are a possible extension of the West London Line to Balham and a service northwards on the Midland Main Line to somewhere like St. Albans.
So London is getting another hub to complement Stratford and Canary Wharf in the East and Clapham Junction in the South.
Tracing The Goblin Extension – Peckham Rye To Bexleyheath And Abbey Wood
This is the last leg, although I skipped the last bit from Bexleyheath to Abbey Wood, as it’s just a turn round the corner towards the station, that will be one of the termini of Crossrail.
Peckham Rye is not one of London’s best stations. It always reminds me of being two separate stations or two separate lines that happen to be chose enough together, to be able to be connected by a maze of dingy passages and steep staircases to a rather nice building.
It is one of the worse eyesores on the UK rail network.
I had arrived from Tulse Hill and to get to Bexleyheath I needed to get a Dartford train. This was not an easy walk down and then up two of the worst public staircases I know.
It also meant, I had to wait twenty minutes or so, in a station, where the only toilet was locked.
If the Goblin Extension happens, there will of course be no change of train, if for instance you wanted to go from Tulse Hill to Bexleyheath. And like I found, you won’t have to waste twenty minutes.
I took these pictures on the journey.
One point to note, is that on the whole journey, the stations are two platform ones and there would appear to be few places to have a turn back facility. The latter would probably mean that you’d have difficult finding somewhere to turn an interim service, until Crossrail is opened.
If you look at the details of the Crossrail station at Abbey Wood, you might wonder how everything will fit together there. But I’m not really worried, as I doubt TfL would mention the Goblin Extension in their 2050 Transport Plan, if it wasn’t possible.
The Crossrail Site At Limmo Is Winding Down
From the Emirates Air-Line it looks like serious work s winding down at the Crossrail site at Limmo, where the tunnel boring machines; Elizabeth and Victoria, were inserted into a massive hole, to start their journeys to Farringdon via Canary Wharf.
The conveyors are still in place and a ship was there to be loaded with spoil to be taken to Wallasea Island.
Over the years it has been fascinating to see how how the work for Crossrail has started, increased and is now starting to finish, from the DLR and the cable car.
The Crossrail Portal At Royal Victoria From The Bridge
I was on the bridge at Royal Victoria DLR station this morning and took this picture of the works creating the Crossrail tunnel portal at Royal Victoria.
The Crossrail Portal At Royal Victoria From The Bridge
When completed the tunnels will go under where I took the picture to the next station, which is Canary Wharf. Custom House station and the crane used to put the pieces together is in the distance to the left of the electricity pylons.
According to the documentary on Crossrail, it was a tight squeeze at Tottenham Court Road, but this shows it’s as tight as a duck’s arse, virtually everywhere.
Rude words are allowed when talking about Crossrail, as one of the female project managers used the F-word in the documentary.
Boring Television
It’s fascinating to read the heavyweight reviews on the BBC2 program, The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway, in the Independent and the Telegraph.
When did serious engineering programs get such coverage?
The Times has a report, if you’re a subscriber, but there’s nothing in the Guardian.
The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway
I’ve just watched the latest episode of the BBC documentary on Crossrail call the Fifteen Billion Pound Railway.
Part of this episode told a history of tunneling through the last fifty years, through old film and the eyes of one of the tunnellers, who’s been digging for fifty years, starting with manual methods on the Victoria line.
It is fascinating to see how techniques have improved even over the last couple of decades.
Just as with North Sea Oil exploration, where projects got easier, as cranes got bigger, it looks like tunnelling will get easier, as tunnel boring machines get bigger, more powerful and better designed.
So when they build Crossrail 2 will it be a quick and more financially efficient project? Having spoken to some of the planners of the project on Friday at Dalston Library, I suspect it will be. Especially, as they are cutting out one of the Hackney stations to save a billion and moving one terminus from Alexandra Park to New Southgate stations.
The lessons learned on Crossrail will also effect HS2, where I suspect we’l see even more tunnels, in the final design.
Custom House Station Is Starting To Look Like One
The new Crossrail station at Custom House is started to look like a station.
It is being built in the clean environment of a factory near Sheffield and the quality of the concrete shines through.
On a bus recently, I talked to a young lady, who is involved in the production of this station and she said we’ll be seeing a lot more of these factory-produced Lego-like buildings in the future.
Places And Spaces At The Building Centre
I went to this exhibition this morning, which shows how the various stations on Crossrail will look.
It was certainly a good free exhibition and whetted my appetite for what is to come.
Is This A Case Of More With Less Electrification?
When asked in the House of Lords about the cost of extending Crossrail to Reading, Baroness Kramer, the Transport minister, said it would save £10million. It’s all reported here in New Civil Engineer. As it has been reported for some time Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line electrification will share some infrastructure like transformers, I don’t think the cost saving is unexpected.
What Do The French Do For Commuter Trains?
The French equivalent to the Class 345 for Crossrail, also has a version built by Bombardier called the Z 50000 Francilien.
What probably shows more of this train is this excellent YouTube video.
Looking at the video and comparing the images with say travelling in a familiar Class 378 on the Overground, you notice several differences.
The biggest difference is that the French train is wider and taller in cross-section than the British train. This is due to the much more generous Continental loading gauge, which the designers of the train have used to their advantage.
Another big difference is getting into and out of the trains. On the Class 378 and probably the Class 345, it’s just a simple step across, but on the French train, an extra step emerges from the train and it’s a double step into the train. How would the French train cope with platform edge doors, like those that will be installed on Crossrail? I ask this question as European safety legislation insists on these in all stations in tunnels.
The Anonymous Widower 