The Anonymous Widower

London Will Still Need Crossrail 2 To Deal With HS2 Influx, London Mayor Predicts

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Building.

This is the first paragraph.

Sadiq Khan says he expects mothballed scheme will eventually get built.

I don’t disagree that it will eventually get built, but it will be long after both Sadiq Khan and myself have gone.

You might think, that as I live in Dalston, I would be very much in favour of Crossrail 2 being built as soon as possible.

But then, I’m a duck-and-diver and there will always be a quick route to get to Euston.

I currently use four routes regularly and coming home, if it’s late or I want to get home quickly to cook supper say, I can take a taxi for a reasonable price.

The easiest way is actually to walk about two hundred metres and get a 73 bus to directly outside Euston station.

I very much feel we need to improve access in London to High Speed Two and that this can be done by making sure several smaller projects are completed before High Speed Two opens.

Improved Underground Connections At Euston Station

This page on the High Speed Two web site, says this about the station layout and Underground connections at the rebuilt station.

HS2 will deliver eleven new 400m long platforms, a new concourse and improved connections to Euston and Euston Square Underground stations. Our design teams are also looking at the opportunity to create a new northerly entrance facing Camden Town as well as new east-west links across the whole station site.

I would suspect that connection to the Underground will have step-free options.

I wrote about Underground connections at Euston station in Ian Publishes Details Of Future Developments At Euston And Euston Square Underground Stations.

The developments certainly look comprehensive and include a new entrance in Gordon Street on the South side of Euston Road.

Note.

1. The view is looking North.
2. A tunnel from this entrance will lead to the Eastern ends of the platforms at Euston Square station, where it appears there will be at least escalator access.
3. The tunnel will also lead into Euston station.
4. It is a simple improvement, that shouldn’t be too challenging.

This diagram shows the layout of the tunnel.

It looks to me to be a neat design, that could be installed between Gordon Street and Euston Square stations without disturbing the traffic on the busy Euston Road.

Once the subway and the Gordon Street entrance were built, there would have these benefits.

• There would be a step-free route between Euston and Euston Square stations.
• It would be a shorter walk  in an air-conditioned tunnel, rather than currently along the very polluted Euston Road.
• It would be the fastest way to transfer between Euston and Kings Cross or St. Pancras stations.
• It would give excellent access to the other London terminal stations of Liverpool Street, Moorgate and Paddington.
• It would give step-free access to Crossrail at Farrington, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Paddington and Whitechapel
• With a change at Farringdon or Liverpool Street to Crossrail, it would offer the fastest route to Canary Wharf.
• The Gordon Street entrance would improve walking routes between Euston station and University College London and other buildings on the South side of Euston Road.

I also suspect that as this project is part of the rebuilding of Euston station for High Speed Two, that it will be completed before Euston station opens for High Speed Two.

If possible, it should be built much sooner to improve access between Euston station and the sub-surface lines.

Once open, even without other improvements at Euston station, this subway would improve access to Euston station by a very substantial amount.

Camden Town Station Upgrade

In 2015, I went to see an exhibition about the proposed expansion of Camden Town station and wrote The Camden Town Station Upgrade Exhibition.

I believe this upgrade should be delivered before High Speed Two opens around the end of this decade.

But due to the financial problems of Transport for London, this project has now been kicked into the long grass.

The Wikipedia entry for Camden Town station, states that upgrading the station will take four years.

Northern Line Split

The completion of the Camden Town Station Upgrade will enable the splitting of the Northern Line into two separate lines, after the completion of the Northern Line Extension to Battersea and the Bank Station Upgrade.

• Northern Line West – Edgware to Battersea Power Station via Camden Town, Euston, Charing Cross and Waterloo.
• Northern Line East – High Barnet to Morden via Camden Town, Euston, Kings Cross, Moorgate, Bank and London Bridge.

Each branch will be running at least 24 trains per hour (tph) and will significantly increase capacity between High Speed Two and other terminal stations and the City of London.

The Northern Line should be split into two lines by the time High Speed Two opens, but with no start date in sight for the Camden Town Station Upgrade, this might not be possible.

Victoria Line Improvements

The Victoria Line or Dear Old Vicky probably won’t be able to help much, but I do think it would be feasible to improve the three most inadequate stations on the line.

• Oxford Circus station needs more capacity and step-free access.
• Highbury & Islington station needs step-free access to the deep lines to complete the station, which was only half-built in the 1960s.
• Walthamstow Central station needs to be double-ended and have step-free access.

I doubt the money can be found to carry out these improvement projects, that are essential, but very much smaller than the Camden Town Station Upgrade.

Sub-Surface Lines Improvements

The big project on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines is the Four Lines Modernisation (4LM) project.

• It is an upgrade of the trains, track, electrical supply, and signalling systems.
• This will add 27 % more capacity in the Peak.
• As anybody will know, who has been to a major event at Wembley Stadium, the new S8 Stock trains, that have been running for a few years now, have an almost infinite capacity.
• Incidentally, the S8 Stock trains hold 1350 passengers, which is not far short of the 1500 that each Crossrail Class 345 train can hold.
• Euston Square station will have a step-free connection from the rebuilt Euston station complex.

Most of the Modernisation will be completed by 2023.

I believe that the sub-surface lines will become the main method to get to and from the upgraded Euston station, until Crossrail 2 is built.

• There will be direct trains to around seventy stations from Euston Square station.
• With a change at Paddington to Crossrail, there is a route to Heathrow Airport and Reading.
• With a change at Farringdon or Liverpool Street to Crossrail, there is a route to East London, Canary Wharf and South East London.
• With a change at Farringdon to Thameslink, there are routes to over a hundred stations.
• With a change at Whitechapel to the East London Line, there are routes to North, East and South London.

When you consider that the Metropolitan Line opened in 1863 and was the first passenger-carrying underground railway in the world, hasn’t it done well?

When the Euston Square station upgrade is complete, I will probably use that route to get home from Euston, changing on to a bus at Moorgate, which stops close to my house.

Old Oak Common Station

High Speed Two’s Old Oak Common station is introduced like this on this page on the High Speed Two web site.

Old Oak Common is a new super hub set to be the best connected rail station in the UK.

This map from Transport for London shows the various lines at the station.

Note.

1. The bright blue line is High Speed Two.
2. The purple line is the Great Western Main Line and Crossrail.
3. I suspect that the interchange between these three lines will be a good one.
4. Will all Great Western services stop at Old Oak Common station?
5. The orange lines are London Overground services, with two new stations; Old Oak Common Lane and Hythe Road close to the main Old Oak Common station.
6. The green line is the Southern service between Milton Keynes and South Croydon.
7. The red line is the Central Line and it could be joined to the main station.
8. There are plans for a West London Orbital Railway, from Brent Cross and West Hampstead in the North to Hounslow and Kew Bridge in the West, that would call at the main Old Oak Common station.

Old Oak Common station could be well connected to most of London, through its Crossrail. London Overground and West London Orbital connections.

It is my view that these three smaller projects must be completed before the opening of High Speed Two.

• Hythe Road station
• Old Oak Common Lane station
• West London Orbital Railway.

None of these three projects would be very challenging.

Chiltern Railways And High Speed Two

Chiltern Railways already have a London Marylebone and Birmingham Moor Street service

Birmingham Moor Street station will be close to High Speed Two’s Birmingham Curzon Street station.

Plans exist for a second London terminus for Chiltern Railways close to the main Old Oak Common station.

• Could Chiltern Railways become a partner for High Speed Two on routes like between Leeds and Banbury?
• They could certainly bring passengers to Old Oak Common from Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.
• One of my principles on High Speed Two, is that it should be a One-Nation railway.

Old Oak Common would be a very different station to Marylebone with its very useful Crossrail. London Overground and West London Orbital connections.

The terminal for Chiltern Railways at Old Oak Common is another project that should be completed before the opening of High Speed Two.

The Duality Of Euston and Old Oak Common Stations

Euston and Old Oak Common stations could almost be considered to be one station.

• All High Speed Two trains terminating or starting at Euston also call at Old Oak Common station.
• They will be just five minutes apart.
• Both stations have comprehensive networks of connections.
• Taken together the connections from both stations cover most of London and the South East.

There could be advantages for both operators and passengers.

• Would a ticket to and from London Terminals be usable at both stations?
• For some London destinations, passengers might prefer to use one terminal or the other.
• By changing at Old Oak Common to Crossrail will probably be the fastest way to Heathrow, the West End, the City, Canary Wharf and other places.
• Passengers could make the decision about the London terminal to use en route.
• Operators sometimes put the cleaning crew on the train at the last station before the terminal to save time in the turnround. The closeness of the two stations would enable this.

I think the London end of High Speed Two has been designed to make it easy for the operator and passengers.

The Losers If Crossrail 2 Isn’t Built

Crossrail 2 will provide better access to High Speed Two and the London terminals of Euston, Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Victoria for parts of London and the South East.

Victoria Line Passengers

The Victoria Line will have interchanges with Crossrail 2 at the following stations.

• Tottenham Hale
• Euston and Kings Cross St. Pancras on the Victoria Line and Euston St. Pancras on Crossrail 2
• Victoria

Note.

1. Crossrail 2 will relieve capacity on the Victoria Line between Tottenham Hale and Victoria
2. There will be a very comprehensive interchange at Euston St. Pancras to serve High Speed Two, Eurostar and classic lines out of Euston, Kings Cross and St. Pancras.

From what has been disclosed about the connrection between Euston and Euston Square stations transfer between Euston and Kings Cross and St. Pancras will be a lot easier than it is now.

This reworking of the poor connection to Euston Square station might take some pressure off the Victoria Line.

It might also might be possible to squeeze more trains down Dear Old Vicky.

Passengers On The Suburban Lines Into Waterloo

The suburban lines into Waterloo will go into tunnel at Wimbledon and connect directly to Victoria, Euston, St. Pancras and Kings Cross.

This will be superb access for South West London to four major London terminals.

Without Crossrail 2, passengers  will have to use one of these routes to get to and from Euston.

• Change at Waterloo to the Northern Line.
• Change at Waterloo to the Bakerloo Line and then at Oxford Circus to the Victoria Line.
• Change at Vauxhall to the Victoria Line.

Could it be, that the Northern Line Extension should be extended to Clapham Junction station, as it is an aspiration over a safeguarded route under Battersea Park?

In An Analysis Of Waterloo Suburban Services Proposed To Move To Crossrail 2, I showed it was possible to run a Crossrail 2 schedule of four tph into Waterloo station, if the following were done.

• More platform capacity in Waterloo.
• Modern high-performance 100 mph trains like Class 707 trains or Aventras.
• Some improvements to track and signals between Waterloo and Wimbledon stations.
• Wimbledon station would only need minor modifications.
• A measure of ATC between Waterloo and Wimbledon stations.

This would not be a large project

Passengers In Balham And/Or Tooting

Crossrail 2 is planned to run between Wimbledon and Victoria via the following stations.

• Balham or Tooting Broadway
• Clapham Junction
• King’s Road Chelsea

Note.

1. Crossrail 2 should take pressure off the Northern Line.
2. Public Opinion is against King’s Road Chelsea station. How will their cleaners, cooks and nannies get to work? Especially, as the roads in the area are already jammed by Chelsea tractors.
3. The original route favoured Balham to give an interchange with National Rail. Tooting Broadway also has geological problems for the tunneling.
4. On the other hand, Sadiq Khan supports the route through Tooting Broadway, which better serves his former constituency.

This Map from cartometro.com shows the rail lines in the area.

Note.

1. Balham station in the North is an interchange station between the Northern Line and National Rail, with a possible four National Rail platforms.
2. Tooting Broadway is a simple through station on the Northern Line.
3. The next station after Wandsworth Common towards London is Clapham Junction.
4. Transport for London have been advocating a new Streatham Common station, that would be an interchange between the lines through Streatham Common and those through Streatham.
5. Streatham and Tooting stations are on the Wimbledon Loop Line, which only carries two tph in both directions.

Since I have been writing this blog, there have been several ideas to make better use of the National Rail lines in this area.

There was even a plan that I wrote about in 2016 called The Streatham Virtual Tube.

• Trains would run through Streatham Common, Streatham, Streatham, Hill, Balham, Wandsworth Common, Clapham Junction and into Victoria.
• Trains could also go North from Clapham Junction to Old Oak Common for High Speed Two.
• The Streatham Common Interchange would be built. This would give a useful interchange to the Wimbledon Loop Line.
• There would be four tracks through Streatham.
• A tunnel would be build to allow trains to go through both Streatham and Streatham Hill stations.
• It would have an interchange at Balham with the Northern Line.
• It could have an interchange at Clapham Junction with an extended Battersea Branch of the Northern Line.
• Suppose it had a frequency of perhaps six or even ten tph.

I think it might work, but it shows what can be done, with a bit of out-of-the-box thinking.

Passengers In Dalston And Hackney

One of the entrances to the proposed massive double-ended Crossrail 2 station at Dalston will be at the end of my road and very close to where my mother used to work and where her mother was actually born.

East London had not had major rail improvements since the 1950s and 1960s, when most of the lines into Liverpool Street were electrified and the Southbury Loop was reopened.

But since the creation of the Overground in 2007 from the remains of the ill-performing Silverlink, with the addition of new trains and ticketing and a good clean, there has been a series of smaller projects that have been completed, in and around East and North London.

• 2009 – North London Line starts running to new platforms at Stratford.
• 2009 – Stratford International station opens on High Speed One.
• 2010 – East London Line opens with services to Crystal Palace, New Cross, New Cross Gate and West Croydon stations.
• 2011 – A substantially rebuilt Stratford station opens for the Olympics
• 2012 – South London Line opens with services between Dalston Junction and Clapham Junction stations.
• 2012 – The Docklands Light Railway is extended to Stratford and Stratford International stations.
• 2014 – Hampstead Heath station gets an upgrade.
• 2015 – The Lea Valley Lines between Liverpool Street and Cheshunt, Chingford and Enfield Town stations were moved to the Overground.
• 2015 – TfL Rail begins operation between Liverpool Street and Shenfield, using new Class 345 trains.
• 2016 – Lea Bridge station reopened.
• 2016 – Second entrance to Ilford station in York Road reopened.
• 2018 – Northumberland Park station was rebuilt.
• 2019 – The Gospel Oak to Barking Line was electrified and equipped with new Class 710 trains.
• 2019 – West Hampstead station was rebuilt.
• 2019 – The new Meridian Water station opened.
• 2019 – The rebuilt White Hart Lane station opened.
• 2020 – Tottenham Hale station was rebuilt.
• 2020 – The new Class 710 trains were rolled out on the Lea Valley Lines.

Note.

1. There have also numerous smaller upgrades like the addition of lifts to several stations.
2. Stations between Stratford and Shenfield have been upgraded for Crossrail.
3. There has also been considerable upgrades to the electrification, which in some places was not in the best of condition.
4. Most lines have a frequency of four tph or more.

Some may feel that East London has done well with rail improvements in the last few years.

I would agree in some ways, but would counter by saying that before the Overground was created, East London’s were in a terrible state and their state today is a excellent example of what can be achieved by good design, planning and execution, without spending vast sums.

East London and the boroughs of Enfield, Hackney, Haringey, Newham and Waltham Forest in particular, now have a good rail network, that is going to get a lot better with the addition of Crossrail.

• The North London Line is about half a mile to the North of where I live and can walk to two stations or get a bus to another three.
• Crossrail will be a couple of miles to the South with station entrances at Moorgate, Liverpool Street, Whitechapel and Stratford.
• There are four electrified railway lines with new trains, which run North-South with connections to the two East-West lines.
• Although my quickest way to Crossrail will be a bus from close to my house to outside Moorgate station.
• I suspect that everybody in the Borough of Hackney and the Eastern part of Islington will be able to get to a Crossrail station in well under thirty minutes.
• In addition, from where I live the Gospel Oak to Barking Line runs a couple of miles North of the North London Line.

I believe that Dalston’s success over the last decade has been a collateral benefit of its comprehensive rail system, supported by lots of shiny new buses.

Does Dalston want Crossrail 2? Probably, Yes!

Does Dalston need Crossrail 2? Possibly, No!

Do other areas of large cities need Dalstonisation of their railway and bus systems? Absolutely!

I certainly don’t regret moving to Dalston!

Note that one of the reasons I’m so keen on the West London Orbital Railway is that it could do the same for North West London, as the Overground and the Lea Valley Lines have done for North East London.

Passengers Along The Lea Valley

Crossrail 2 will connect the Lea Valley Lines to Dalston and on to Central London.

It will involve the following changes to the West Anglia Main Line.

• Four-tracking of the route at least as far as Broxbourne.
• A junction South of Tottenham Hale station will connect the route to a tunnel to Dalston.
• Level crossings at Brimsdown, Enfield Lock and Cheshunt will be removed.
• Like Crossrail, stations would be substantially step-free.
• The signalling will be upgraded to full in-cab digital ERTMS signalling, that is used by Crossrail and Thameslink under London.

This would enable 10-15 tph running between Tottenham Hale and Broxbourne stations.

With all the development going on around Cambridge and possible expansion of Stansted Airport, I believe that even if Crossrail 2 is not build, then there will be pressure to four-track the West Anglia Main Line, remove the level crossings and improve the stations and signalling.

If this were to be done, then there is an interim plan that could be implemented that I wrote about, four years ago in Could A Lea Valley Metro Be Created?

I envisaged the following.

• Updating the West Anglia Main Line to four-tracks and a standard suitable for Crossrail 2.
• Using the double-track loop at Stratford  as the Southern terminal, for some of the trains.
• Updating the Victoria Line stations. The major interchange at Tottenham Hale station has already been improved substantially.
• Providing an appropriate service between Stratford and Broxbourne stations.
• Terminating some Stansted and Cambridge services in the Stratford Loop, as Stratford has better connections to South London and Kent than Liverpool Street.
• Integrating Lea Valley Metro, London Overground and Greater Anglia services to Bishops Stortford, Cambridge and Hertford North stations.

Note.

1. All services connect to Crossrail and the Central Line at the Southern end.
2. Services to Liverpool Street connect to National Rail services, the Lea Valley Lines of the London Overground and the Circle, District and Metropolitan Lines.
3. Services to Stratford connect to National Rail services, the North London Line of the London Overground and the Jubilee Line.
4. Could alternate trains serve Liverpool Street and Stratford?
5. Could splitting services between Liverpool Street and Stratford mean that the largest proportion of routes have just a single change?

As Transport for London and the train operating companies know where passengers want to go and actually go, I’m sure that a service pattern, that is acceptable to all could be created.

Conclusion

Crossrail 2 is quoted as being a £33 billion project.

I believe that with a good review lots of money could be saved and other smaller projects could be planned and executed to handle the expected increase in the number of passengers.

I would do the following.

• Camden Town station – Upgrade
• Chiltern Railways – Build their connection to Old Oak Common station
• Euston Station – Improve connections to Euston and Euston Square Underground stations.
• Northern Line – Extend the Battersea branch to Clapham Junction
• Northern Line – Split Into Two Lines
• Overground – Build Old Oak Common Lane and Hythe Road stations
• Southern – Build the new Streatham Common station and implement The Streatham Virtual Tube.
• South Western Railway – Run four tph on all proposed Crossrail 2 routes into Waterloo station
• Victoria Line – Upgrade Highbury & Islington, Oxford Circus and Walthamstow Central stations and increase the frequency if possible
• West Anglia Main Line – Upgrade ready for Crossrail 2 and develop the Lea Valley Metro

All of these projects would have their own benefits, whether Crossrail 2 is built or not!

Only when the needs of all passengers have been assessed in a few years, should we make a decision about Crossrail 2.

March 27, 2021 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Bank Station Upgrade, Camden Town Station, Camden Town Station Upgrade, Crossrail, Crossrail 2, Dalston, Docklands Light Railway, Euston Square Station, Euston Station, Four Lines Modernisation, High Speed Two, Hythe Road Station, Lea Valley Lines, Lea Valley Metro, Northern Line, Northern Line Extension, Old Oak Common Lane Station, Old Oak Common Station, Sadiq Khan, Stratford International Station, Stratford Station, Thameslink, Victoria Line, West London Orbital Railway, Wimbledon Station | 8 Comments