The Anonymous Widower

Council ‘Talking’ To Government On Improving Train Provision, Leader Says

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the Barking and Dagenham Post.

These are the introductory paragraphs.

Barking and Dagenham Council leader Darren Rodwell said the authority is “talking” to the government about improving train provision through the borough.

Last week saw the opening of the Elizabeth line, which stretches more than 100km from Reading and Heathrow in the west to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east.

But none of its stations are in Barking and Dagenham – with the nearest being Chadwell Heath – and Cllr Rodwell does not believe the borough stands to benefit from the line at the moment.

He has a point and is asking for extra stations in the borough.

Dagenham East on c2c is mentioned.

This paragraph also talks about HS1 domestic.

Cllr Rodwell, who is beginning a third term as council leader, also said HS1 domestic should stop in the borough.

At the moment, the domestic services that run on the line are operated by Southeastern and travel between London and Kent.

The sole stops in the capital are St Pancras and Stratford International.

“It should be Ebbsfleet, Purfleet, Barking, Stratford International” before terminating at St Pancras, Cllr Rodwell said.

“That would be massive for the ability of our young people to get jobs.

I feel he’s right about the jobs, but would the extra stations be possible.

Dagenham East

This map from cartometro.com shows the location of Dagenham East station.

Note.

  1. The Elizabeth Line passing through Romford at the North of the map.
  2. The District Line and c2c passing through Upminster across towards the bottom of the map.
  3. Upminster is in the London Borough of Havering, as are all stations after Dagenham East.
  4. Dagenham East station is the second station on the line and used to be a c2c station until 1962.

This Google Map shows Dagenham East station.

These pictures show the station.

Note.

  • The c2c platforms appear to be still in place. Although, some work needs to be done.
  • A new bridge will be required to access the far platform.
  • six c2c trains per hour (tph) pass through the station.

I feel that perhaps a two tph service between Dagenham East and Fenchurch Street could be possible.

A Thought About High Speed One

High Speed One links London and the Channel Tunnel.

  • Every time a train stops, it increases the total journey time by a couple of minutes.
  • So two extra stops on Southeastern Highspeed services at Purfleet and Barking, would slow the service and take up capacity on High Speed One.
  • If you read the Wikipedia entry for the link, there are several operators, who seem to be hoping to run extra services on the route.
  • In addition Thalys and Eurostar have merged and surely, they will bring London more into their routes.

I feel that what spare capacity, there is on High Speed One will more likely be allocated to European services than domestic services in East London. It’s probably more profitable for the operator of High Speed One for a start.

Purfleet

This Google Map shows Purfleet station and its location in relation to High Speed One.

Note.

  1. Purfleet station is in the South-West corner of the map.
  2. High Speed One runs across the North-East corner of the map.
  3. Purfleet station is served by two tph between Fenchurch Street and Grays.
  4. In Purfleet Station – 19th August 2021, there is a gallery of pictures of Purfleet station.
  5. In that post, I also describe planned developments at Purfleet station.

Given the distance between the current Purfleet station and High Speed One, and the planned developments, I think that an interchange between c2c and High Speed One at the current Purfleet station, would not be a very practical one.

But there may be possibilities to the East, where c2c and High Speed One cross.

This Google Map shows the location of their crossing by the QE2 bridge.

Note.

  1. High Speed One going diagonally NW-SE across the map
  2. The A 282 crossing over the QE2 bridge going North-South.
  3. The c2c line going East-West across the map.

Could the proposed station be built, where the two rail lines cross?

Probably, but!

  • High Speed One would only connect to the Fenchurch Street and Grays service running at two tph.
  • Passengers for the City of Southend would have to change at Grays.
  • There would probably need to be separate lines for expresses to pass stopping trains.
  • Stations on viaducts are expensive to build.

I don’t think a station at Purfleet would be the most practical or affordable of projects.

Barking

This OpenRailwayMap shows the routes of High Speed One and c2c through Barking.

Note.

  1. The red line is High Speed One.
  2. High Speed Two is shown in pink, when it is in tunnel.
  3. The orange line is the c2c line between Fenchurch Street and Grays.
  4. Dagenham Dock station is in the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham.
  5. Rainham station is in the London Borough of Havering.

It looks like Dagenham Dock station would be the only station, where an interchange could be built.

This Google Map shows Dagenham Dock station.

Note.

  1. The top pair of lines are the c2c lines.
  2. The next pair of lines are High Speed One.
  3. The lines below High Speed One are a freight link between High Speed One and the Barking freight hub.

There certainly would appear to be space for two platforms on High Speed One.

But then we still have the problem of an extra station using up valuable space on High Speed One.

The only solution, that I can think of, is that Southeastern HighSpeed services would perhaps stop only at Dagenham Dock or Stratford, but not both.

Conclusion

In this simple analysis, it looks like an extra stop on c2c at Dagenham East is possible, but extra stations on High Speed One might be difficult to fit in.

May 31, 2022 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments