The Old Rochester Station
The old Rochester station closed a few months ago.
But you can still see it from the train, as it goes through.
A station man at Gillingham station told me, that the platforms at the old station are sometimes used to turn trains back to London.
When the site is fully cleared, there would probably be some space for sidings to store and reverse trains.
Around Kidbrooke Station
In Development At Kidbrooke Station, I wrote about how a partnership had been formed between Transport for London and developers, that is aimed at creating revenue for London.
I also said I would be going with my camera.
In some ways it was all a bit depressing.
This Google Map shows the area where I walked.
Kidbrooke Station
It looked like a rather nice wooded landscape had been trashed to build the A2 through the area in the last century.
Pretty it is not!
I would hope if housing is developed at Kidbrooke to the north of the station, that something could be done to improve the dreadful feel of the area.
The Millwall Path
This path wasn’t here, the last time I walked this way. So I had to explore.
It eventually led to South Bermondsey station.
I think that this could become a popular walking route, as it links up to the path I took from Surrey Quays station, that goes to the still-to-br-built New Bermondsey station and on to Queens Road Peckham station.
It would appear that there is the possibility of opening another path through the arches close to the Millwall Path.
This would probably.
- Give good walking and cycling access between the development between the railway lines of the dive-under and South Bermondsey station.
- Open up more uses for the land between and the buildings under the dive-under.
- Create a direct walking route between the Surrey Quays area and Millwall Football Ground.
I think the whole area could make a very good designer shopping outlet or perhaps a high-technology or design cluster, as there are stations at each of the three corners of the site.
It is certainly a site with possibilities!
Development At Kidbrooke Station
This article on the BBC web site, is entitled Transport for London set to become private landlord to create revenue.
One of the sites mentioned is Kidbrooke station.
This is a Google Map of the area around the station.
Kidbrooke Station
It looks to me that there is some development going on already and that there could be scope for more.
For those of you who like me, don’t know the area well, this Google Map shows the Bexleyheath Line between Blackheath and Eltham stations.
Blackheath To Eltham
Kidbrooke is the station in the middle. sitting in a semi-circle of roads.
Note the A2 which passes to the North East of the station. Could it be that all the spare land to the North of the station was part of London’s 1960s road-building schemes.
I shall be visiting with my camera.
A Waste Of Space?
I took this picture, as I rode through Kentish Town station on a Thameslink train.
A Waste Of Space?
I’d never realised there was quite so much space.
This Google Map shows the Midland Main Line as it passes through the station.
Midland Main Line Through Kentish Town
I do wonder, if this site would be one that could be used to create housing or other buildings above the railway.
- In a few years time, there will be upwards of eight Thameslink trains an hour through the station.
- After the rebuilding of Camden Town station, there is the possibility of upwards of thirty trains per hour on the Northern Line.
- Kentish Town West station on the North London Line is not far away.
- Just off this map to the West, is the large site, where J. Murphy and Sons have their offices and Central London base.
It would appear to be a well-connected place for homes, offices, schools, colleges or hotels, and I’m sure Camden Council are doing their best, to improve the area.
Will It Be All Systems Go For The Ordsall Curve?
This article in Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Court of Appeal dismisses Ordsall Chord legal challenge and it talks about Mark Whitby’s fight to stop the Ordsall Chord being built.
This is said.
A legal appeal following the dismissal of a challenge to the process for granting permission for the Ordsall Chord has been dismissed.
The Court of Appeal today upheld a ruling to dismiss a challenge from Mark Whitby, former president of the Institution of Civil Engineers.
The Court dismissed all three appeals made by Whitby against the decision of Lang J in the Mrs Justice Beverley Lang: two statutory challenges of the Transport and Works Act order and of the Listed Building Consent, and a judicial review of the planning permission. The Court of Appeal will hand down its judgement early in the new term, after Easter.
I hope this is the end of it, and work can proceed on the much-needed new infrastructure.
But I suppose there’s always the Supreme and European Courts!
I am a Londoner and one thing puzzles me about this case. If say in London, there was an argument about such a piece of infrastructure, those making the fuss would be local people, as they are in Chelsea and Wimbledon over Crossrail 2. In all the reports on the Ordsall Chord, the councils, politicians and the media seem to be in favour and only one lone person is against.
This article in Building gives an insight into Mark Whitby.
Barking Riverside Development To Get A Boost
BBC London is talking about a large boost to the development of housing at Barking Riverside. This article in Building entitled L&Q buys out Bellway at Barking Riverside, gives a lot more detail. This is a visualisation of the development.
Barking Riverside Development
It looks to be a lot of much-needed housing, a proportion of which will be affordable.
According to TfL’s maps and drawings it looks like Barking Riverside station will be a couple of hundred metres or so directly inland from the T-shaped pier.
What A Waste Of Valuable Land
I took these pictures as the train passed the Southall Gas Works site to the west of Southall station.
As can be seen these days it is mainly used as a car park for passengers using Heathrow Airport.
That is a terrible waste of a site, that could be cleaned up and used for much-needed housing. This Google Map gives an impression of the extent of the site.
Southall Gas Works
But things are happening and there is a web site called The Southall Gasworks, put up by the Berkeley Group, who are developing the site.
In this post entitled Could The Golden Mile In Hounslow Get A Station?, I postulated that the gas works site could be linked to Hounslow’s Golden Mile and the Thames by a tram and concluded by saying this.
I think that there are possibilities for a well-designed solution in the area to connect the Golden Mile to Southall station for Crossrail.
There are certainly possibilities to link everything together.
- Southall station will be served by Crossrail’s high-frequency trains.
- The Brentford Branch is an underused working railway.
- The Southall Gas Works development needs good public transport links.
- The Golden Mile needs rejuvenating.
I do think we’ll see lots of small-scale connectivity to Crossrail and this would be an easy one to build.
Is This One Of The Most Valuable Sites For New Development In The UK?
I don’t question the engineering behind the Windsor Link Railway, but I do question whether the project is viable financially.
Property Development
Obviously, the key to financial viability is the property development opportunities that the building of the Windsor Link Railway will enable.
I don’t know much about property development, but from conversations with serious property developers over the last few years, I can say this.
- Some of the sums of money that can be involved are immense.
- Location is still as important as it ever was.
- Car parking can be reduced in developments above stations, which reduces construction costs.
An infrastructure investor from a large insurance company, also told me that developments with a new station and possibly a few new trains are easy to finance as a package.
Property Development At Windsor And Eton Riverside Station
Look at this Google Map of the Windsor and Eton Riverside station and the River Thames.
Windsor And Eton Riverside Station And The Thames
The railway and the adjacent car parks, use a surprisingly large amount of land, that would be released by the building of the Windsor Link Railway.
The Windsor Link Railway could be a single track tunnel, as the maximum frequency would only be four trains per hour in both directions, which would enter the tunnel around the end of the current platforms.
Obviously, all of the land where the current station and car parks would be available for development. There would just be a rail tunnel in the basement.
I also feel that done properly, this development with its superb location on the river, should be car-free.
If that is the case, then perhaps Windsor needs a station under this development?
As the development will be pretty grand and very desirable, I would design a station with the following characteristics.
- Single-platform able to accept twelve-car trains. We don’t want to build a restriction for the future.
- All trains could be IPEMUs running on batteries in the tunnel. Quiet, very green and no dangerous electrification.
- Platform-edge doors. They’re probably needed under EU safety legislation.
- Double-ended with one entrance in the development and another in Thames Street. If tourists can’t drive, they need to be in the centre.
I think with modern station design, that a single-platform station would be sufficient, although, it would probably restrict services to four trains per hour in each direction.
We’ve never built a combined up-market station and luxury development in this country yet, although there are quite a few stations like Dalston Junction with lots of dwellings on the top.
Windsor And Eton Riverside could be the place to start.
Property Development At Windsor And Eton Central Station
If the Riverside site could be properly developed, what about, where the Windsor Link Railway are proposing to put their proposed Windsor Royal station.
This is a Google Map of the area to the West of Windsor And Eton Central station.
Note how the area is dominated by coach and car parks. Visitors want to come to see the river and the castle, socialise a bit, have a drink and a meal, and perhaps buy some tatty souvenirs. They don’t want to look at car and coach parks.
In Connecting The Windsor Link Railway To The Slough To Windsor And Eton Line, I looked at the engineering and I don’t think building the rail connection is impossible.
It is my view, that you build the railway and the station in the best way for train operation and passenger convenience. The station would probably have the following characteristics.
It could be a traditional surface station or underground, with minimal buildings above the surface.
I prefer the underground station, as it has other advantages.
- There would be lots of entrances facing in all directions. Think fosteritos!
- It could have a single-platform or a double-platform/island layout, capable of handling twelve-car trains.
- Platform-edge doors.
- A single track would lead to Slough and also to the tunnel under Windsor.
In the hole for an underground station, it would also probably be a good idea to build an adequately-sized underground car and coach park.
But surely visitors need some form of decent Park-And-Ride using an uprated train service. Such a station is envisaged by the Windsor Link Railway at Chalvey Interchange, which is South of Slough close to the M4.
Once the new station and the railway is fully connected, there is a magnificent opportunity to create a world-class park and related development over the top, between the existing railway viaduct and the iconic Thames.
The redundant Central station and the unused part of the massive viaduct would be developed appropriately.
Let’s face it Windsor is rather a crap and tatty tourist dump at the present time. The Windsor Link Railway could give the town the opportunity to give the historic town and castle the environment and status, it needs and deserves.
The Trains
In The IPEMU And The Windsor Link Railway, I wrote how IPEMU trains could make the design and building of the Windsor Link Railway easier and more affordable.
I believe it is essential that the Windsor Link Railway is run using trains with an IPEMU capability.
I also believe that as I saw in Future-Proofing The Uckfield Branch, that all platforms including the bay platform at Slough station must be capable of accepting twelve-car trains.
I am assured that this is in the design.
The Central Tunnel
I would suspect that many people would feel that digging the central tunnel across Windsor will be an enormously expensive operation.
Construction companies put in cut-and-cover tunnels like this all over the world and especially in Germany. The last tunnel, I saw being built was the large Stadtbahn Tunnel in Karlsruhe right down the main street, which would take the German version of the Class 399 tram-train.
Whilst this tunnel is controversial and has its problems, it is much larger than that proposed through Windsor. The final cost estimate for Karlsruhe eas €588million for a double-track tunnel, which is 3.5km. long and has seven stops.
In the UK, the only similar tunnel is the Dalston Western Curve, where a new tunnel was dug along an existing alignment.
This article in the Londonist describes a visit to the tunnel before it opened.
Intriguingly, the Dalston tunnel was reportedly dug by a German sub-contractor, who specialise in getting trams in tight places.
We sometimes seem too conservative when we dig tunnels. I can’t think of a cut-and-cover tunnel built in the last twenty years in the UK? Not even one built to create an entrance to a car park!
In June last year I wrote Walking The Proposed Route Of The Windsor Link Railway. I felt afterwards that a single-track tunnel between the area of the Riverside station and a new Windsor Royal station to the North of the current Central station would be possible.
Since then, the IPEMU train has become a serious possibility and if trains on the Windsor Link Railway had this capability, then the tunnel could have these characteristics.
- Single-track tunnel.
- Built using cut-and-cover.
- No electrification.
- IPEMU trains only in the tunnel.
- Evacuation walkway like the DLR.
- No massive ventilation and evacuation shafts.
My project management knowledge tells me, that this is the sort of tunnel, that could be built without causing too much disruption to train services and road traffic, by getting all of the jobs in the right logical order.
Conclusion
The Windsor Link Railway, is a project that must be judged as a whole.
But do that and there is a lot of money to be made from property development, which would more than pay for the railway.
Enfield Fighting For A Better Train Service
With Waltham Forest getting a new Lea Bridge station, Enfield Council are trying hard to get an improved service at Angel Road station, which is going to be rebuilt and renamed Meridian Water. Wikpedia says this about the development.
The London Borough of Enfield announced in January 2014 that the station being an integral part of the proposed Meridian Water development would be turned into a ‘thriving’ new hub and renamed as Meridian Water. The £3.5 million project due to be completed within the next five years is being supported with funds from the Greater London Authority and Enfield Council.
This article in the Enfield Independent is entitled Council Loses Angel Road Court Case.
The Council were trying to get four trains per hour all day at Angel Road station.
The two stations of Angel Road and Lea Bridge illustrate the problems of timing the building or updating of stations and the train services to serve them.
The Anonymous Widower 