The Anonymous Widower

Essex Councillors Call For Underground Link

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

This is the first paragraph.

Councillors in Harlow are calling for a new Underground link, saying that they are examining ‘all possibilities for improving and modernising transport connections’.

I’ve tackled this subject before in Does Harlow Need An Improved Train Service?, but this time I’m starting with what is possible and working backwards.

Harlow’s Current Train Service

Currently, these trains serve Harlow Town station.

• Stratford and Bishops Stortford – 2 tph – via Lea Bridge, Tottenham Hale, Waltham Cross, Cheshunt, Broxbourne and Sawbridgeworth
• London Liverpool Street and Cambridge North – 1 tph – via Tottenham Hale, Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Bishop’s Stortford, Audley End, Whittlesford Parkway and Cambridge
• London Liverpool Street and Cambridge North – 1 tph – via Tottenham Hale, Cheshunt, Broxbourne, Roydon, Sawbridgeworth, Bishop’s Stortford, Stansted Mountfitchet, Elsenham, Newport, Audley End, Great Chesterford, Whittlesford Parkway, Shelford and Cambridge
• London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport – 1 tph – via Tottenham Hale
• London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport – 1 tph – via Tottenham Hale and Stansted Mountfitchet

In addition these services run through Harlow Town station without stopping.

• London Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport – 2 tph – via Tottenham Hale

Note.

1. tph is trains per hour
2. The Stansted services are fast services and take 29 minutes between London Liverpool Street and Harlow Town.
3. The other services seem to take a few minutes longer.

Summarising the services gives the following.

• Eight tph pass through the station of which six tph stop.
• Cambridge and Cambridge North has a 2 tph service.
• London Liverpool Street has a 4 tph service.
• Stansted Airport has a 2 tph service.
• Stratford has a 2 tph service.
• Tottenham Hale has a 6 tph service.

Each of Greater Anglia’s new Class 720 trains, when working as a ten-car formation can carry well over a thousand passengers.

Harlow Town station has a fairly good service, but it could probably be improved.

What Are Harlow’s Councillors Suggesting

This paragraph in the Railnews article gives the councillors wish list.

Harlow Councillor Michael Hardware is portfolio holder for strategic growth. He said: ‘With Harlow’s close proximity to London our plans include investigating the potential for the extension of the central line to Harlow, lobbying to extend London Transport Zones to Harlow, examining connectivity to Crossrail 2 and promoting four tracking of the main line to Stansted Airport as well as improving existing public transport links in and out of the town.

I’ll look at each proposal in turn.

Extending The Central Line To Harlow

Epping and Harlow are about nine miles apart.

This Google Map shows the two towns and the M11 that runs to the East of both towns.

Note.

1. Epping is in the South-West corner of the map.
2. Harlow, which is a large town of nearly 90,000 residents is at the top of the map.
3. The M11 runs North-South across the map to the East of both towns.
4. North Weald Airfield lies to the East of the motorway.

Would it be possible to run an extension of the Central Line from Epping to Harlow?

It could run up the West side of the motorway.

• The terminus could be in South-East Harlow close to Junction 7 of the M11.
• Any plans for the development of North Weald Airfield could have a big effect on any plans.

This Google Map shows the location of Epping station with respect to the motorway.

Note Epping station is in the South-West corner of the map.

Running North-East from the station, the dark green scar of the single-track Epping Ongar Railway can be picked out, as it runs between St. Margaret’s Hospital and the village of Coopersale.

This third Google Map shows the railway as it passes under the M11.

Would it be possible to use the route of this line to connect to a new line alongside the motorway?

This fourth Google Map shows Epping tube station.

Note.

1. The station has two platforms, but is not step-free.
2. It has a large car-park.
3. Trains take thirty-seven minutes between Epping and Liverpool Street stations.
4. Trains have a frequency of nine tph.

This map from cartometro.com shows the track layout at Epping station and the interface with the Epping Ongar Railway.

Note.

1. The Epping Ongar Railway has always been single track.
2. The crossovers to the South of Epping station allow either platform to be used for Central Line services.
3. When the Central Line ran to Ongar, it looks like all services used Platform 1 at Epping.

I feel that it might be possible to create an extension to Harlow, by doing something like the following.

• Add a second bi-directional  track alongside the Epping Ongar Railway between Epping station and the M11.
• Extend Platform 1 to the North, so that the heritage trains can load and unload passengers at Epping station.
• The Central Line platforms would be unaltered, so could still handle the nine tph they currently handle.
• Trains to and from Harlow would always use Platform 2.

At the M11, the new bi-directional track would turn North and become double-track to Harlow.

• The double-track would allow trains to pass.
• If the rolling stock for the Central Line has been renewed, it might be possible to run the extension on battery power.
• If Harlow had a single platform, it would be possible to run four tph to Harlow.
• The current 2012 Stock trains have a capacity of around a thousand passengers.
• I estimate that trains would take about ten minutes between Epping station and the new Harlow station.

I feel something is possible, but building the line might be easier if new battery-electric trains were available, as this would probably allow the extension to be built without electrification.

On the other hand, it might not have the greatest financial case.

• It could be difficult to add large numbers of passengers to the Central Line.
• At around forty-seven minutes, the Central Line service will be slower than the main line trains, which currently take around a dozen minutes less.

I’ll be interested to see what the professionals say.

Extending London Transport Zones To Harlow

Harlow Town station has ticket barriers, but I don’t think it is part of London’s contactless card zone.

Adding Harlow Town and all stations between Harlow Town and the zone could be very beneficial to passengers and train companies.

Examining Connectivity To Crossrail 2

I think that in the current economic situation this should be discounted.

• It is a very expensive project.
• Building it will cause tremendous disruption on the West Anglia Main Line.
• It is only planned to go as far as Broxbourne station.

But I don’t think politicians from outside London and the South-East would sanction another massive project for London.

I don’t think Crossrail 2 will ever be build in its currently proposed form.

Four Tracking Of The Main Line To Stansted Airport

Consider.

• Currently, the numbers of trains on the West Anglia Main Line is under twelve tph.
• Modern double-track railways with the latest digital in-cab signalling like Thameslink and Crossrail can handle twice this number of trains.
• The West Anglia Main Line will be getting new trains with better acceleration.

Four-tracking is mainly needed to cut times to Cambridge and Stansted Airport, but I suspect that with some clever design and improved signalling, the current double-track can be improved significantly.

Improving Existing Public Transport Links In And Out Of The Town

I think that this could be a fruitful area.

• As I said earlier, Harlow has only 6 tph trains stopping in the station.
• I believe this could be increased to at least 10 tph, if the West Anglia Main Line were to be modernised.
• Extending London Transport Zones To Harlow, which I discussed earlier would surely help.
• Is there enough car parking?
• Are there enough buses to the stations?
• Would a fleet of zero-carbon buses tempt people to use them?
• Would it be possible to run a hydrogen commuter bus service up and down the M11 between say Harlow and Ilford for Crossrail?, as is being done in Dublin, that I wrote about in Three Hydrogen Double Decker Buses Set For Dublin.

Hopefully, Harlow’s councillors would have a few good ideas.

A Few Thoughts On What Is Possible

These are a few of my thoughts on what is possible.

Digital Signalling Could Increase The Number of Trains Per Hour Significantly

Consider.

• Currently, the West Anglia Main Line handles ten tph between Liverpool Street and Bishops Stortford.
• Thameslink handles 24 tph with digital signalling.
• Crossrail will handle 24 tph with digital signalling.
• High Speed Two will handle eighteen tph.

I certainly believe that another four tph could be easily handled through the two Harlow stations, with full digital signalling.

Perhaps a frequency of eight tph, that would match TfL Rail between London Liverpool Street and Shenfield would be ideal.

If it works for Shenfield it should work for Harlow!

Rebuild Cheshunt Station

Cheshunt station with its level crossing is a bottleneck and any increase in the number of trains through the station will need the level crossing to be replaced by a bridge.

But developers are talking of high class housing in the area and removal of the level crossing appears to be in their plans.

New High-Capacity Class 720 Trains

Pairs of five-car Class 720 trains are coming to the West Anglia Main Line and each pair will carry over a thousand passengers.

These will be used on four tph, that call at Harlow Town station.

Turn Trains In The High Meads Loop at Stratford Station

The single-track Wirral Line Loop under Liverpool handles up to sixteen tph.

Network Rail built a double-track loop under the Eastfield Shopping Centre, which calls at Platforms 11 and 12 in Stratford.

If this loop was used to turn trains it could probably handle at least twelve tph on one platform.

Liverpool Street currently handles these trains that go up the West Anglia Main Line or the Lea Valley Lines.

• 6 tph – Greater Anglia
• 6 tph – London Overground

It looks to me that the terminal capacity in London could be as high as 20 tph.

Run More Trains On A Digitally-Signalled Route Through Seven Sisters

Just four tph run on the London Overground route through Seven Sisters station.

Compare that with the East London Line of the London Overground, where sixteen tph run between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays stations.

The London Overground has ambitions to run four tph to Cheshunt and Enfield Town, as they do to Chingford, but that would only up the frequency through Seven Sisters to eight tph.

The tracks in the area also allow trains from Stratford to use the lines through Seven Sisters stations to go North.

Run West Anglia And Lea Valley Services Together

Currently, Greater Anglia and London Overground seem to do their own things, but surely properly integrated and with the moving of more services to the London Overground, I suspect that everything could be more efficient.

I believe that by using Liverpool Street and Stratford as twin London terminals for Lea Valley services, that upwards of twenty tph can on digitally-signalled West Anglia Main Line and the Lea Valley Lines.

These are the current trains.

• Bishops Stortford – 2 tph
• Cambridge North – 2 tph
• Cheshunt – 2 tph
• Chingford – 4 tph
• Enfield Town – 2 tph
• Hertford East – 2 tph
• Stansted Airport – 4 tph

Note.

1. This is a total of eighteen tph
2. The pinch point is surely the stretch between Bethnal Green and Clapton stations, which handles 14 tph including a mix of fast expresses and London Overground services.
3. On the other hand the route through Seven Sisters is handling just four tph.
4. Ten tph run between Tottenham Hale and Cheshunt stations on the West Anglia Main Line.
5. Only two tph terminate in Stratford.

If the Cheshunt and Enfield Town services are increased to 4 tph, as is London Overground’s aspirations we get the following.

• Bishops Stortford – 2 tph
• Cambridge North – 2 tph
• Cheshunt – 4 tph
• Chingford – 4 tph
• Enfield Town – 4 tph
• Hertford East – 2 tph
• Stansted Airport – 4 tph

Note.

This is a total of twenty-two tph.

But there is still plenty of spare capacity at Stratford and through Seven Sisters.

If our objective is more trains through Harlow, why not double up the Stratford and Bishops Stortford service.

• Bishops Stortford – 4 tph
• Cambridge North – 2 tph
• Cheshunt – 4 tph
• Chingford – 4 tph
• Enfield Town – 4 tph
• Hertford East – 2 tph
• Stansted Airport – 4 tph

Note.

1. This is a total of twenty-four tph.
2. Harlow will have eight tph to and from London.
3. There will be 8 tph through Seven Sisters.
4. There will be twelve tph between Tottenham Hale and Cheshunt stations on the West Anglia Main Line.
5. Four tph will terminate at Stratford.

Perhaps to reduce the trains on the West Anglia Main Line, the Hertford East trains could go via Seven Sisters.

But that would mean that stations like Brimsdown and Ponders End would lose a lot of their service.

So why not add extra stops to the Bishops Stortford services?

Conclusion

I believe that by doing the following.

• Adding digital signalling to all lines.
• Turning more trains at Stratford.
• Using the route through Seven Sisters at a much higher frequency.
• Rebuilding Cheshunt station and level crossing.
• Reorganising stops on the West Anglia Main Line.

That it would be possible to create a high-frequency Metro up the Lea Valley.

Except for the digital signalling and Cheshunt station, there is not much work to do on the infrastructure.

August 14, 2021 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Central Line, Class 720 Train, Crossrail 2, Digital Signalling, Epping Ongar Railway, Greater Anglia, Harlow Town Station, Heritage Railways, High Meads Loop, Lea Valley Lines, Lea Valley Metro, Liverpool Street Station, London Overground, London Underground, Surrey Quays, West Anglia Four-Tracking, West Anglia Main Line | 4 Comments