London Euston Cat-Astrophe Averted For Train-Surfing Puss
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
Except for the headline, the BBC resisted the urge to use more feline puns in the story.
Macclesfield Station And High Speed Two
Today, I went to Macclesfield station.
In the latest iteration of High Speed Two, two new destinations were added to the High Speed Two Network; Macclesfield and Lancaster.
These pictures show Macclesfield station.
It is a modern station, with three through platforms, two bridges and some Modernist architecture from the 1970s, that could be improved.
This Google Map shows the layout of the station.
Note.
- Platform 1 is in the West and is used by trains to Stockport and Manchester Piccadilly.
- Platform 2 is in the middle and is used by trains going to Stoke, London and the South.
- Platform 3 is in the East and appears to be used a couple of times per day.
- It also appears there might have been a fourth platform.
All platforms appear capable of handling an eleven-car Class 390 train, which are over two hundred and sixty metres in length.
Is the plan to use Macclesfield as a High Speed Two terminal feasible?
Which Trains Will High Speed Two Use On Macclesfield Services?
It appears that High Speed Two will have two types of trains.
- Trains built to the European loading gauge, that will only be able to work on high lines like High Speed One and High Speed Two. Examples would be Eurostar’s Class 373 and Class 374 trains.
- Trains built to the UK loading gauge, that could also work on existing UK 125 mph routes like the East Coast, Great Western, Midland and West Coast Main Lines. Examples would be Class 800. Class 801, Class 802, Class 390 and Class 745 trains.
The second type, which are referred to, as class-compatible trains will be used to Macclesfield, as these services will share track with Class 390 and other trains, that have been or will be built to the smaller UK loading gauge.
Will Classic-Compatible High Speed Two Trains Fit Into Macclesfield Station?
Currently, every hour, one eleven-car Class 390 train calls in Macclesfield station in both directions, as they provide one of Avanti \west Coast’s three trains per hour (tph) between London Euston and Manchester Piccadilly stations.
The current trains are sixty metres longer than the proposed classic-compatible High Speed Two trains, that could be terminating in Macclesfield station.
How Would Passengers Who Started And Finished Their Journeys In Macclesfield, Connect to Manchester?
Currently, these hourly services connect Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke stations.
- Avanti West Cost – Manchester Piccadilly and London Euston.
- CrossCountry – Manchester Piccadilly and Bournemouth
- CrossCountry – Manchester Piccadilly and Bristol
- Northern – Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke, which stops at all stations.
The characteristics would be common to all these four trains.
- Services call at Stockport, Macclesfield and Stoke stations.
- As services share tracks with a High Speed Two service, they must be reasonably fast.
- All except the Northern service are 125 mph trains.
- The Northern service is run by a 90 mph Class 323 electric train.
- As Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke via Stockport is a fully-electrified route, the trains should probably be able to take advantage.
In an ideal world should the frequency be six tph or one train every ten minutes in each direction?
Which Platforms Would Be Used To Terminate High Speed Two Services?
Trains built to the UK loading gauge could probably terminate in any of the three platforms.
But it might be advantageous to terminate all services in the same platform.
Platform 3 would be the obvious choice.
- It shares an island platform with classic services going South between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke.
- Passengers starting their journeys in Manchester Piccadilly or Stockport could just walk across from their connecting train to the High Speed Two train.
It must surely be a possibility to make Platform 2 able to operate bi-directionally, so that all trains between Manchester Piccadilly and Stoke stations in both directions, stop in Platform 2, alongside the High Speed Two train for London and the South, that is waiting in Platform 3. The combined frequency would be eight tph. All passengers would just walk across the island platform to change trains.
Could A North-Facing Bay Platform Be Fitted Into The Northern End Of The Island Platform 2/3?
If you are going to provide a High Speed Two service to and from Macclesfield station, it needs to have superb and comprehensive connections to as many places as possible.
The station currently has four tph to Manchester Piccadilly, Stockport and Stoke, but would a North-facing bay platform with level access to the High Speed Two platform make any of the following feasible?
- Run a second local stopping service between Manchester Piccadilly and Macclesfield to give all intermediate stations two tph to High Speed Two.
- Run hourly services to places that don’t have good connections to high speed services to London and the South.
- The Stockport and Stalybridge Line could be used to connect Stalybridge and Huddersfield to High Speed Two.
- There might even be a way of creating a link between Macclesfield and Manchester Airport.
Note.
- Looking at the platform layout at Macclesfield station, fitting in a bay platform would appear to be feasible.
- The important Stockport station, which seems to have been forgotten by High Speed Two would probably have at least six tph to High Speed Two at Macclesfield station.
- The local train could be timed to arrive at Macclesfield station, a convenient time before the High Speed Two train is scheduled to depart.
The bay platform could even be part of Platform 3, if it was decided that trains stopping in Platform 3, never used the platform as a through platform. It would be Macclesfield’s version of the Clapham Kiss.
I suspect more space could be found, by moving the signal box at the end of the station.
\remember that these days most signalling is controlled from centralised Rail Operation Centres.
Could High Speed Two Trains Run Between Macclesfield And Manchester Piccadilly?
As I said earlier, High Speed Two’s classic-compatible trains will be the same cross-section and shorter, than an eleven-car Class 390 train.
So the answer to my question must be yes!
- This would enable a stop at Stockport station.
- No platform lengthening would be required at Manchester Piccadilly and Stockport stations.
High Speed Two must have good reasons for using Macclesfield as a terminal.
- There are capacity issues between Macclesfield and Manchester Piccadilly stations.
- Macclesfield offers opportunities to connect to places, that are difficult to reach from Manchester Piccadilly station.
But these problems could probably be overcome by digital signalling or extension of the Manchester Metrolink.
Could More High Speed Two Services Run Between Macclesfield Station and The South?
Consider.
- I believe that Macclesfield station could handle more than an hourly High Speed Two train.
- It is a general principle, that on a metro like the London Overground or Merseyrail, that a single platform can handle up to four or even six tph.
- Four tph would surely be too high, but Macclesfield could easily handle a second classic-compatible train to and from Birmingham Curzon Street via Stoke and Stafford.
- During the inevitable works at Manchester Piccadilly station to sccomodate High Speed Two, Macclesfield could offer an alternative route, between London and Manchester.
Using Macclesfield station, as an alternative terminal for Manchester Piccadilly, builds in extra capacity for the future and offers a valuable alternative route during construction and upgrade works.
Rationalisation Between Cross Country And High Speed Two
Consider.
- In a lot of locations North of Birmingham, CrossCountry and High Speed Two seem to provide similar services between the same stations.
- Using currently proposed connections between High Speed Two and the classic network, CrossCountry’s services could run faster.
- CrossCountry’s new fleet of trains will probably be multi-mode trains, that will be very similar to the classic-compatible High Speed Two trains.
- Some of the routes used by CrossCountry’s services will have a substantial upgrade to allow higher speeds and more trains, to speed up High Speed Two services.
There must be a case for rationalisation of services.
Conclusion
The more I look at High Speed Two terminating at Macclesfield station, the more I like it.
I can see these services running from the station in the future.
- High Speed Two – Macclesfield and London Euston – One tph – This service would additionally call at Birmingham Interchange to link up with CrossCountry to the South.
- High Speed Two – Macclesfield and Birmingham Curzon Street – One tph
- CrossCountry – Macclesfield and Bournemouth, Plymouth or Reading – One tph.
- Northern and others – Macclesfield and Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport – Four-six tph
- Northern – Macclesfield and Huddersfield via Stockport and Stalybridge – Two tph
- Northern – Macclesfield and Manchester Airport – Two tph.
Obviously, this is all speculation, but Macclesfield will develop into an important rail hub to the South-East of Manchester.
Environmental Humour On Euston Road
I took this picture on the Euston Road outside Euston station.
It’s an area, where I don’t walk very often, so I don’t know how long it’s been there.
Euston Station – 8th May, 2020
I had walked to Euston station from Kings Cross along the back roads, which is a much better route than along the polluted Euston Road.
Note, that the train part of the station seemed to be functioning normally.
The Abandoned Tube Entrance At Euston
These pictures show the abandoned tube entrance at Euston station.
The station was built to serve the Charing Cross, Euston and Hampstead Railway, which is now part of the Northern Line.
- It opened in 1907.
- The building will now be demolished to make way for High Speed Two.
- I can’t ever remember using the entrance.
It looks to be a station, which are typical of many, that were created by Leslie Green.
- Wikipedia has a list of over forty stations, that were designed by Leslie Green.
- Many are Grade II Listed
- His designs inspired the look of the fictional Walford East Underground station in EastEnders.
I would reckon, the one I use most is Oxford Circus.
Ian Publishes Details Of Future Developments At Euston And Euston Square Underground Stations
This post on the Ian Visits blog is entitled A New London Underground Entrance To Euston Station.
The Underground Lines In The Euston Station Area
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the Underground Lines in the Euston station area.
Note.
- The sub-surface lines run underneath the busy Euston Road.
- Platform 2 at Euston Square station has no lift or escalator.
- Platform 1 at Euston Square station has a lift, which also serves the subway.
- To connect between the sub-surface lines at Euston Square and the deep lines at Euston means a walk on the surface.
- Euston station only has two up and two down escalators and no lifts for the six deep-level platforms.
- To connect between the Bank and Charing Cross branches of the Northern Line is often along a very crowded passage.
This interchange has not been fit for purpose since the Victoria Line was built in the 1960s.
A Second Entrance To Euston Square Station
One of the key projects to unlock the interchange, is to create a subway from the current Euston station.
It will lead to a new entrance placed in the middle of Gordon Street.
The subway will have stairs, escalators and/or lifts to connect to the Eastern ends of the current Euston Square platforms.
Ian showed this diagram of the subway.
Note.
- It serves both platforms at Euston Square station.
- It looks to be reasonably wide and level.
These are some pictures I took on a walk round the area.
This is a possible future visualisation from Ian’s site.
The new Gordon Street entrance appears to be opposite the porticoed building, which is part of University College London.
- The view is looking North, like the first three of my pictures.
- Gordon Street appears to be at least part-pedestrianised.
- Escalators are visible.
It looks to be a London version of Bilbao’s fosteritos.
Fosteritos are named after Norman Foster, as he or his practice designed the Bilbao Metro.
- The escalators in Bilbao are longer than would be needed at Gordon Street.
- I don’t think that fitting in a slimline lift would be difficult.
I like the fosterito concept and I feel a similar approach could be used to add step-free access to a lot of stations on the London Underground.
The Design Of The Updated Euston Underground Station
Ian showed this visualisation of the updated Euston Underground station.
At a first look, it appears to be a very similar concept to the entrance to the Underground in front of St. Pancras station.
Click on the image to show it large and you can pick out the following.
- West is to the left and East is right.
- Much of the construction appears to replace the original car park and taxi rank.
- The upper level looks like where passengers enter and leave the station.
- The subway to Euston Square station and the new Gordon Street entrance joins to the upper level towards the Eastern end.
- There is grade access between the upper level and the High Speed Two concourse.
- There are lots of escalators to travel between levels. The square orange columns could be lift towers.
- The lower level is the Interchange/Ticket Hall level.
- The lower level is not much higher than the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.
- The design seems to make clever use of levels to make changing easier.
- The access between the lower level and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line at the Western end of the station, appears to be comprehensive and step-free.
- The access between the lower level and the Victoria Line and the Bank branch of the Northern Line, appears to use the current route, which will probably be upgraded to be fully step-free.
This second image shows the design from above the platforms of the convention section of Euston station.
Click on the image to show it large and you can pick out the following.
- The complicated passages, escalators and lifts of the existing four platforms serving the Bank branch of the Northern Line and the Victoria Line.
- The cross passage connecting these lines to the platforms of the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.
- The two up and two down escalators leading to the existing ticket hall.
- The Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line curving in and away from the station. See the earlier map of the Underground lines.
- The eleven High Speed platforms on the West side of the station.
- The thirteen Classic platforms on the East side of the station.
- The new Northern entrance to the Underground between the two sets of platforms. How convenient!
- There appears to be a wide passage between the Northern and Southern entrances, with connections to the lines branching off.
- The subway to the new Gordon Street entrance is shown at the top of the image.
The design seems to have separated access to the two branches of the Northern line, by creating a new high-capacity route to the Charing Cross branch.
I also think, that the design allows the station to be built without disrupting passengers using the Underground and the current Euston station.
- A large hole for the station can be excavated, without touching existing access.
- It could then be fitted out section by section.
- Once the new access to the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line is complete, the current access to the Northern and Victoria Lines can be refurbished.
Arriving At Euston
Imagine you are a passenger arriving from the North, who knows the Underground line, you need to take, you would then enter the Underground station using the new Northern entrance.
- For the Bank branch of the Northern Line or the Victoria Line, you would go through the existing ticket hall and down the escalators, much as you do now! Except that you’d enter the ticket hall on the other side from the East side of the passageway connecting the two entrances. New lifts appear to be shown.
- For the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, you would take the passages, lifts and escalators on the West side of the passageway connecting the two entrances.
- If you wanted the sub-surface lines, you would just keep going and take the new subway, which connects to the Eastern ends of the platforms at Euston Square station.
It will certainly do me fine, if I arrive at Euston, as I’ll walk through the subway and get in the front of any Eastbound train for Moorgate station, where being in the front is convenient for the exit and the nearby bus stop to my home.
This route will surely be one of the ways arriving passengers at Euston will get Crossrail to Abbey Wood, Canary Wharf and Shenfield stations. In Crossrail – Northern – Northern City Interchange At Moorgate Station, I show some visualisations of Moorgate station and the connectivity.
Conclusion
I certainly think, that the new Underground station is a good design.
The New Underground Station Entrance At Euston Station
The entrance to Euston Underground station has been moved to the piazza outside station.
It appears there have been two objectives.
- To create more seating space in the cramped main station.
- To separate travellers walking to and from the Underground from those standing in the station forecourt.
Compared to Kings Cross, London Bridge and Waterloo, Euston has rather complicated pedestrian flows, which hopefully will be simplified, when the station is rebuilt for High Speed Two.
Could London Get A New Tube Line Between Canary Wharf And Euston?
The title of this post is the same as that as this article on CityMetric.
The article makes some interesting points.
- The line has been proposed by the owners of Canary Wharf.
- Getting to Canary Wharf from Euston, Kings Cross and St. Pancras is difficult.
- Property developers have always decided where London’s railways go.
- The plan would seem to have just one intermediate stop at Blackfriars station.
These new or improved services will be happening in the next ten years.
- More and faster services to/from the Midlands and the North West at Euston.
- High Speed Two services at Euston
- More and faster services to/from the East Midlands and Sheffield at St. Pancras.
- More Continental services at St. Pancras
- More and faster services to/from Yorkshire, the North East and Scotland at Kings Cross.
These lead me to the conclusion, that a new rail link is needed across London.
A Possible Western Extension To The Docklands Light Railway
In A Connection Between City Thameslink Station And The Docklands Light Railway, I wrote about a possible Western extension of the Docklands Light Railway.
his map from Transport for London, shows this possible Western extension of the DLR.
This was my analysis.
With all the problems of the funding of Crossrail 2, that I wrote about in Crossrail 2 Review Prompts Fresh Delays, could this extension of the DLR, be a good idea?
Consider,
- Victoria, Euston and St. Pancras are prosposed Crossrail 2 stations.
- It would link Canary Wharf and the City of London to Eurostar, Northern and Scottish services and High Speed 2.
- It would give all of the Docklands Light Railway network access to Thameslink.
- A pair of well-designed termini at Euston and St. Panras would probably increase frequency and capacity on the Bank branch of the system.
- The DLR is getting new higher capacity trains.
- Bank station is being upgraded with forty percent more passenger capacity.
- Holborn station is being upgraded and hopefully will be future-proofed for this extension.
- One big advantage at City Thameslink, is that Thameslink and the proposed DLR extension will cross at right-angles, thus probably making designing a good step-free interchange easier.
- The Bank Branch of the DLR currently handles 15 tph, but could probably handle more, if they went on to two terminal stations at St Pancras and Victoria..
- Waterloo and City Line can run at twenty-four tph.
Cinderella she may be, but then she always delivers, when there is a desperate need, just as she did magnificently at the 2012 Olympics.
The only problem with this extension of the DLR, is that compared to the rest of the system, the views will be terrible.
For myself and all the others living along the East London Line, with a step-free change at Shadwell, we would get excellent access to Euston, Saint Pancras and Victoria
But could the line still be called the Docklands Light Railway, as it spreads its tentacles further?
Will Cinderella come to the help of Canary Wharf for a second time?
I remember, when the Lewisham extension of the DLR was built without fuss, fanfare and cost and time overruns a couple of decades ago.
It was a triumph of sensible engineering.
A Connection Between City Thameslink Station And The Docklands Light Railway
In the Wikipedia entry for the Docklands Light Railway, there is a section describing a proposed Euston/St. Pancras Extension.
This is said.
In 2011, strategy documents proposed a DLR extension to Euston and St Pancras. Transport for London have considered driving a line from City Thameslink via Holborn north to the rail termini. The main benefit of such an extension would be to broaden the available direct transport links to the Canary Wharf site. It would create a new artery in central London and help relieve the Northern and Circle lines and provide another metro line to serve the High Speed line into Euston.
This map from Transport for London, shows the possible Western extension of the DLR.
With all the problems of the funding of Crossrail 2, that I wrote about in Crossrail 2 Review Prompts Fresh Delays, could this extension of the DLR, be a good idea?
Consider,
- Victoria, Euston and St. Pancras are prosposed Crossrail 2 stations.
- It would link Canary Wharf and the City of London to Eurostar, Northern and Scottish services and High Speed 2.
- It would give all of the Docklands Light Railway network access to Thameslink.
- A pair of well-designed termini at Euston and St. Panras would probably increase frequency and capacity on the Bank branch of the system.
- The DLR is getting new higher capacity trains.
- Bank station is being upgraded with forty percent more passenger capacity.
- Holborn station is being upgraded and hopefully will be future-proofed for this extension.
- One big advantage at City Thameslink, is that Thameslink and the proposed DLR extension will cross at right-angles, thus probably making designing a good step-free interchange easier.
- The Bank Branch of the DLR currently handles 15 tph, but could probably handle more, if they went on to two terminal stations at St Pancras and Victoria..
- Waterloo and City Line can run at twenty-four tph.
Cinderella she may be, but then she always delivers, when there is a desperate need, just as she did magnificently at the 2012 Olympics.
The only problem with this extension of the DLR, is that compared to the rest of the system, the views will be terrible.
For myself and all the others living along the East London Line, with a step-free change at Shadwell, we would get excellent access to Euston, Saint Pancras and Victoria
But could the line still be called the Docklands Light Railway, as it spreads its tentacles further?