Crossrail 2 October 2015 – King’s Road Chelsea Station
The reason for my walk this morning, between Sloane Square and Imperial Wharf stations, was to look at Crossrail 2’s plans for King’s Road Chelsea station.
If the station is built it will sit between Victoria and Clapham Junction stations.
This Google Map shows the area.
Victoria To Clapham Junction
Victoria station is in the top right corner and Clapham Junction is at the bottom of the map.
So what do Crossrail 2 say about the need for a King’s Road Chelsea station in their document about the station. They say this.
A station in the Chelsea area has always been part of the Chelsea – Hackney line safeguarding since it was first proposed in 1989. A Crossrail 2 station in Chelsea would improve community access to rail based public transport in an area where current service levels are low in comparison to similar inner London locations. It would also improve connectivity to the Royal Brompton and Royal Marsden hospitals and provide access to the existing retail and commercial developments along King’s Road. Providing a Crossrail 2 station in Chelsea would also improve journey times for those travelling to or from King’s Road.
Chelsea currently suffers weekday congestion and delays on its main roads. By 2031 congestion on London’s roads is expected to increase by 60 per cent. Providing a Crossrail 2 station would encourage more people to use public transport, which would help to reduce traffic congestion in the area and improve air quality.
That is an answer that would persuade someone like me, who doesn’t drive and knows the arguments for buses and trains, but to the average selfish driver of a high-powered car or off-road vehicle, that is almost an insult.
The Google Map does show the enormous problem in working out the route of Crossrail 2.
Victoria and Clapham Junction stations are about four kilometres apart, so for safety and ventilation reasons any tunnel between the two stations will need an access shaft.
And what lies between the two stations? The River Thames!
I’m sure that part of the reason for a new station in the Chelsea area, is to provide the necessary shaft for the tunnels, as the only other alternative is somewhere in Battersea and that is probably too close to Clapham Junction.
This creates a wonderful irony for Chelsea. Suppose that Crossrail 2 decide that because of opposition, they are going to drop building a station in Chelsea.
They might still decide to build a shaft in perhaps a block of flats, in the same way they did on Moorgate with Moor House.
So Chelsea would have an unseen emergency access and ventilation shaft, but no station.
This map from the Crossrail 2 document shows the proposed station and its shafts, entrances and work-sites.
King’s Road Chelsea Station
This Google Map shows the area of Site A in an enlarged format.
King’s Road Chelsea Station Site A
Site A is described like this by Crossrail 2.
Includes the Chelsea Garden Centre and Farmers Market. This would be the main worksite for construction of the station tunnels, station entrance, ticket hall and station shaft. Although the site boundary includes 250 King’s Road and 151 Sydney Street, these buildings would be retained.
I would assume that the buildings to be retained are these on the corner.
This Google Map shows the area of Site B in an enlarged format.
King’s Road Chelsea Station Site B
Site B is described like this by Crossrail 2.
Includes retail and office buildings adjacent to The Pheasantry and extends across Jubilee Place, which would be closed temporarily. This site would be used for construction of the eastern station shaft.
The Pheasntry, where Pizza Express has their restaurant is to the right of Waterstones and Ryman
Jubilee Place is to the left of Waterstones and appears to be one-way away from the King’s Road.
This station design is not very ambitious, when you compare it to Balham or Dalston, in that it appears to be single as opposed to double-ended.
Is this because there is no interchange with other lines or because Crossrail 2 want to have to argue only one entrance with protestors?
What Will The New Buildings Be Like?
Obviously I don’t know, but I can make a few points.
- On both sites A and B, I suspect that both shafts and the station at Site A will be incorporated into buildings in keeping with the area.
- It looks from the proposed position of the station entrance, that if the building on the corner of Site A is to be retained as Crossrail 2 say, then it will double as the station.
Surely, this would be two briefs that would be welcomed by one of our world-class architects.
Conclusion
This is probably the most difficult station to build for Crossrail 2.
Not in terms of the actual engineering, but in the sensitive nature of the site and the local residents.
But as I said earlier, I have a feeling that if Crossrail 2 is built it will have to build something in the Chelsea area, due to London’s geography.
A Walk Between Sloane Square And Imperial Wharf Stations
I waled between Sloane Square and Imperial Wharf stations, to get a feel of the area and formulate my views of whether the area needs a Crossrail 2 station and if it does, what form it will take.
The walk and the area did raise a few interesting questions.
- Why is the Department Store in Sloane Square not called John Lewis? After all Jones Brothers, George Henry Lee and Robert Sayle have all taken the corporate name.
- Why at nine o’clock in the morning were expensive cars rushing about at well above the speed limit? This area needs a fully enforced twenty limit to make everybody safer.
- Why all the fuss about demolishing an empty Fire Station to use the site for a Crossrail 2 station? With an imaginative architect, it would enhance the buildings in that area of the King’s Road.
- Why would anybody want to live in the very attractive but expensive side streets? You’d effectively be a prisoner of the traffic for most of the week.
- Why are so many of the shops boring members of chains? I didn’t see many that I felt, I should return visit to perhaps buy something for my house.
- Why are there no signs to Imperial Wharf station?
- Why are there so few maps?
- Why do the artisan bakeries not have anything without gluten? The only places that do gluten-free I saw were Marks and Spencer, Waitrose and Starbucks. The Angel has those and several others!
I really think that the whole point of the opposition by some, to the building of a Crossrail 2 station on the King’s Road, is that they want to keep the area congested with traffic, so that visitors stay away!
After all. posh people in Chelsea, don’t want to allow plebs like me with a degree in a very non-artistic subject like Engineering to lower the tone of the area, by visiting!
They’re Just A Load Of Snobs In Chelsea
That should be the headline on this report from the Evening Standard about the posh people not wanting the plebs to go to Chelsea.
It’s the last time, I buy any of Grossman’s sauces!
Seriously though, look at this Google Map of the area from Fulham Broadway station to the possible proposed site of the station.
Chelsea Station And Stamford Bridge
If the new Chelsea station is where the red arrow is, it will be very convenient for going to the football. Especially for one of my mates who supports Chelsea and lives in Dalston.
But where I live, I’m close to Highbury and could walk there to see a match. The only trouble you get is a lot of traffic on match days, which is getting better year on year as the public transport improves.
I suspect that if the new Chelsea station opens, that on match days, it will actually improve the traffic in Chelsea, as more supporters will use public transport.
Those who are protesting are just a load of snobs, who would prefer to live in a gated community, where others are only let in under permit and after CRB checks!
I took a few photographs from the top of a virtually empty number 11 bus, as it progressed up the King’s Road from Fulham Broadway to Sloane Square.
It was surprisingly quiet.
Having seen the site, I suspect if they do put a station at the Chelsea Fire Station site, they’ll use the same technique as at Moor House for Crossrail.
At some point in the next few years, a developer will put up a stylish building in place of the fire station, which will have a core that will have provision for Crossrail 2 to pass through and connect up later. This later connection will be done without any action from the surface, but totally from the tunnels.
I suspect the probably bland high-rise residential property, they will get on the fire station site, will cause more degradation than Crossrail 2 ever will. Look at the monstrosity that has replaced the much-loved Middlesex Hospital.
The Luvvies Don’t Like Crossrail 2
Kings Road is one of the worst roads for traffic in London, as Traffic in the New Kings Road shows.
So you’d think that a new Crossrail 2 station would be welcomed. But according to thus article in the Standard which is entitled Felicity Kendal and Trevor Eve join fight to stop Crossrail station on King’s Road, there is a campaign against the line. The article says this.
The campaign group No Crossrail in Chelsea warns that it will lead to years of disruption and ruin the character of one of London’s best loved “villages”
I have always thought that there would be such a campaign in Chelsea, as let’s face it, these people probably don’t go anywhere unless they’re in a large gas-guzzler or taxi.
The joke is that if a station is built in the Kings Road, I believe it will be built by uphill excavation from the tunnels deep below and the amount of surface disruption will be about the same as that of building a couple of new shops with flats on the top.
These people don’t know what they are missing, being so detached from London’s transport system. After all Crossrail 2 would allow them to come and enjoy the sights of Dalston, Tottenham and Walthamstow. But they probably go no further than John Lewis at Sloane Square. (I know it’s called Peter Jones, but John Lewis know that to change the name would create a battle that would make Stalingrad look like a childrens tea party!)
These campaign groups are a disgrace and if any of the members have Freedom Passes, they should be publicly cancelled.
Incidentally, Patrick Stewart and other so-called important people staged a campaign against the Super Sewer. That was extremely successful and they are now looking forward to a sewage system of which London could be proud.
The Anonymous Widower 