Whitechapel’s Overground Platform Extensions Are Taking Shape
Whitechapel station has short Overground platforms and it was always said they’d be extended after Crossrail opens.
Judging by these pictures, it would appear that there isn’t much work to do.
Crossrail’s Loops And Branches Across London
Most people think of Crossrail, as an East-West railway under London serving the following places on its pair of branches in the East and the West.
- Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the East.
- Heathrow and Reading in the West.
But it is more than that, as the East-West Crossrail can be considered to be part of a larger system that includes a number of North-South routes.
- Thameslink from St. Pancras to East Croydon via Farringdon on Crossrail.
- East Londson Line from Highbury and Islington to Canada Water via Whitechapel on Crossrail.
- West London Line from Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction via Old Oak Common on Crossrail.
- Bank Branch of the Northern Line from Camden Town to Kennington via Tottenham Court Road on Crossrail.
- Charing Cross Branch of the Northern Line from Camden Town to Battersea via Moorgate on Crossrail.
- Bakerloo Line from Willesden Junction to Elephant and Castle via Paddington on Crossrail.
Cross-London journeys will get interesting, as there will often be a dozen ways to go between A and B, when they are in different parts of London.
Kids will race each other across the City.
Crossrail will also grab a strong hold of other cross-London routes.
Central Line
Crossrail has interchanges with the Central Line at the following stations.
- Stratford
- Liverpool Street
- Tottenham Court Road
- Bond Street
- Ealing Broadway
The Central Line will add a loop to Crossrail from Stratford to Ealing Broadway.
People who live say near Queensway will use the Central Line to access the outer reaches of Crossrail., at Ealing Broadway and Stratford.
In Step-Free Interchanges In East London, I pointed out the excellent interchange between Crossrail and the Central Line at Stratford, which sadly is Crossrail’s only top quality interchange to other lines.
The interchanges with the Central Line in Central London would sappear to be very unadventurous. Only when the line is opened, will we know how well they work and the quality of the design.
Perhaps the only way to have got better interchanges would have been for one track of Crossrail to be each side of the Central Line, through Central London.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the section of Crossrail from Marble Arch to Tottenham Court Road.
Crossrail Through Central London
From this map it looks like it could be possible, but I know from this section in Wikipedia, that it was difficult squeezing the tunnels past the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road, so perhaps the route that was chosen, was the best one from a construction and cost point of view. It could even have been the only one possible.
Metropolitan Line
Crossrail has interchanges with the Metropolitan Line at the following stations.
- Whitechapel
- Liverpool Street
- Moorgate
- Barbican
- Farringdon
- Paddington
The Metropolitan Line will add a loop to Crossrail from Whitechapel to Paddington. Although, due to the distance between the two lines at Paddington, this probably means the Metropolitan Line will serve as a North-Western branch of Crossrail, that serves Kings Cross, St. Pancras and Euston.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the section of Crossrail from Whitechapel to Farringdon.
Crossrail Through The City
Note how two Crossrail stations; Liverpool Street-Moorgate and Barbican-Farringdon effectively each serve two Metropolitan stations.
Effectively, it gives a large choice of routes between North West London and East London and Essex.
Crossrail interchanges with the District Line at the following stations.
- Whitechapel
- Paddington
- Ealing Broadway
The District Line will add a loop to Crossrail from Whitechapel to Ealing Broadway, with a partial interchange at Paddington.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines around Paddington.
Crossrail Through Paddington
Crossrail would appear to have a good right-angled connection with the District Line, between Edgware Road and Wimbledon.
So it could be argued that after Crossrail opens, the Edgware Road to Wimbledon service of the District Line is another North-South branch of Crossrail, just like with Thameslink and the East London Line.
North London Line
Crossrail interchanges with the following stations on the North London Line.
- Stratford
- Old Oak Common
The North London Line will add a loop to Crossrail from Stratford to Old Oak Common.
Jubilee Line
Crossrail interchanges with the following stations on the Jubilee Line.
- Stratford
- Bond Street
The Jubilee Line will add a loop to Crossrail from Stratford to Bond Street.
The Stations On The Loops
The effect of all these loops, mean that these stations will be on a line that connects to both ends of Crossrail.
- Acton Town
- Aldgate East
- Baker Street
- Bank
- Baron’s Court
- Bermondsey
- Bethnal Green
- Blackfriars
- Brondesbury
- Brondesbury Park
- Caledonian Road and Barnesbury
- Camden Road
- Canada Water
- Canning Town
- Cannon Street
- Canonbury
- Chancery Lane
- Chiswick Park
- Dalston Kinsland
- Ealing Common
- Earl’s Court
- East Acton
- Edgware Road
- Embankment
- Euston Square
- Finchley Road And Frognal
- Gospel Oak
- Gloucester Road
- Great Portland Street
- Hackney Central
- Hackney Wick
- Hammersmith
- Hampstead Heath
- Highbury and Islington
- Holborn
- Hommerton
- Kensal Rise
- Kentish Town West
- Kings Cross St. Pancras
- Lancaster Gate
- London Bridge
- Mansion House
- Marble Arch
- Mile End
- Monument
- North Greenwich
- Notting Hill Gate
- Oxford Circus
- Queensway
- Ravenscourt Park
- St. James’s Park
- St. Paul’s
- Shepherd’s Bush
- Sloane Square
- South Kensington
- Southwark
- Stamford Brook
- Temple
- Tower Hill
- Turnham Green
- Victoria
- Waterloo
- Westminster
- West Acton
- West Ham
- West Hampstead
- West Kensington
- White City
- Willesden Junction
The list may be impressive, even without stations on the North-South lines, but it has consequences.
- Ealing Broadway could see a lot of interchange traffic between Crossrail and the Central and |District Lines. Is it up to the task?
- Stratford and Whitechapel will see a lot of interchange traffic between Crossrail and other lines. These two stations have been designed for it.
- The Victoria Line is difficult to access. However, it is only a short walk from the Hanover Square entrance to Bond Street Crossrail station.
- The Piccadilly Line is difficult to access.
I suspect that as at Oxford Circus, there will be small schemes in several places to create connectivity.
Kings Cross St. Pancras is a big problem as it is a mass of long tunnels, but Crossrail and Thameslink will give passengers the chance to avoid it.
- If you’re on Crossrail and want to go North on the Victoria or Piccadilly Lines, I suspect that it would be easier to take Thameslink to Finsbury Park, where you can dive into the Underground.
- If you’re on Crossrail and want to go South on the Victoria Line, the quickest way might be change to the Bakerloo at Paddington and then walk across the platform to the Victoria Line at Oxford Circus.
But whatever route you take in a few years time, won’t be the obvious one today.
Extra Connectivity
There are various projects either under construction, planned or proposed, that would increase Crossrail’s reach.
- The Hall Farm Curve linking Walthamstow and Chingford to Stratford.
- The rebuilding of Bank, Camden Town, Highbury and Islington and other stations.
- The Northern Line Extension to Battersea.
- The Bakerloo Line Extension.
- The Greenford Branch is being improved.
- The re-signalling of London Underground’s sub-surface lines.
- The four-tracking of the West Anglia Main Line in preparation for Crossrail 2.
- The adding of a Central Line station at Shoreditch High Street.
- Extensions to the Docklands Light Railway.
- Old Oak Common will become more and more important with connections to the West Coast Main Line, HS2 and the Chiltern Main Line.
- Increases in frequency on the Victoria Line, Jubilee Line, Sub-Surface Lines, the Northern City Line and the Overground.
I do think though we could see a few surprises.
- There have been proposals to extend the Waterloo and City Line for years. Modern tunnelling and innovative train concepts might allow a shuttle between Waterloo and Crossrail at Liverpool Street.
- As the City of London wants to cut traffic in the Square Mile, what will they do?
- Will Oxford Street finally become traffic free?
- Will Manor House and Harringay Green Lanes be reorganised?
- Crossrail has seen some interesting concepts developed for building lift and escalator tunnels, which will be used again and again.
- Crossrail will be extended to somewhere not mentioned before.
I have a feeling that Crossrail 2 won’t be so urgent.
The Longer Overground Platfortms At Whitechapel Station Are Now Visible
This picture shows the Northern end of the Overground platforms at Whitechapel station.
Overground Platforms At Whitechapel Station
It would appear that they have grown enough extra platform length to accommodate all five cars, once some finishing work is completed.
It has been said that after Crossrail opens, these platforms will be at full size!
The Canonbury Cross-Over
The picture shows two London Overground trains at Canonbury station.
I have just alighted at the station on a train from Willesden Junction, that was going to Stratford along the North London Line and have crossed to the wide centre platform on the footbridge.
The train on the right is going between Stratford and Richmond along the North London Line, in the opposite direction to my journey. The train has just called at the right hand face of this pair of platforms.
The train approaching on the left, is an East London Line train going from Highbury and Islington station to East and South London.
The frequency on the North London Line is about eight trains per hour between Stratford and Willesden and four trains per hour between Willesden and Richmond.
On this section of the East London Line, the frequency is eight trains per hour.
This means that if you are travelling either way along the North London Line and then want to travel on the East London Line, even if you just miss a connection, you have a maximum of about seven minutes to wait.
To ease matters often a North London Line train will call at Canonbury at or just before an East London Line train arrives.
Canonbury is a station with plenty of shelter and a coffee stall, so waiting isn’t the worst of experiences even on a day like today.
The original layout of this station was more complicated and you didn’t need to change trains between Stratford and Dalston Junction, as you do now!
But now, we design stations and track layouts, so that all passengers have an easy and fast journey.
It doesn’t always please everybody, as the direct train a commuter has taken for years, might have been replaced with a faster service, that has a cross-platform change in the middle.
Network Rail have published a report, where they may be reorganising the Cambridge and Peterborough to Ipswich services, by building a new platform at Newmarket.
An hourly Cambridge to Ipswich service would meet an hourly Newmarket to Peterborough service at Newmarket, where passengers between Ipswich and Peterborough would walk across the platform to get the other train to continue their journey.
We shall be seeing this type of train organisation a lot more in the future. But the passenger will get more and better services, whilst the train operator will be using the same number of trains.
Canonbury was one of the first stations, where simple cross-platform interchange was built into the design.
We shall see a lot more innovative station layouts.
Proposed New Stations And Interchanges In South London
In the June 2016 Edition of Modern Railways in an article entitled Turning South London Orange.
In the article, there is a table of Station and Interchange Proposals. I will list them in order.
Battersea
Battersea station is proposed to have platforms on the Southeastern lines into Victoria, close to the Dogs’ Home, that will adjoin the new Battersea Power Station station on the Northern Line extension.
As this station appears to be crucial to a lot of the Centre for London reports proposals, I have given the new station its own post called A New Station For Battersea.
Beddington
Beddington station is proposed between Wallington and Waddon stations on the line between West Croydon and Sutton stations.
I don’t this area well, but here’s a Google Map between Wallington and Waddon stations.
Proposed Beddington Station
According to the Centre for London report, there is a long gap between stations and there has been a loot of development in the area.
The rail line runs across the middle of the map and the station is proposed for Plough Lane, South of Bandon Hill Cemetery.
Brixton
One of the proposals in the article is to create an improved station at Brixton, by reopening disused platforms on the Northernmost tracks at the station.
I have written this a separate post at An Improved Station For Brixton
Brockley
The article proposes a new pair of platforms on the South London Line between Nunhead and Lewisham stations, providing interchange with the existing Brockley station.
I gave my views on Brockley station in A Report On The Bakerloo Line Extension, which I now repeat.
This Google Map shows Brockley station.
Brockley Station
The Bexleyheath Line between Nunhead and Lewisham stations crosses the East London Line and Brockley station at a high level.
I wrote A Four-Poster Station about connecting these two lines.
It would appear that Transport for London have advanced this project from one word in their 2050 Infrastructure Plan to a proposal.
This is the sort of connectivity, that us plebs in Dalston will like a lot. From 2018, as I wrote in Increased Frequencies on the East London Line, there will be ten services per hour between Dalston Junction and Brockley stations and one change at Brockley, will open up many transport opportunities.
Camberwell
Camberwell station is a new station on the Thameslink Line between Elephant and Castle and Loughborough Junction stations.
This Google Map shows the area around the disused Camberwell station.
Camberwell Station
Camberwell station used to be where Camberwell New Road crosses under the railway.
Wikipedia has a section about the re-opening of the station. This is said.
In March 2016 it was reported by Transport for London that proposals to re-open the station are being considered with other stakeholders, including the London Borough of Southwark. Initial feasibility indicates it would be possible to construct a modern station on the site if timetables could be modified to accommodate Camberwell as an additional stop. TfL will be working with Network Rail and the boroughs of Southwark and Lambeth to further develop the feasibility of this proposal.
I would also suspect that being able to open a new Camberwell station, at the same time as Thameslink, would be very easy to justify on a costs basis.
Clapham East
Clapham East station is proposed to be half a mile North-East of Clapham Junction station on the East London Line.
As this station is a new proposal and hasn’t come to my notice before, I have given the new station its own post called A New Station For Clapham East.
Clapham High Street And Wandsworth Road
The report suggests putting platforms at Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road stations on the Southeastern tracks to enable a direct service to Victoria to be reinstated.
I have dealt with these two stations in Improvements To Clapham High Street And Wandsworth Road Stations.
Imperial Wharf
There is an interesting proposal to put a footpath over the Thames to give access to Imperial Wharf station from the South Bank.
This Google Map shows the station and the Thames.
Why not build the footpath?
New Cross
New Cross station is just over five hundred metres from New Cross Gate station. This Google Map shows both stations.
New Cross Gate And New Cross Stations
The Centre for London is proposing stopping East London Line services to New Cross, increasing service to New Cross Gate and building a travolator between the two stations. They say this in the report.
The proposal is to build an underground travolator between New Cross, Goldsmiths College and New Cross Gate interchange. At New Cross Gate a more frequent train service would be available on the ELL and existing Southern route. This would be a practical alternative linking the Southeastern and South Central networks, and it would also create Southeastern lines access via New Cross to the proposed Bakerloo station at New Cross Gate, for those trains which avoided Lewisham.
It is an interesting solution, that possibly could be used in many places.
Turning South London Orange
In the June 2016 Edition of Modern Railways in an article entitled Turning South London Orange.
It discusses a report by the Centre for London with the same name and a sub-title of Passenger Demand, Proposed Main Schemes And New Stations / Interchanges.
It is powerful stuff and these are posts I’ve written about their proposals.
An Improved South London Line Is Proposed
Proposed New Stations And Interchanges In South London
An Improved Station For Brixton
A New Station For Clapham East
Improvements To Clapham High Street And Wandsworth Road Stations
An Improved South London Line Is Proposed
In the June 2016 Edition of Modern Railways in an article entitled Turning South London Orange.
One of the proposals is to create an improved South London Line from Victoria and Clapham Junction via Brixton and Denmark Hill to Peckham Rye.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines from Battersea to Peckham.
An Improved South London Line
You have to remember that when the current South London Line was created, there was criticism from various groups.
- Some objected to the loss of a direct service to Victoria.
- Some felt the line should call at Brixton.
- Some felt there should be an interchange at Loughborough Junction station.
Hopefully, the proposal for an improved South London Line will address some of these issues.
Between Wandsworth Road and Peckham Rye stations, the line is effectively two pairs of tracks, with the Overground using the Southern pair.
The Northern pair of tracks that are currently used by the Southeastern lines into Victoria only have platforms at Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye.
The Centre for London is proposing a redesign of the South London Line that could include.
- New Platforms at Wandsworth Road, Clapham High Street and Brixton.
- I would assume that the new Battersea station is part of the proposal, as this would connect the line to the Northern Line.
- Renaming of Clapham High Street to Clapham North to indicate its close relationship with the Underground station.
- Perhaps even putting the Overground on the Northern pair of tracks, as this would simplify the rebuild of Brixton station.
- An increase in frequency on both pairs of lines to six trains per hour.
I think as a start it is a good plan, but I do feel that something much better could emerge to improve the connectivity across South and South East London.
There are some questions that need to be answered.
- Where would the trains go past Peckham Rye?
- What would be the frequency of the Victoria to Orpington service?
- Would the restoration of a shuttle between London Bridge and v’ictoria be a good idea?
- Could Victoria be a terminus for the London Overground?
- Should the South London Line be connected to Thameslink at Loughborough Junction?
I suspect a lot of the answers are in the passenger statistics.
The London Overground Grows Without Fuss
I use the East london Line of the london Overground several times a week.
But this article in Rail Technology Magazine is entitled Extra evening services added on London Overground and I didn’t notice anything announcing the increase in services. This is said.
The East London line has been increased from two trains to four an hour between 10.00 and 11.30pm on the routes from Dalston Junction to New Cross and Clapham Junction and from Highbury & Islington to West Croydon and Crystal Palace.
It’s almost as if a Night Overground is being introduced in a Softly Softly way!
What’s gone wrong with the Unions?
They usually see an increase in levels of customer service, as a perceived threat to their jobs and working conditions and vote about whether to go on strike.
Will Old Oak Common Station And The Wimbledon To Sutton Tramlink Extension Get The Go-Ahead?
This article in Rail Engineer is entitled TfL Budget Confirms Rail Projects. This is said.
The GLA budget, announced in February 2016, included a £250 million fund for two new overground stations at Old Oak Common, linking with Crossrail, national rail and HS2, and £100 million towards a potential extension to the tram network to Sutton.
So will we be seeing a start to the planning for these two projects?
Obviously, nothing will be decided until the new Mayor is elected.
Will London Overground Fit On-board Energy Storage To Class 378 Trains?
This may seem to be a ridiculous idea, as why would the Class 378 trains on the London Overground need the ability to use battery power?
But I have just read this article in Rail Technology Magazine entitled Bombardier enters key analysis phase of IPEMU and it is a detailed article on everything Bombardier are doing to convert the prototype IPEMU into a real train, that can be sold to demanding customers.
- Four different types of battery are being evaluated in Mannheim.
- A simulated five-year test is being performed.
- Bombardier are taking a serious look at the branch-line market.
- Bombardier are evaluating the retrofit market with particular reference to the Class 387 and Class 378 trains.
This is all very sound stuff and in some ways it makes a change to fully-develop the product before launch rather than expect train operators and passengers to find the problems.
One thing that is surprising, is that Class 378 trains are being looked at for the retrofit of on-board energy storage. Marc Phillips of Bombardier is quoted as saying this in the article.
All Electrostars to some degree can be retrofitted with batteries. We are talking the newer generation EMU as well as the older generation. So, the 387s and 378s are the ones where we have re-gen braking where we can top-up the batteries and use the braking energy to charge the batteries. That gives us the best cost-benefit over operational life.
So it would seem that the Class 378 trains of the London Overground are candidates for fitting with batteries. As the trains handle their routes with ease and there doesn’t appear to be any lines without electrification, where anybody has speculated they might run, the only reason to fit them with batteries would be to capture and reuse all that braking energy.
It is an interesting proposition where the decision to fit batteries will depend totally on the accountants.
Obviously, there will be a cost to fit batteries, but as they wouldn’t need to propel the train for large distances, where there is no electrification, the specification could be quite relaxed.
- The capacity would have to be sufficient to hold the maximum braking energy of a full train.
- The battery technology would have to be able to handle the demanding stop/start regime of London Overground services.
- The system must be easy to fit to the existing trains.
- The battery capacity should probably be sufficient to move a stalled train into the nearest station.
A worst case scenario for moving a stalled train, would be hauling a train out of the Thames Tunnel after a failure of the power to the third-rail.
I have a feeling that traditional battery storage is not the best way to handle this application, as it is one that could be met by a larger version of the KERS system used in Formula One. KERS has already been applied successfully to buses, and I wrote about that in Could IPEMU Trains Use KERS?
You can do a simple calculation, which gives the kinetic energy of a hundred and sixty tonnes Class 378 moving at twenty metres per second, which is about two thirds of maximum speed and probably a typical service speed. The kinetic energy of such a train is 3.2 Mega Joules or 0.89 kWh. As an aside, I pay 10.73p for each kWh.
If a train has regenerative braking as Class 378 trains do, this energy can be returned through the overhead wires or third rail and used by other trains on the rail network, if the lines are setup to receive the energy. But it relies on another train being able to pick up the electricity and there are inevitable loses in the complicated transfer of the electricity.
On the other hand, if the train has on-board energy storage, it can store the energy and use it when it starts again at the station. This is a more efficient process.
It should also be noted that over the last year, all fifty-seven four car Class 378 trains have been upgraded to five cars. Does the fifth car have the wiring to incorporate an energy storage device? I would be surprised if it didn’t and that the train software is now capable of being upgraded to incorporate on-board energy storage.
I have no idea how much electricity would be saved by regenerative braking on the London Overground, but various applications of regenerative braking technology talk of electricity savings of between ten and twenty percent.
I think it is only a matter of time before the technology is proven to be sufficiently reliable and the numbers add up correctly for the Class 378 trains to be fitted with on-board energy storage.
The Anonymous Widower 