The Last Class 378 Train Has Been Lengthened
The last Class 378 train to be lengthened to five cars has a special board on the front.
The Last Class 378 Train Has Been Lengthened
According to this article on RailStaff, the trains won’t be going to six cars. This is said.
Six car is not really an option on either the North London Line or particularly the East London Line because of the constraints of the tunnels.
If that is the case, then to get more capacity, they will need an increased frequency and probably more trains. The Wikipedia entry for the Class 710 trains that will be used on other Overground lines says this.
TfL invited expressions of interest for a total of 39 four-car EMUs in April 2014, with 30 required for the Cheshunt and Chingford routes, 8 for the Gospel Oak to Barking, and 1 for the Romford to Upminster. Since then the planned procurement has been increased to 45 four-car EMUs, with the additional 6 units intended for the Watford DC Line. The intention is that the five-car Class 378 trains used on the Watford route will be cascaded back to the North London and East London Lines to allow for strengthened services.
So it looks like the Watford DC Lines will be running different trains, although they will be the same as those on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line. So the GOBlin will be getting dual-voltage trains, so this means that in future an extension to invade South London via Acton and Hounslow is not compromised.
Painting London Orange
This article on BBC News is entitled Transport for London to take over suburban rail routes and it describes how TfL will have much more control over trains within and around London.
These are relevant points from the article.
- The new partnership between the Department for Transport and TfL says it aims to ensure there are more frequent trains and increased capacity.
- As franchises come up for renewal, they will come more under TfL’s control.
- The plan would mean more than 80% of stations would have a train at least every 15 minutes, up from 67%.
- Services running from London Bridge, Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street and Moorgate would all be transformed under the scheme.
I think we’ll be seeing a lot more Overground orange on stations.
The Overground Philosophy
There are well-run railways all over the world, but somehow the Overground is different.
Whether it is because it is an offspring of the well-respected and much-loved Underground or whether because it reaches the parts the Underground doesn’t, it is difficult to explain, why in only a few years, the Overground has wormed its way into the hearts and minds of residents and visitors alike.
All lines adhere to the following principles.
- Trains at a frequency of at least four trains per hour.
- Staff on the station from the time the first train arrives to the time the last train leaves.
- Clean, modern trains and stations.
- Simple contactless ticketing.
- Increasing the proportion of step-free access.
- No pre-booking for passenger assistance for the disabled.
- All profits made, are invested back in the network.
- Continuous innovation and improvement
Some of these principles have come direct from the Underground.
The North London Line
Around the turn of the millennium the North London Line, had all the charm of a set of travelling urinals. Everything was tired and worn out, but within a few years of the start of the Overground, with new Class 378 trains, a couple of new stations and a deep clean of the others, ridership had soared and its major problem was increasing the size and number of the trains to cope with the growth in passenger numbers.
One of my local stations is Canonbury. The Overground has improved the station in the following ways.
- Six trains per hour on the North London Line and eight trains per hour on the East London Line.
- A new ticket office and two extra platforms.
- Full step-free access to all platforms.
- Large platform shelters.
- Cross platform interchange between Westbound NLL services and Southbound ELL services.
The only thing it lacks is a high quality artwork on the spacious island platform.
Canonbury even gets the occasional steam train, as I wrote about in Tornado at Canonbury Station.
I think it’s probably true to say, that Transport for London haven’t spent a fortune at Canonbury, but somehow they’ve created a quirky station that does its job with style.
London needs more Canonburys.
London Votes
London doesn’t vote red or blue any more. It now votes red, blue and orange!
In other words, if you stand as Mayor and don’t have a creditable policy for expanding London’s transport network, you won’t get elected. And one of the things you must do is support the Overground.
So now that Transport for London is going to get overall control of suburban services, it is perhaps worth looking at what lines out of London stack up against the principles of the Overground.
The Orange Standard
I’ll first look at various Overground routes to gauge their characteristics.
- Clapham Junction to Stratford – 2 trains per hour
- Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction – 2 trains per hour
- Dalston Junction to New Cross – 4 trains per hour
- Dalston Junction to West Croydon – 4 trains per hour
- Euston to Watford Junction – 3 trains per hour
- Gospel Oak to Barking – 4 trains per hour
- Highbury and Islington to Clapham Junction – 4 trains per hour
- Highbury and Islington to Crystal Palace – 4 trains per hour
- Liverpool Street to Cheshunt – 2-4 trains per hour
- Liverpool Street to Chingford – 4 trains per hour
- Liverpool Street to Enfield – 2-4 trains per hour
- Richmond to Stratford – 4 trains per hour
- Romford to Upminster – 2 trains per hour
All have or will have new trains by 2020.
Non-Train And Station Improvements
When you travel to a TfL-controlled station like say my local one of Dalston Junction and need to get a bus to your ultimate destination, there are lots of maps; geographic and spider and staff to ask as well.
This is not the same if you turn up at some stations controlled by South West Trains, Southeastern and other companies.
Transport for London should devise a standard for all stations connected to London.
London Lines To Paint Orange
The next few sections deal with London terminals.
Waterloo
These are the suburban lines out of Waterloo.
- Chessington South – 2 trains per hour – Must try harder
- Epsom – 4 trains per hour
- Hampton Court – 2 trains per hour – Must try harder
- Shepperton – 2 trains per hour – Must try harder
Quite frankly it’s a mess.
- There are not enough platforms at Waterloo.
- Some stations like Raynes Park come from the Topsy school of design.
- Some stations need lengthened platforms.
- There is a lack of turn-back platforms.
- Services tend to go a long way out of London, stopping in too many places, so you have overcapacity at the outer ends and overcrowding towards Waterloo.
- Connectivity meeds to be improved between the various lines.
- A lot of sacred cows need shooting.
- Action is needed now!
- South London can be very obstructive of changes!
Transport for London are promoting Crossrail 2 to sort out the mess, but I think there is a need to act immediately.
I think that these services need balancing, so that the outer overcapacity and inner overcrowding are reduced.
I have my ideas, which I’ll keep personal, but they involve rebuilding the truly awful Raynes Psrk station.
Whitechapel Station – 23rd January 2016
These pictures show the changes that have happened at Whitechapel station in the last week.
It is now possible to change direction on the wide platform between the Eastbound and Westbound lines of the District and Metropolitan Lines.
The escalators to the Crossrail lines will also be located in this wide platform. So changing between Crossrail and the \district and Metropolitan Lines will be very straightforward.
What surprised me was the quality of the temporary station. It’s actually a lot better and far more spscious than the one that was used previously, with several more gates.
A Journey Round The Clapham Stations
This morning, I took a train to Clapham High Street station, before visiting the three Clapham stations on the Northern Line.
- I walked to Clapham North station.
- I took the tube to Clapham South station.
- I walked to Clapham Common station.
I then took the Northern Line back to Central London.
These are some of the pictures I took on the way.
One of main reasons for going was to look at the deep level shelter at Clapham South station that is mentioned in this article in the Wandsworth Guardian entitled Clapham’s Second World War shelter to become cafe and exhibition, You can’t miss it, as it is right before you as you come out of Clapham South station.
In my view it is an ideal place for a cafe. If it had been built, when C and myself lived in the Barbican, I can envisage us taking the three boys to have lunch in a cafe like that! The elder two had to walk and George got a ride in one of the first McClaren buggies. The massive push chairs used today, wouldn’t have gone on a Routemaster of that era.
I also wanted to see the two dangerous island platforms at Clapham North and Clapham Common, which are the last two left on the Northern Line. I can remember the island platform at Angel station, which was removed, when the station was rebuilt in the early 1990s. Today, in an article on Global Rail News, which is entitled Green light for Bank station upgrade, the details are given of the plans to widen the cramped and dangerous platforms at Bank station.
Having seen Clapham North and Clapham Common stations today, I do wonder if a diversion could be dug as at Angel, Bank and London Bridge, to create safe new stations. This new tunnel could surely be part of the works to add step-free access to one or both stations and connect the tunnels to Clapham High Street station.
What with the Northern Line Extension to Battersea, the rebuilding of Bank and Camden Town stations and all the resignalling of the past few years, the Northern Line could at last be fulfilling its potential.
Overground Humour
This article in the Standard, shows the lengths to which London Overground are going to discourage fare dodgers. A sign was put up saying.
Attention. Anyone caught travelling without a valid ticker or Oyster will be told the ending to the new Star Wars. (and also get a Penalty Fare).
It may not work, but people have found it very funny.
Many stations in London put up something funny every day. Does this happen in other cities across the world with large transport networks?
More Thoughts On Dalston Junction To Hayes
In February this year, I wrote Should Trains Run From Dalston Junction To Hayes?
I finished the post like this.
So is New Cross the least used direct southern destination on the East London Line? Also, was it only included in the East London Line for historic reasons, as it had been a Metropolitan Line destination?
If so, it might be an idea to see if extension of the four trains per hour services terminating at the station is possible. Perhaps two could go Hayes and two to Orpington, which would double the frequency to both places from New Cross.
I could also have said in the summing up, that this would give four trains per hour from Dalston Junction to Lewisham, with all its connections to South East London and Kent.
This morning, I was reading an article on London Reconnections about extending the Bakerloo Line, entitled Death, Taxes and Lewisham: Extending the Bakerloo.
So it got me thinking!
I returned to my original article and had the following blasphemous thought.
Is Transport for London, so obsessed with using the supposed spare capacity on the Bakerloo Line, that it doesn’t think straight about what to do with this line?
Consider the following points.
- Passengers like the Overground model and many rate it higher than the Underground.
- When Crossrail and Thameslink and the East London Lines are up to capacity of twenty-four trains per hour, the increase in capacity will change London’s transport system dramatically, as there will be an H-shaped network with interchanges at Farringdon, Whitechapel and possibly some other places.
- Most trains going to Kent and South East London start from Victoria, which is not well placed for some of the important parts of Central London. Would extra connections to a twenty-four trains per hour East London Line at Penge and Brockley be a better route for many passengers?
- I feel that there would be a backlash, if the Hayes Line became part of the Bakerloo Line, just like there was when Thameslink wanted to stop all Sutton Loop Line trains at Blackfriars! If you’ve been commuting for years in First Class from Hayes into Cannon Street for the City, I don’t think you’d be happy if your train was a smaller one-class, crowded Underground train. But you might accept an Overground train to Canada Water for the Jubilee Line or Whitechapel for Crossrail and the Metropolitan/Circle/District Lines.
- Thameslink together with the Bakerloo Line and an upgraded Jubilee Line will create a resilient North-West to East routing, that could withstand the occasional serious failure. The East London Line provides that resilient link in the East.
- Thameslink doesn’t connect with the Central Line, but the East London Line could at Shoreditch High Street.
I’m coming more to the conclusion that there is no way that a long extension to the Bakerloo Line would be needed. Perhaps it should be extended in a loop down the Old Kent Road to Camberwell, to get high-quality rail services into that area.
Should East London Line Services To New Cross Go Further?
Four services per hour on the East London Line have their Southern terminus at New Cross station and could these venture further into South London?
At the moment these services terminate in a bay Platform D, which is just a walk across from the trains going South. But when coming North, you have to go over the step-free bridge to get from Platform A to Platform D.
In the next few years, various developments will happen, that will affect travel in the area bordered by New Cross, Cannon Street and Whitechapel.
- London Bridge and Thameslink will be improved, so interchange between Cannon Street services and Thameslink will be much easier.
- Hopefully, access to the Underground at London Bridge will be eased by the redevelopment of the station.
- Will the Thameslink improvements increase the capacity into Cannon Street?
- Crossrail will open.
- The Metropolitan/District and Circle Lines will have been fully upgraded with bigger trains and new signalling.
- The Jubilee Line will have been upgraded.
- Bank station will have been upgraded.
- There will be large numbers of office developments around the City, increasing the numbers of needed final destinations.
I believe that the increasing flexibility will mean passengers will be less likely to use the same route.
I also believe that passengers will switch between London Bridge/CannonStreet and the East London Line destinations of Canada Water, Whitechapel and Shoreditch High Street.
Many more will want to change at New Cross!
If the East London Line services started South of New Cross and just called at Platform A on their way North, just as London Bridge/Cannon Street services do, this would this give a simple change for Northbound passengers.
If you were on a Tunbridge Wells to Cannon Street train and wanted to go to Whitechapel for Crossrail, you would get off at New Cross and wait for an East London Line train on the same Platform A.
This interchangeability of Northern destinations, is unlocked by sending East London Line trains past New Cross.
Can East London Line Services To New Cross Go Further?
After Crossrail and an upgraded Thameslink opens, it will take some time for passenger numbers to stabilise.
These figures will decide if it is worthwhile to extend the services past New Cross.
The other constraint will be whether paths are available to continue to Lewisham and beyond.
The simplest plan would be to run the four trains per hour to Lewisham and then run two trains to both of Orpington and Hayes.
Extra Interfaces On The East London Line
I would also build the following interchanges on the East London Line.
- Central Line at Shoreditch High Street. This can’t be done until Crossrail opens.
- A New Penge station to connect to the Chatham Main Line
- A high-level Brockley station to link to the Nunhead to Lewisham Line.
There may also be scope for linking the East London Line to Thameslink. It is probably a pity, that the East London Line serves West Croydon rather than East Croydon, as the latter station has so much better connectivity.
Today, I visited South East London and I can make these observations.
New Cross Station
I wrote Changing At New Cross, when I looked at New Cross station.
I can’t see any obvious reason, why East London Line trains have to terminate at New Cross. I suspect, that it’s only for historic reasons, as that’s what the Metropolitan Line did many years ago.
St. Johns Station
I wrote Investigating St. Johns Station, when I looked at St. Johns station.
My only feeling about this station is that if it were to be upgraded to the standard passengers expect, it could be a valuable step-free interchange station between an extended East London Line and the services into and out of Cannon Street.
Lewisham Station
I wrote Changing At Lewisham, when I visited Lewisham station
If it were to be served by four trains per hour on the East London Line, with two trains per hour going to Hayes and the other two to Orpington, Lewisham would be an important interchange to increase the connectivity between South East and North East London.
Catford and Catford Bridge Stations
I wrote An Opportunity At Catford, when I looked at the twin stations of Catford and Catford Bridge and can say this.
- Currently, all trains through Catford Bridge station are going to and from Hayes.
- All trains through Catford are Thameslink ones between Blackfriars and Sevenoaks.
- Track exists to send trains between Catford Bridge to and from Orpington.
If cross-platform interchange could somehow be provided between the two northbound and the two southbound lines at Catford/Catford Bridge, this would give passengers from Hayes and Orpington a big choice of Northern destinations.
Effect On Dalston Junction
If the four trains per hour shuttle service between Dalston Junction and New Cross was replaced by two trains per hour to each of Orpington or Hayes, it probably wouldn’t have much overall effect on the Dalston Junction to New Cross section of the line, but what would the timings look like?
Currently trains leave Dalston Junction in the Off Peak at 04, 19, 34 and 49 past the hour taking twenty-two minutes to get to New Cross. They then return at 07, 22, 37 and 52.
So the 04 train gets to New Cross at 26, returns at 37 and gets back to Dalston Junction at 59, which means it waits eleven minutes at New Cross and six at Dalston Junction.
New Cross to Hayes takes thirty minutes, so that would be fifty two minutes from Dalston Junction to Hayes.
Would that be fast enough for each train to do one trip each hour?
I suspect that one of Transport for London’s timetabling experts could devise a pattern.
More Trains Through The Thames Tunnel
At present there are sixteen trains per hour through the Thames Tunnel.
- 4 – Dalston Junction to New Cross
- 4 – Dalston Junction to West Croydon
- 4 – Highbury and Islington to Crystal Palace
- 4 – Highbury and Islington to Clapham Junction
Which means that as there is a theoretical limit of twenty-four trains per hour, there are another eight paths available.
In Increased Frequencies On The East London Line, I wrote that London Overground have plans to introduce the following extra services.
- From 2018, there will be an extra two trains per hour between Dalston Junction and Crystal Palace.
- From 2019, there will be two additional trains between Dalston Junction and Clapham Junction.
So that would mean that there are still possibly another four paths available.
I would assume that the extra trains would be accommodated at the Northern end by just tightening the turn-round times.
I can’t believe that it won’t be long before Transport for London come up with ways of using the remaining four paths.
If they are planning to turn back two extra trains from Crystal Palace and two from Clapham Junction at Highbury and Islington, I can’t believe that they couldn’t turn back another four services at Dalston Junction. Assuming the extra trains to Crystal Palace and Clapham Junction, this would give the following frequencies.
- 12 tph between Highbury and Islington and Dalston Junction.
- 24 tph between Dalston Junction and Surrey Quays.
The core section of the East London Line will interface in 2020 with the following lines.
- Crossrail at Whitechapel will be 24 tph
- The Jubilee Line at Canada Water will be 36 tph
- The Victoria Line at Highbury and Islington will be 36 tph by 2016.
Father and son, Marc and Isambard Brunel, will be spinning in their graves, to see what their Nineteenth Century engineering curiosity-turned-marvel has become.
The Emergence Of Overground Transport Hubs
More trains on the East London Line between Dalston and Clapham Junctions is to be welcomed.
I use the well-connected Clapham Junction, if say I’m going to Southampton, Portsmouth or many other places, as it means I can avoid the difficulty of getting to Waterloo or Victoria.
The one problem with Clapham Junction in my view is that Thameslink or the Gatwick Express doesn’t call at the station.
Even so, Clapham Junction, Dalston Junction and Stratord are evolving as the major hubs on the Overground Network.
In the next few years, the following stations will become major hubs.
- Whitechapel because of its important location on Crossrail
- Old Oak Common because of its connections to Crossrail and HS2
- Hackney Interchange (Central plus Downs) because it joins the North London Line to the West Anglia Lines.
Will Lewisham, Crystal Palace or other stations join this elite group?
Southeastern
Southeastern is the train operating company that operates most of the train services to South-East London. Kent and East Sussex.
The company has three sub brands.
- Highspeed operates high-speed service on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link using Class 395 trains.
- Mainline operates traditional long distance services to Kent and East Sussex.
- Metro runs services to South East and South London.
London Overground makes to secret of the fact that it would like to bring the Metro services under its control.
I would very much welcome this takeover for the following reasons.
- As a North Londoner, who grew up in the North, South London trains are very much a mystery to me and Southeastern’s information could be substantially improved.
- The East London Line and Southeastern services could be properly co-ordinated.
- When the Overground took over the West Anglia Lines, there was a definite improvement in stations and customer service.
- The whole of Southeastern’s Metro and Mainline network needs to be brought into Transport for London’s Oyster and contactless bank card ticketing.
Hopefully, the takeover will happen, when the franchise is up for renewal in 2018.
Crossrail Extension To Ebbsfleet International And Gravesend
I wrote Crossrail Extension to Gravesend after a visit to the area and I feel that it would be possible to extend Crossrail, so that it served both Ebbsfleet International and Gravesend stations.
This would enable a direct link between Heathrow Airport and Continental trains and you’d only need to change once if you were going to Gatwick, Luton or Stansted Airports.
Conclusions
On a brief look, there is a lot of potential to extend the New Cross branch of the East London Line to Lewisham, Hayes, Orpington and perhaps some more places.
Get it right and it might not be the best thing to have a long extension of the Bakerloo Line.
Denmark Hill Station Rises
I say rises, as the pub at Denmark Hill Station is called The Pheonix.
When I last took photos before the upgrade, it was rather a mass of scaffolding.
But look at it now!
I took these pictures as I came home today.
It’s certainly one of the better middle-sized stations in London.
Loughborough Junction Station And Around
I took these pictures of Loughborough Junction station and its environs.
I do wonder if a four-poster station can be built here, to connect the South London Line that passes over the station to the current Loughborough Junction.
This Google Map shows the station and the surrounding area.
Loughborough Junction Station
Note the following about the railway lines and Loughborough Junction station.
- There are four lines going over the station, with the London Overground being the two lines on the southern side.
- The Thameslink lines are the ones going North-South through the area.
- The station only has two platforms on these lines.
- Platforms on the two spurs; Brixton and Cambria, were closed many years ago.
The height difference between the two sets of lines is probably no more than at Smethwick Galton Bridge station, where a four post station has been successfully built.
To say there are a mass of lines and the associated railway arches, filled with small businesses, would be an understatement.
This area should be able to be developed to provide what the people of the area need. A stylish and practical station linking both lines could be part of the development.
London Overground’s New Class 710 Trains
The Aventra trains on order for the London Overground have now been given a number and are now Class 710 trains.
Wikipedia says this about the trains.
The units will be delivered in two sub-classes; an AC only version with longitudinal and transverse seating (very similar to the S8 units on the Metropolitan Line of the London Underground) for use on the West Anglia and Romford-Upminster services, and a dual-voltage version with longitudinal seating for the Watford DC and GOBLIN services. The AC only version will be maintained at Ilford TMD and the dual-voltage units at Willesden TMD.
So it appears that the trains used on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be dual voltage, despite there being no existing or planned third-rail electrification on that line.
It did at first strike me as surprising, but then I suspect that it is nothing more sinister than prudent future-proofing, with perhaps some manufacturing and maintenance convenience.
It has to be noted that North London Line services between Stratford and Richmond, use dual-voltage trains.
There has been talk over the years about the extension of the GOBlin at both ends. Only the short extension to Barking Riverside is being taken forward.
For instance, in Transport for London’s London Infrastructure Plan for 2050, this map of lines around Old Oak Common station is shown.
Lines Radiating From Old Oak Common Station
Note the various extensions all centred on the development area of Old Oak Common, that will be even more important if it has an HS2 station.
Could the future-proofing of specifying dual voltage trains, be in case they want to extend services through Gospel Oak onto the North London Line, to Balham, Hounslow and Richmond? All three destinations are deep in third-rail territory.
Dual voltage trains would also be needed, if GOBlin services went to Watford, but not for the extension to Brent Cross – Cricklewood.
In some ways, the interesting extension to the Overground is to Balham, which is a proposed Crossrail 2 station.
At the moment the service on the West London Line is crowded and probably doesn’t have enough capacity. The service is at present.
- Two London Overground serices per hour between Stratford and Clapham Junction
- Two London Overground services per hour between Willesden Junction and Clapham Junction
- One Southern service per hour between Milton Keynes and South Croydon.
Perhaps by running some of the Gospel Oak to Barking Line trains past Gospel Oak through to Clapham Junction or Balham stations, may help to sort out a few problems.
Richmond would probably be an unlikely destination, as the Class 710 trains have a car less than the Class 378 trains and getting there from any station on the GOBlin would anyway be a single change at Gospel Oak.
As Hounslow lacks the connectivity of Balham, if there is any extension of the GOBlin, Balham could be the most likely destination.
I think the only thing we can say with certainty, is that having dual-voltage trains on the GOBlin avoids the need to add the capability later, if it is decided to extend the line past Gospel Oak station.
Ten London Overground Stations For Upgrade
This article on Rail Magazine is entitled Murphy wins LO station contract. This is said.
J Murphy & Sons has won a £6.5 million contract from Transport for London to upgrade ten London Overground stations with new shelters and seating, upgraded lighting, better paving and new handrails.
It sounds like the work is not of too much of a major nature, but is more about some small important features.
On a personal note, the only station named, that I use regularly is Hackney Downs.
The Anonymous Widower 