Before Crossrail – The Proposed Schedule
Wikipedia has a schedule of proposed services. I have broken this down to get the figures for my catalogue of stations. Starting in the East, they can be summarised as follows.
Shenfield Branch
This will have 12 tph (trains per hour) in the peak and 6 tph in the off-peak, calling at all stations and going through the central tunnel to the West.
In addition, there will be other services going into Liverpool Street. Wikipedia is saying 10 tph in the peak and 5 tph in the off-peak. Some will be limited stop, but it does look like that all stations will get at least 6 tph in the off-peak and some will get around ten.
As this is a substantially better service than exists today, you must be extremely pleased if you own or have just bought a house along the branch.
Abbey Wood Branch
Like the Shenfield branch, this branch is scheduled to get 12 tph in the peak, but the off-peak level is not stated.
If the off-peak is the same as the Shenfield branch, then that figure must probably be added to the 10 tph services Abbey Wood enjoys at the moment into other London termini.
Central Section
24 tph in the peak will pass through the central tunnels, with plans for 14 tph to turn-back at Paddington.
The off-peak is not stated, but if the Shenfield branch figures are correct, then it could be something like 12 tph, with perhaps 7 tph to Paddington only.
As the Class 345 trains will be so much larger than the typical Underground train, this will be a tremendous increase in capacity across Central London.
Western Branch – Paddington to West Drayton
As West Drayton will be served by trains to all the Western termini and will also turnback a couple of trains per hour, it should get 10 tph in the peak going through the central tunnels. Wikipedia says it will get ten in the off-peak as well, so that probably means my figure of seven off-peak trains turning at Paddington is wrong.
There will also be other trains going direct to Paddington. 4 tph are currently proposed to be the Heathrow Express. I can’t see this high-priced service surviving long past Crossrail’s opening in its present form.
Heathrow Branch
Wikipedia says that 4 tph will go to Heathrow all day and hopefully all night, running all the way to Shenfield and Abbey Wood. But these services will not go to Terminal 5 and the expensive Heathrow Express will still be running.
I think that there’ll be some replanning here. I know this is old an article in the Daily Mail from 2012, but it shows that Boris Johnson and others, think that Crossrail should go to Terminal 5.
As Terminal 5 could be joined to Reading, it might be that some Crossrail services from Reading go via Heathrow.
Western Branch – Beyond West Drayton
It looks like 2 tph will go to each of Maidenhead and Reading, with an additional 2 tph going limited-stop from Reading to Paddington.
The Night Tube May Be On It’s Way
Transport for London have announced that from the 12th of September 2015, there will be a night service on the tube lines through Central London.
I used the word may in the title of this post, as the dinosaurs are stirring. The RMT general secretary is making threats.
From his statements on this and other issues, it seems he is trying to outcrow, the late Bob Crow.
A Problem At Barking Station
Yesterday, I had a small problem at Barking station, about getting my train back to the centre.
This is what I wrote to London Underground.
I visited Barking and had arrived on an H&C. So when I went back, the signs directed me to the sane platform, but there was no information there and no trains. So in the end I gave up and walked to the Westbound District Line platform, where I found a distressed elderly lady looking for a train to Paddington. Eventually, I shepherded her on a District Line train and I found a H&C at West Ham. The lady went off to try her luck on the Jubilee Line.
Not only was there no signs to the H&C and no trains, but there were no staff on the platform directing people to the trains that were running.
It wasn’t the standard I usually get at Dalston Junction or Barbican say!
It is very unusual that this happens on the Underground.
Bad Sign Layout At Piccadilly Circus
It’s not often that the London Underground gets its signage wrong.
Bad Sign Layout At Piccadilly Circus
But they have here, as you can’t see the train indicator, as it’s positioned behind the Way Out sign!
Consultation Starts On The Bakerloo Line Extension
The Standard is reporting that consultation is going to start on the route of the Bakerloo Line Extension.
I’m always surprised that this project which was first proposed seriously in 1931, has taken so long to this point, given that the line is the most lightly used of all the main Underground lines.
Beware Of Underground Winds
I saw this at Kentish Town Underground station today.
Beware Of Underground Winds
It’s nice to see humour getting involved with Health and Safety!
Funding Circle Does Underground Adverts
The three big peer-to-peer lenders; Funding Circle, Ratesetter and Zopa, tend to rely on newspaper and magazine articles, and personal recommendations to spread their message.
So I was surprised to see this advert for Funding Circle on the Underground.
Funding Circle Does Underground Adverts
I don’t think occasional Underground adverts have the kiss of death that is associated with covering large numbers of buses with advertising. Could their bus advertising have anything to do with the falling reputation of Wonga. Or as with films, does blanket advertising of a product, show up the real turkeys?
Searching For East Putney Station
East Putney station is the first station south of the Thames on the Wimbledon branch of the District Line and it lies within walking distance of the Carluccio’s. But finding it wasn’t easy, as there were no maps or signposts.
When I eventually got to the station I questioned the station man about this and he said it was all a devious plot. Or something like that!
Note that the railway I crossed over is the line between Waterloo and Richmond.
East Putney station is a curious station in that it effectively lies within the junction of two lines, although no passenger services run on the other track.
Is This The Last Pill Box In London?
When I went to Wimbledon to trace the Goblin Extension, I noticed that perched on Fulham Railway Bridge was a Second World War pill box.
So I just had to go back and investigate, by taking a trip to Putney Bridge station.
I think this type of defensive structure is pretty rare in London these days.
Note though how Putney Bridge station is on the Fulham side of the river, by a bridge with that name.
Was this all done to confuse invaders, so they didn’t know whether they were coming or going, so they could be picked off easily from the pill box.
Probably not, as the naming was I suspect a cunning plan to confuse those South of the river, if they should venture into the North.
Is The Bakerloo Line Extension To Be Built?
The Bakerloo Line Extension was originally planned to be built in the 1940s and it seems to come up every now and again.
In this supporting document to the London Infrastructure Plan for 2050, the following is said.
Potential extensions to the existing network to unlock major potential for housing development range from major rail schemes such as the extension of the Bakerloo line, to extensions to the Overground. In unlocking development they also provide opportunities to secure funding towards the cost of delivery.
In some ways the second quoted sentence is the more important statement, as it might mean that developers, who want to contribute to infrastructure will be listened to. This happened in part with Canary Wharf at the Jubilee Line, so if done properly, it might mean an accelerated rate of construction of new infrastructure.
Obviously before any decision is made detailed costings and consultations must take place. According to this report though, it has a benefit cost ratio of 3:1
One factor that will be important, is how the project to create the Northern Line Extension to Battersea performs.
If it is on budget and on time, will that team be rolled over onto the Bakerloo?
The Anonymous Widower 