The Anonymous Widower

Gibb Report – East Croydon – Milton Keynes Route Should Be Transferred To London Overground

The Gibb Report, says that the East Croydon – Milton Keynes route should be transferred to the London Overground.

By 2020 London will have two high-capacity and two medium-capacity cross-London heavy rail routes, backed up by several cross-London Underground Lines.

One line is missing from this list; the West London Line, which has a rather pathetic four tph between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction stations.

Until Southern got embroiled in their Driver Only Operation dispute, there used to be a very useful one tph service between East Croydon and Milton Keynes Central stations.

The Gibb Report says this about the service.

I believe there is an option to transfer the East Croydon – Milton Keynes operation to TfL and it’s London Overground concession in 2018.

TfL may decide to change the service, for example by not running it north of Watford Junction, or running it to an alternative southern destination other than East Croydon. They could also develop the combined West London line service to better match available capacity to demand.

They would have a number of crewing and rolling stock options, but should be able to operate the service more efficiently than GTR in the longer term, without the involvement of Selhurst.

Selhurst TMD is the depot in South London, where the current Class 377 trains are based.

I think that this is a good proposal for the following reasons.

  • As was seen on the Chingford Branch Line, London Overground have a reputation for making a good fist of taking over services that need improvement.
  • As the Gibbs Report says, the combined West London Line service could be developed.
  • I have net quite a few people, who use this West London Line route to get to and from events at Wembley stadium.
  • The service could call at Old Oak Common station to connect to Crossrail and HS2.
  • A variant of London Overground’s new Class 710 trains,  could probably work the shortened route, as either four or eight-car trains.
  • The Class 710 trains could be based at the convenient  Willesden TMD, along with the rest of the fleet.

Being practical, a service of just two tph would give a train every ten minutes on the West London Line.

The Current Service

The current service is supposed to stop at the following stations.

Note.

  1. Stations between Watford Junction and Clapham Junction, already have a substantial Overground presence.
  2. London Overground already run three tph on the Watford DC Line between Euston and Watford Junction stations.

But would this be the ideal route?

The Northern Terminal

The West Coast Main Line is very busy and stations between Watford Junction and Milton Keynes are well-served by London Midland and Virgin Trains.

So would it be sensible to continue a slower local service North of Watford Junction?

It should also be remembered, that Southern introduced the original service to give better access to Gatwick Airport. Surely, this need is now satisfied by services from Clapham Junction and East Croydon.

As Watford Junction station probably has platform capacity, surely Watford Junction should be the Northern terminal

Could The Service Use The Watford DC Line?

If this were possible, this must surely give advantages, especially if Watford Junctio is the Northern terminal.

  • Dual-voltage Class 710 trains could work the route.
  • The service level on the Watford DC Line would be increased.
  • There would be no problem accessing the bay platforms at Watford Junction station.
  • There would be no requirement for any paths on the West Coast Main Line.

I think the answer to whether the Watford DC Line could be used at the present time is that trains going from the West London Line to Watford Junction must use the West Coast Main Line.

This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the lines around Willesden Junction..

 

As it is all railway land, I suspect that the connection can be created.

The one problem, is that some of the Watford DC Line is shared with the Bakerloo Line.

But as the Bakerloo Line is being extended to the South and the Northern end will probably be improved, then surely creating an optimal solution to the Watford DC line, the Bakerloo Line and Overground services to Watford, makes a lot of sense.

The Southern Terminal

Various stations have merits and problems to be used as the Southern terminal for the service.

Clapham Junction

Clapham Junction would appear to have a strong case, but London Overground had enough problems squeezing in their current services.

As the station is now substantially step-free and has typically three tph to Gatwick Airport, Clapham Junction offers a good route to the airport.

Balham

Balham has been used as a terminal in the past and connects to the Northern Line. If redeveloped for Crossrail 2, it could be a possibility.

Steatham Common

Streatham Common could be developed as a major interchange and if this happens, then surely is is a possibility.

East Croydon

East Croydon would have a strong case, as it is a busy and well connected station, but there probably isn’t a suitable platform.

I think that any station South of East Croydon is probably too far.

My money would be on the new interchange station at Streatham Common, with Balham as an alternative.

Schedules And Trains

I estimate that a train doing a return journey between Watford Junction and Streatham Common would take under three hours, using the Watford DC Line. This would mean that three trains would be needed for an hourly service and six trains for a half-hourly service.

Conclusion

Transferring the East Croydon – Milton Keynes route to the  London Overground looks feasible.

 

 

July 7, 2017 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Platform Space At Milton Keynes Central

In Future Rail Developments At Milton Keynes, I said that there with all the new services, there would have to be some extra platform space.

So I went to Milton Keynes Central station and took these pictures.

At a quick look there does appear to be more space, than is normal in stations of this size. But then it was only built in 1982.

Platform 2A

The Platforms and Layout section of the Wikipedia entry for the station, says this about the length of Platform 2A.

Platform 2A is a five-car south-facing bay platform.

I would assume, that the car length is the standard British Rail length of twenty metres.

The pictures clearly show that the platform is electrified.

 

 

 

 

December 14, 2015 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , | 3 Comments

Future Rail Developments At Milton Keynes

The Milton Keynes area and its stations at Bletchley, Bow Brickhill, Fenny Stratford, Milton Keynes Central and Wolverton, are in for a lot of development in the next few years.

The East West Rail Link

This map shows the East West Rail Link.

East West Rail Link

East West Rail Link

Note how it crosses the West Coast Main Line at Bletchley and has a connection to Milton Keynes Central.

The Wikipedia entry for Bletchley station has a section called Future. This is said.

The Marston Vale Line is the passenger carrying remnant of the Varsity Line. As of 2014, the line beyond Bletchley through Winslow to Bicester Town is closed to passenger traffic, with goods traffic going only as far as Newton Longville sidings for the waste disposal site there. The high level crossing (officially named the “The Bletchley Flyover” – built in 1959 as part of the Modernisation Plan, with 7 x 56 ft (17 m) spans and then expected to be used by 80 trains a day) over the WCML at Bletchley remains in place and in occasional use. There is a funded plan to re-open the line to passenger traffic via Bicester to Oxford by 2019 and an unfunded desire to rebuild it from Oxford right through to Cambridge. A key element of the plan is to build a Bletchley high level station so that passengers may transfer between the lines. (Note that there is no corresponding east to north route).

It is obviously, a bit out of date, as the East West Rail Link is now planned and funded to Bedford.

This Google Map shows the track layout at Bletchley with the Marston Vale Line joining from the East and Fenny Stratford station.

Bletchley Station And The East West Rail Link

Bletchley Station And The East West Rail Link

Note.

  1. Stadium MK at the top of the map.
  2. The East West Rail Link can be seen curving to the west to the south of Bletchley station.
  3. The flyover over Bletchley station.
  4. Fenny Stratford station is to the south west of the large building at the east.
  5. The next station to the East is Bow Brickhill.

Bletchley will become a more important station.

East West Rail Link Services From Milton Keynes Central

The Wikipedia entry for Milton Keynes Central has a section called East West Rail. This is said.

From 2019, services are planned to operate (over a rebuilt East West Rail Link) to Oxford via Bletchley, Winslow and Bicester Town; and also to London Marylebone via Aylesbury and High Wycombe. Extension of the Oxford service to Reading has been mooted.

This will definitely need some more platforms at Milton Keynes Central, other than the single one 2A built for the still-born extended Marston Wale service to Milton Keynes.

I published some pictures in Platform Space At Milton Keynes Central, which show that there is some space.

Implications For Bletchley

I have now written The The Bletchley Flyover to cover the implications for Bletchley.

Great North Western To Blackpool

The Wikipedia entry for Milton Keynes Central has a section called Great North Western. This is said.

Great North Western Railway has been given permission to run 6 trains a day from London to Blackpool North from 2018, with conditional permission for a stop at Milton Keynes Central dependent upon future capacity after infrastructural work.

This will probably be very much a development, that will only affect Milton Keynes Central station.

Crossrail To Milton Keynes Central

The Wikipedia entry for Milton Keynes Central has a section called Crossrail. This is said.

Network Rail’s July 2011 London & South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) recommended diverting West Coast Main Line (WCML) services from stations between London and Milton Keynes Central away from Euston, to Crossrail via Old Oak Common, to free up capacity at Euston for High Speed 2. Doing so would provide a direct service from the WCML to the Shenfield, Canary Wharf and Abbey Wood, release London Underground capacity at Euston, make better use of Crossrail’s capacity west of Paddington, and improve access to Heathrow Airport from the north. Under this scheme, all Crossrail trains would continue west of Paddington, instead of some of them terminating there. They would serve Heathrow Airport (10 tph), stations to Maidenhead and Reading (6 tph), and stations to Milton Keynes Central (8 tph).

In August 2014, a statement by the transport secretary Patrick McLoughlin indicated that the government was actively evaluating the extension of Crossrail as far as Tring and Milton Keynes Central, with potential Crossrail stops at Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone, Bushey, Watford Junction, Kings Langley, Apsley, Hemel Hempstead, Berkhamsted, Tring, Cheddington, Leighton Buzzard and Bletchley. The extension would relieve some pressure from London Underground and London Euston station while also increasing connectivity. Conditions to the extension are that any extra services would not affect the planned service pattern for confirmed routes, as well as affordability.

Extending Crossrail to Milton Keynes would seem to be a sensible idea.

It would increase the capacity and frequency of services between Milton Keynes and London and open up several more direct destinations.

The quote from Wikipedia talks of increasing connectivity to Crossrail.

This connectivity is in addition to that created by an Old Oak Common station.

As with the East West Rail Link, it will probably need extra platforms at Milton Keynes Central. But there is at least some space to create them.

Conclusion

Milton Keynes Central will be a lot bigger and busier than it is now.

But it will join that elite group of stations that are Crossrail’s and Thameslink’s super-hubs.

 

December 13, 2015 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , | 1 Comment

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