Should An Overground Station Be Built At Hythe Road?
Some weeks ago Transport for London (TfL) launched a consultation on transport links and stations in the Old Oak Common area of West London.
A report in the Kilburn Times has said that the public have said that they’d prefer Option C of the TfL consultation, which involves two new Overground stations.
1. Old Oak Common on the North London Line, which would link to Crossrail and HS2.
2. Hythe Road on the West London Line.
This TfL map shows their locations.
Option C Proposal At Old Oak Common
And this is a Google Earth image.
West London Line At Hythe Road
As TfL are saying that service frequencies on the West London Line will be four trains per hour, which is the same as that of trains to Heathrow on Crossrail, it strikes me that these two new stations will greatly ease access to Heathrow from South London and beyond.
From where I live in Dalston, the two station idea has the benefit that if I want to get on Crossrail to go to Reading or Heathrow, it is just a single change at either of the two stations, depending on where my westbound North London Line train is going. Old Oak Common would appear to be a shorter walk however.
But surely, if you are doing a big development as at Old Oak Common, you need as many connections as you can reasonably afford.
Is Everything A Short-Term Fix At Willesden Junction?
In posts yesterday, I highlighted the problems with platform/train gaps and the dreadful interchange at the North London Line platforms at Willesden Junction station.
But is all the work done to lengthen the platforms for five-car trains just a short-term measure, which doesn’t address these problems at all?
Obviously, work has to be done on the low-level platforms and as they don’t have too many problems, except for the step up and down into Bakerloo Line trains, it will make the low-level station a good one with step-free access, a cafe and toilets.
The Tube/Overground Mismatch
But upstairs, I can’t help feeling that solving the problems are virtually impossible, without a complete rebuild of the station. But look at this map of the proposed layout of the lines at Old Oak Common.
Rail Lines At Old Oak Common
This would link HS2 and Crossrail to the North and West London Lines at a new station at Old Oak Common.
So if the Old Oak Common area is developed with a new station, would this have a knock-on effect at Willesden Junction? This could ich mean that the station had to be changed substantially or possibly was no longer needed.
The big problem is what to do with the interchange between the North London Line and the Bakerloo and Watford DC Lines.
There have been plans for the Bakerloo Line to take over the Watford DC Line north of Harrow and Wealdstone. This would mean diverting the North London Line via Queen’s Park and Primrose Hill.
This would fit in well with the combined North/West London Line station at Old Oak Common. On the other hand, it would mean a few station closures and stations between Queen’s Park and South Hampstead would leave their links to Euston.
Old Oak Common station is still very much at the planning stage and if the ideas get firmed up to a mega-interchange, it should make it easier to sort out the North London Line and the Watford DC Line.
There is also the question of how the Croxley Rail Link will affect ridership on the Watford DC Line. The fastest jouneys to Euston Square from Watford Underground station, are now about 45 minutes, whereas the DC Line takes 52 minutes from Watford High Street. However by going one-stop the wrong way to Watford Junction station, you can do it in 35 minutes. As London Midland runs several trains an hour into Euston in about twenty minutes, this might be a preferred option.
If Crossrail goes up the West Coast Main Line, as is also being proposed, then the trains would surely stop at Harrow and Wealdstone and Watford Junction.
Transport for London have a lot of deep thinking to do.
Platform Action At Willesden Junction Station
As I came back from Watford, I had a choice of going all the way to Euston or changing onto the North London Line at Willesden Junction.
In the end I chose to do the latter, as I needed the toilet and I know that Willesden has one of the few toilets on the Overground. As ever it was clean and welcoming.
I couldn’t hope noticing though that there seemed to be substantial work in progress on the platform faces on the line through the station.
Platform Action At Willesden Junction Station
Normally, the platform extension work for the five-car trains is much less than this. Checking on Wikipedia, this is said.
In October 2014 the DC line was closed temporarily between Wembley Central and Queens Park reportedly to allow platform 2 to be extended further west as a through platform.
Platform 2 is on the left in the picture.
So it would appear that the Overground/Bakerloo lines to the South are getting an extra platform. Looking at the Google Map view of the area shows the layout.
Note the three platforms for the Bakerloo and Watford DC Lines at the left and the two North London Line platforms at the right. Just above these is the double-track link to the West Coast Main Line.
Could it be that London Overground are just making sure that all the work they are doing to make the Overground ready for five-car trains, they are future proofing as much as they can? This section in Wikipedia talks of a reorganisation of the Bakerloo Line and the Overground DC Line to Watford, so with all the uncertainty and variability around Old Oak Common, this is probably a good approach.
I think the only certainty is that anybody using the Overground or Bakerloo Line through Willesden Junction in ten years time will find the station very different, with probably more connections and longer and more frequent trains.
Crossrail, HS2 And The Overground Seem To Be Coming Together At Old Oak Common
There has been a report in the Standard, which talks about how Crossrail, HS2 and the Overground could come together at Old Oak Common, which is an area of London ripe for redevelopment.
The report shows this map.
Rail Lines At Old Oak Common
The map is informative and it shows how the West London Line might split from the North London Line at the new Old Oak Common station, rather than at Willesden Junction.
The map though doesn’t show the Dudding Hill Line which joins the North London Line in this area, possibly just south of the new station.
To show the space available in the are, look at this Google Map shoeing the wider area around the proposed station.
Old Oak Common Area – Downloaded 7th July 2015
There are rail lines everywhere. This second image shows the Southern part of the previous one, along the Great Western Main Line and Crossrail.
Old Oak Common Detail – Downloaded 7th July 2015
Working upwards from the bottom (South) on this map, you see the following.
1. The long building is the North Pole depot to be used by the new Hitachi Class 800/801 trains, which will be delivered over the next few years.
2. The Great Western Main Line and the future Crossrail tracks.
3. Depots for Heathrow Express and other trains.
4. I think that the large building surrounded by a large amount of grey blobs is the factory that manufactured the tunnel linings for Crossrail.
5. The Grand Union Canal encircles the site.
So could the imaginative minds of the planners at Transport for London have decided to bring the North London Line, an Extended Gospel Oak to Barking Line, Crossrail and HS2 together at the proposed new large development at Old Oak Common? With a little bit more clever design, they might even be able to tie the Central Line into the mix.
I’m all for this personally, as North East London, where I live, will be given a simple route to get to Heathrow and Reading, by just taking the North London Line or the GOBlin to Old Oak Common for Crossrail.
A Vision Of Old Oak Common In The Future
Transport for London’s Transport Plan for 2050 is particularly forceful about what will happen at Old Oak Common.
A key aim beyond this is to integrate Old Oak Common as a Canary Wharf of the future, with around 90,000 jobs and 19,000 homes
They also have a detailed map, showing lines reaching out in all directions, from the junction of Crossrail, HS2 and the Overground. In addition to the links through the Goblin Extension, I’ve traced earlier, there are a possible extension of the West London Line to Balham and a service northwards on the Midland Main Line to somewhere like St. Albans.
So London is getting another hub to complement Stratford and Canary Wharf in the East and Clapham Junction in the South.
Thoughts About The Dudding Hill Line
A friend, who is an expert on the Dudding Hill line or DHL has just e-mailed me after reading my post about Old Oak Common. He says that one of the conditions of the planning permission given for the Radlett Freight Terminal, is that the DHL is opened up, so it can take container traffic. There is a problem at the bridge-cum-tunnel at Harlesden.
I have traced the DHL on the map from where it starts at Cricklewood to past Old Oak Common and on to Acton.
Significantly, its northern end is by Brent Cross Shopping Centre, which is being expanded to form part of the new Brent Cross Cricklewood town centre, for which it is proposed to add a new railway station.
So the line effectively runs between two of London’s biggest and most-needed housing and commercial developments at Brent Cross and Old Oak Common.
I would suspect that there are opportunities for new stations at several places like Neasden and Harlesden.
This whole area of London is rapidly building up a set of questions about public transport that must be answered.
1. How do freight trains from London Gateway and Felixstowe come along the North London line and reach the Radlett Freight Terminal? It’s not clear if it is possible for trains to switch to the Midland Main line in the area of West Hampstead. If not, then that is a possible new piece of infrastructure, that would allow the movements between the ports and Radlett.
2. It has been proposed to put a station at North Acton on the North London line to link with the Central line. Surely, if Old Oak Common is to be built on the Overground, then the interchange to the Underground, would probably be incorporated in that station.
3. Should the Gospel Oak to Barking service be extended past Gospel Oak? As in a few years, this service will be run by new electric trains, which will probably be the Overground’s Class 378, to terminate these services at either Old Oak Common, Clapham Junction or Richmond, would surely make the running of a more frequent service on the GOB easier.
4. If passenger services are to be run on the DHL, then surely this line must be electrified, as this would allow the Overground to run a unified fleet. It would also enable trains to proceed up the Midland Main line, if that was thought to be a worthwhile thing to do. It would also allow freight trains from the west and eventually Southampton to run to Radlett and the north, without a chanmge of motive power en route.
5. If the DHL is electrified then it would probably be using overhead wires, as it effectively links two lines so equipped. So should the short section of the North London line to the west of Acton Central be changed to overhead wires rather than third rail? It would make for a tidier railway, but as the trains are dual voltage, there is no urgency to re-electrify!
The planners in the London Overground part of Transport for London, must be enjoying themselves playing with the best train set in London.
The more I think about all this, especially after seeing how Hackney has responded to being Overgrounded, I come to one conclusion.
If Old Oak Common and Brent Cross stations go ahead, then the Dudding Hill Line must be electrified to take freight trains and an Overground-style passenger train service.
But then what do I know about running trains?
The Ugly Duckling Is Coming To The Aid Of HS2
I’ve called the Overground an ugly ducking that is turning in to a swan before and today, it would appear that it is getting the chance to help out the troubled and unloved HS2. A study has been announced on the Global Rail News website entitled Overground Station For Old Oak Common. Here’s the start of the report.
WSP has been appointed to begin the next stage of planning for a new London Overground station at Old Oak Common.
The consultant is to carry out a Grip 3 study of three options with the hope of establishing the best solution to connect Overground services with the proposed HS2 and Crossrail interchange.
An interchange station at Old Oak Common would certainly make it easier for the good burghers of Hackney and other forgotten areas to access HS2 and Heathrow Airport.
But surely compared to the billions being spent on Crossrail and HS2, a simple interchange station, with links to the Overground, would just be small change. Wikipedia says this.
Proposals being considered by Transport for London include a scheme to realign the routes of the West London and North London line around the Old Oak Common site to create a new London Overground interchange station. The proposal envisages diverting the NLL Richmond route to curve around the eastern side of Old Oak Common, and re-routing the WLL to branch west south of the Mitre Bridge before curving north along a short section of the Dudding Hill Line to join the West Coast Main Line. New platforms serving both the NLL and WLL would be built on the southern side of Old Oak Common, adjacent to Wormwood Scrubs. Alternative versions of this scheme also consider cheaper options such as terminating the WLL at Old Oak Common or two separate London Overground stations.
But perhaps the great and the good don’t want to allow the various plebs and hoi polloi better transport links. They may have also noted that a new station would give better access to Wormwood Scrubs Prison for visitors and escapees.
If Old Oak Common is created as a major interchange, then surely the Gospel Oak to Barking services of the Overground, should be extended at least to the new station. And what about the Dudding Hill line, that passes through the area. Could it finally have found a use except for the odd freight train?
All of this says to me that an Overground station at Old Oak Common is a no-brainer, but then politicians don’t do no-brainers.
Osborne Says Redevelop Euston Before HS2
There is an article in the Standard, where George Osborne says priority should be given to the redevelopment of Euston station, before HS2 is constructed.
I use the station several times a year and compared to Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Waterloo, Marylebone and St. Pancras, it is totally inadequate. It is even worse at the moment, than London Bridge, which is currently a building site.
What makes it so bad, is the lack of connection to the Circle line and the endless dingy walks from the other Tube lines to the station. There is no disabled access to the Underground.
There is a lot of scope to do this rebuilding right. These factors should be considered.
- The effect of the Croxley Rail Link to Watford Junction, which should be completed in 2017.
- Any development at Watford Junction, that could ease pressure on Euston.
- Could Willesden Junction be used to take passengers off the West Coast Main Line?
- Should an Old Oak Common station be built?
Properly planned, rebuilding of Euston,. adds a whole new dimension to HS2. It even questions whether HS2 terminates at Euston!
Could George Osborne’s view on Euston station be coloured, by his own personal experience and those of his constituents?
It doesn’t matter to me, as redeveloping Euston station is good sense, for all sorts of reasons!
More Sense About HS2
The Standard today has this headline on the front page.
Crossrail and HS2 Superhub Will Bring £6bn Boost to North-West London
The article goes on to describe how where HS2 and Crossrail are supposed to meet at the new Old Oak Common station is going to be developed. Here’s the first two paragraphs.
Boris Johnson is to set up an Olympic-style regeneration agency to transform a rundown area into a thriving new district and deliver a £6 billion economic boost to London.
The Mayor wants to use Crossrail links and the planned HS2 route — which will converge at Old Oak Common — to spur the creation of 80,000 homes and 20,000 jobs.
At last someone has seen some sense in how to link HS2 into London. I talked about it earlier, so I won’t repeat myself.
Do We Need A Rolling HS2?
The report today by the think tank, the Institute of Economic Affairs, which says that HS2 will cost a lot more than is currently budgetted for. It’s all reported here on the BBC.
They make a lot of good points in the report.
Extra infrastructure such as trams and trains, will be needed to link other areas to the route.
Extra tunnels and other infrastructure will be needed to buy off the opposition.
The BBC summarises it like this.
The report said HS2 “and the add-on transport schemes will be heavily loss-making in commercial terms – hence the requirement for massive taxpayer support”.
As someone, who is very familiar with project management, I’ve always felt that the logic of HS2 and the way it is being implemented could and will be improved.
If we look at the current rail network, it has problems that will eventually be solved or helped by HS2.
Euston station is not fit for purpose and should be redeveloped and/or relieved. I favour a second terminus of the West Coast Main Line at Old Oak Common, as I mused here.
There are very severe capacity problems on the northern part of the West Coast Min Line between Wigan and Glasgow. This is not part of the current HS2, so perhaps it should be done to make sure the Scots get their connections to the South improved.
The East Coast Main Line to Leeds and Newcastle, has a notorious bottleneck at the Digswell Viaduct and according to this report on the BBC web site, it could be removed for under half a billion.
One problem that HS2 doesn’t solve is the bad connections across the north of England from Liverpool to Leeds and Hull. This BBC report includes an estimate of a billion plus.
So should we just define the route for HS2 and then break it into a series of manageable projects, that are implemented over the years.
We might design large stretches for say 300 kph, but most of the upgraded network would have limits of around 200 to 250 kph. Effectively large sections of the East and West Coast Main Lines can now handle 225 kph and just need resignalling.
The new Class 800 and Class 801 trains will be built to a design speed of 225 kph.
In some ways these trains may be the key to the whole of the expansion of high-speed services. I suspect, we’ll see them on London to Sheffield and Norwich for a start.
The Anonymous Widower 