The Anonymous Widower

Tottenham Hale Station Is Beginning To Make Sense

These are pictures, I took of Tottenham Hale station, this morning.

A few of my observations.

The Cladding Is Going On

The cladding is going on the building above the Victoria Line ticket hall.

It appears to be fireproof glass on a concrete and steel frame.

A Wide Island Platform

Platforms 2 and 3 form a wide island platform.

• Only Platform 3 appears to be in use for London-bound services to both Liverpool Street and Stratford.
• Both faces appear long enough for a 240 metre long Stansted Express train.
• There is a step-free bridge at the half-way point of the platform.
• The original bridge with its escalator is still in place.

It is a design with good potential for handling more services.

• Platform 3 could handle all services to Liverpool Street station.
• Platform 2 could handle all services to Stratford station.

Travellers would just walk across the island platform.

The Step-Free Bridge Appears Almost Complete

The bridge appears to be almost complete.

• The bridge has lifts and stairs with double handrails on both sides.
• The lift and stairs on the London-bound side are in the middle of the island platform 2 & 3.
• There is an escalator for London-bound travellers to access the bridge, to give an easy route to the Victoria Line.

There appears to be just a bit of testing before full commissioning.

The Old Bridge Is Still In Place

It still has its up escalator from Platform 2 & 3 and there have been statements that this bridge will be modified to create a link between the Underground station and the developments on the other side of the tracks.

Most Of The Bus And Taxi Interchange Is Complete

With buses and black taxis, the interchange seems finished.

• Much of North and East London can get a bus to and from the station.
• Today, I got a 76 bus to Dalston for a two hundred metre walk.
• But with a heavy case, I’d get a black cab,

Transport planners usual only plan for travellers to and from the City centre.

The Future

The Stratford And Meridian Water Shuttle

This is rumoured to start in September and will probably be the following.

• Two trains per hour (tph) between Stratford and Meridian Water stations.
• Stops will be at Lea Bridge, Tottenham Hale and Northumberland Park stations.
• Trains could be any length up to probably 240 metres, as all platforms are long.
• Current trains take sixteen minutes between Stratford and Meridian Water stations.

In addition services between Stratford and Hertford East and Bishops Stortford stations would stop at Meridian Water, to give the station a four tph service to and from Stratford.

The new Meridian Water station has been built with a dedicated bay platform for the shuttle service.

The bay Platform 2 is on the right and the through Platform 3 is on the left in this picture taken looking North at Meridian Water station.

Two tph to Stratford would leave from each side of this platform.

The new track between Meridian Water and Lea Bridge stations has been built without a passing loop, so the two tph shuttle must probably be run by a single train.

The shuttle would.

• Have exclusive use of the new track between Lea Bridge and Meridian Water stations.
• Have shared use of the existing track between Lea  Bridge and Stratford stations.
• Call at Platform 2 at Tottenhale and Northumberlan Park station in both directions.

A two tph shuttle would consist of the following.

• Four journeys between Stratford and Meridian Water stations.
• Twenty-four intermediate station stops.
• Two turnrounds each at Meridian Water and Stratford stations.
• Current turnrounds at Stratford have in excess of twenty minutes to unload and load passengers and for the driver to change ends.
• Greater Anglia will be running the shuttle in September with nearly nearly forty-year-old British Rail-built Class 317 trains.

As there is not enough time to fit the trains with wings and jet engines, what the hell will be happening?

Go to Stratford station and there is an out-of-date sign at the end of Platform 1 and 2, where the Overground trains terminate.

It directs passengers to Platform 12 for Stansted Airport.

It dates from the time, when Stansted Express trains used to go to Stratford station.

They didn’t turnround in Platform 12, but used the High Meads Loop underneath the Eastfield Shopping Centre to reverse direction.

• The train stopped in Platform 12 long enough for passenger to leave and join the train.
• The driver stayed in the same cab and carried on driving.

I suspect that a Class 317 train could go from Platform 1 at Lea Bridge station, round the High Meads Loop and back to Platform 2 at Lea Bridge station, in these split times.

• Lea Bridge to Stratford – 6 minutes.
• Stop in Platform 12 at Stratford – 1 minute
• Straford to Lea Bridge – 6 minutes.

I believe all these times can be achieved by well-driven Class 317 trains, which gives a timing of thirteen minutes.

Currently, Lea Bridge to Meridian Water takes nine minutes in the elderly Class 317 trains, sharing the track with other trains.

But the shuttle trains will have a clear track, once they are on the new track North of Lea Bridge station.

I believe they could do this in perhaps seven minutes.

Applying, the sort of maths a bright nine-year-old should be able to master.

60 – 2*13 – 4*7 = 6

So could you turn a train round at Meridian Water station in three minutes?

• London Overground regularly do this at Dalston Junction station.
• Stepping-up might be needed, where a second driver immediately gets into the rear cab and takes over the train.

But it all leads me to the conclusion, that a single Class 317 train can run a two tph shuttle between Meridian Water and Stratford stations.

The following conditions would apply.

• The trains must use the High Meads Loop.
• There would be a fast stop in Stratford, taking less than a minute.
• Stratford to Lea Bridge times should be six minutes or less.
• Meridian Water to Lea Bridge times should be seven minutes or less.
• Stepping-up might need to be employed at Meridian Water.
• Trains could be up to 240 metres long.
• The trains would have to be well-driven.

There is also the fall-back position, that the new Class 720 trains to be delivered later in the year will have increased performance.

Development Of The High Meads Loop

The High Meads Loop is an almost unique piece of railway infrastructure on the UK rail network.

• The simpler Wirral Line Loop under Liverpool turns upwards of twelve tph back for the Wirral Line.
• The Wirral Line also has four stations on the loop.
• I believe the High Meads Loop could easily handle a similar frequency to the Wirral Line Loop.
• The High Meads Loop is also double-track.

I believe, that currently, the High Meads Loop is only planned to only handle the following services.

• Two tph – Meridian Water Shuttle
• Two tph – West Anglia Main Line services.

There is a lot more capacity to handle services from the West Anglia Main Line or its branches.

Liverpool Street And Meridian Water Services

When the Field Day Festival took place a couple of weeks ago, Greater Anglia stopped several services, including some Stansted Express services at Meridian Water station to bring festival-goers back to Central London.

Currently, the following Liverpool Street services pass through Meridian Water station.

• Two tph – Liverpool Street and Hertford East
• Two tph – Liverpool Street and Cambridge
• Four tph – Stansted Express

As Greater Anglia’s new fleet of trains, will all be optimised for fast stops, I wouldn’t be surprised to see some Greater Anglia services to and from Liverpool Street station doing the following.

• Northbound services would stop in Platform 4 at Tottenham Hale, Northumberland Park and Meridian Water stations.
• Southbound services would stop in Platform 3 at Tottenham Hale, Northumberland Park and Meridian Water stations.

If Northumberland Park and Median Water stations deserve four tph to and from Stratford, surely they deserve the same frequency to and from Liverpool Street. Could both Cambridge and Hertford East services stop at Northumberland Park and Meridian Water station?

• Both Northumberland Park and Meridian Water stations could get direct services to and from Liverpool Street station.
• The island platforms at all three stations  could give some useful cross-platform interchanges.

Stations North of Tottenham Hale would get these frequencies to and from the station and the Victoria Line.

• Eight tph – Northumberland Park
• Eight tph – Meridian Water
• Two tph – Ponders End
• Two tph – Brimsdown
• Four tph – Enfield Lock
• Three tph – Waltham Cross
• Six tph – Cheshunt
• Six tph – Broxbourne

Note.

1. With a few extra stops by Stratford services, all stations between Tottenham Hale and Broxbourne could get at least a very customer-friendly four tph.
2. If your station didn’t have a Stratford service, there would be a cross- or same-platform interchange going at Tottenham Hale station.
3. Using Stratford and Crossrail may be preferable on some journeys than Tottenham Hale sand the Victoria Line.
4. In this hot weather give me an air-conditioned Aventra over a furnace on the Victoria Line any time.

A Lea Valley Metro could be emerging.

Stansted Express And Meridian Water

Consider.

• Various arguments and statistics could be used to decide whether Stansted Express trains stopped at Meridian Water station.
• I suspect too, that if Spurs continue to play in Europe, that a strong case can be made for stopping Stansted Expresses at Northumberland Park station.
• But the performance of the trains on the West Anglia Main Line will enable Greater Anglia to do what’s best for passengers and profits.

As Greater Anglia did a couple of weeks ago with the Field Day Festival, they can even be selective.

Stansted Express And Stratford

The Stansted Express is currently a four tph service between Liverpool Street and Stansted Airport.

Consider.

• In the past, Stansted Expresses ran to and from Stratford.
• As they did in the past, they could terminate in the High Meads Loop at Stratford.
• Big International events are held at Stratford.
• The Central Line links Stratford and Liverpool Street.
• Crossrail will link Stratford and Liverpool Street at a frequency of twelve tph.
• Stratford and Tottenham Hale will soon be linked at a frequency of four tph.
• Extra trains could be needed to run Stansted Expresses to and from Stratford.

I think that running a Stansted |Express to and from Stratford that will remain under review and could be implemented at some date in the future.

In Future Stansted Airport Train Services, I outline how trains might serve Stansted Airport from Norwich and Stratford stations.

Any trains between Stratford and Stanstead Airport, would probably terminate in the High Meads Loop, as they did in the past.

Should High Meads Loop Services Use Platform 11 Or Platform 12?

When Stansted Express services used the High Meads Loop a few years ago, they used to use Platform 12, as the sign still shows.

It could obviously handle the planned four tph, but suppose the High Meads Loop was handling twelve or sixteen tph, as a high-frequency route to Crossrail would Platform 11 be a better option?

Certainly, if the High Meads Loop was handling a lot of services including Stansted Express, Cambridge and local services, there would need to be a lot of thought about how to organise passengers.

There would need to be a fast pedestrian route between Platform 11 or 12 and the two Crossrail/Central Line platforms.

Extra Services That Could Use The High Meads Loop

As I said earlier, I think that if a Stratford and Stansted Airport service is revived, it will use the High Meads Loop.

My preference would be to run a Stratford and Norwich service, that would call at Stansted Airport.

• It would serve greatly increase capacity all along the West Anglia Main Line, through Cambridge.
• It could give intermediate stations a direct service to Stansted Airport.
• Two tph would be a sensible frequency.
• Calls could include Tottenham Hale, Broxbourne, Harlow, Bishops Stortford, Whittlesford Parkway, Cambridge, Cambridge North, Ely and all stations to Norwich.

A two tph service would need twelve Class 755 trains.

The High Meads Loop would also be available to turn extra local services.

One possibility is to reinstate the Hall Farm Curve and run services between Chingford and Stratford.

The level crossing at Highams Park station is a problem, but in Improving The Chingford Branch Line, I outlined how it could be possible to run four tph between Chingford and Stratford stations, using clever timetabling, digital signalling and good driver aids.

Another possibility is to terminate some London Overground services from Cheshunt and Enfield Town at Stratford, instead of Liverpool Street.

Services could be .

• Two tph between Enfield Town and Liverpool Street
• Two tph between Cheshunt and Liverpool Street
• Two tph between Enfield Town and Stratford.
• Two tph between Cheshunt and Stratford.

This would mean.

• London Overground’s preferred frequency of four tph to Enfield Town and Cheshunt.
• All stations between Edmonton Green and Seven Sisters, including White Hart Lane, would get an eight tph service to London and Crossrail.
• Four tph in both directions would call at South Tottenham station to give a same platform interchange with the Gospel Oak to Barking Line..

Most of the infrastructure is already in place, although improvements might be needed to the Seven Sisters Chord, that links Seven Sisters station to the Gospel Oak to Barking Line.

Summing up, I believe we could see the following services using the High Meads Loop.

• Two tph to and from Meridian Water
• Two tph to and from Bishops Stortford via Meridian Water
• Two tph to and from Norwich via Stansted
• Four tph to and from Chingford via the Hall Farm Curve.
• Two tph to and from Enfield Town via South Tottenham and Seven Sisters
• Two tph to and from Cheshunt via South Tottenham and Seven Sisters

That is an easy-to-handle fourteen tph.

This map from carto.metro.free.fr, shows the lines connecting the North London Line and the High Meads Loop to platforms 1m 2, 11 and 12 at Stratford station.

Given that freight trains pass through the area to get between the North London Line and the Great Eastern Main Line, there may need to be some track reorganisation to make full use of the High Meads Loop.

Digital signalling would also help, as it would all over the London Overground network.

I think it would not be unreasonable to expect that in some point in the future twenty tph could be running around the High Meads Loop.

A new rail terminus for London would have been created with the ability to handle more trains than either Cannon Street, Fenchurch Street or Marylebone. stations.

Could we see all West Anglia Main Line services terminate in the High Meads Loop?

Probably not, as the platform wouldn’t be able to cope with all the passengers.

Crossrail 2

If Crossrail 2 is ever built, it will terminate at Broxbourne on the West Anglia Main Line.

It will need four-tracking of the West Anglia Main Line between  Tottenham Hale and Broxbourne stations, which will create massive disruption for passengers and residents.

Conclusion

There is a lot of development, that is possible on the West Anglia Main Line to make it into a world-class commuter route and a main line route with good services to Stansted Airport, Cambridge and Norwich.

Cambridge is a big growth point in the UK economy and dveloping the West Anglia Main Line will only improve the economy of the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June 24, 2019 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Class 317 Train, Class 720 Train, Field Day Festival, Greater Anglia, Hall Farm Curve, High Meads Loop, Liverpool Street Station, Meridian Water Station, stansed Express, STAR, Stratford Station, Tottenham Hale Station | 3 Comments