Do We Sometimes Misjudge The Consequence Of New Railways And Roads?
I ask this question after reading this article in the Hawick News, which is entitled Calls for extension of Borders Railway to Hawick building up fresh head of steam.
It was this phrase that worried me.
“Hawick businesses are feeling the impact of a one-way ticket that is seeing local shoppers travel from Tweedbank to all points north without any reciprocal arrangements.
It looks like building the Borders Railway has hurt businesses in Hawick. And what about other places in the area like Selkirk?
I think we’ve seen this before in other places.
Where I live near Dalston Junction station, has seen a massive uplift, since the creation of the East London Line. It was in some ways predictable, but I don’t think Transport for London expected the uplift that happened.
Our predictions, were never good in the past, but they don’t seem to be improving.
I wonder how far out predictions will be for Crossrail/Thameslink?
Consider.
- Crossrail and Thameslink working together will make a lot more journeys single change.
- Crossrail has good connections with the East London Line.
- Crossrail gives much improved access to the Bakerloo and Northern City Lines.
- Crossrail/Thameslink gives much improved access to Canary Wharf, the City of London, Gatwick Airport, Heathrow Airport, Luton Airport and Oxford Street in the centre of the cap[ital.
One consequence I see, is that those with Freedom Passes like me, will use the new free railways to advantage.
Roll on 2018 and 2019!
Reflections On My Journey From Gatwick
After a good night’s sleep, it is perhaps worth taking a look at my experience yesterday in getting through and home from Gatwick Airport.
The train problems were hopefully exceptional, but having seen the new plans for Thameslink’s services, which make it difficult for anybody in East London to go South, I suspect that these problems will go on for some time.
The trouble with the new Thameslink is that it has no step-free interchange with any of the main North South routes through East London.
East London Line
Currently, you can change at New Cross Gate for Gatwick services, but after Thameslink fully opens, this connectivity will be lost under current plans.
It looks like the best route will be to go to West Croydon station and take the tram to East Croydon.
Bank Branch Of The Northern Line
Currently, the interchange at London Bridge between Northern Line and National Rail is not good, although it is step-free.
Hopefully, it will get better.
But the problem with the Northern Line is that many of the stations need reconstruction for full step-free access.
If the London Bridge interchange is improved and the excessive walking is cut, I could use this route a lot to get to Thameslink from Angel station.
But Angel is not a station for a large case, a wheelchair or a baby in a buggy.
Victoria Line
Many on the Victoria Line go direct to Victoria and get a direct train.
Victroria Line access to Thameslink is currently terrible with the only interchange at Kings Cross being step-free and a very tortuous and long walk.
After Thameslink is fully open, there will be a much easier change at Finsbury Park station.
Conclusions
I’m still not sure that the new fully-open Thameslink will not be without controversy.
There is also a need for a solution to the Freedom Pass problem.
I suspect that savvy passengers will just buy an extension ticket between East bCroydon and Gatwick Airport.
On the other hand, I wouldn’t put it past Gatwick Airport to fund the moving of Gatwick Airport into Travel Zone 6, if Heathrow does something unfriendly with Crossrail ticketing. After all, each return ticket costs just £6.
Using Southern Crossrail Lite
On my trip to Shepperton today, I went from and to Waterloo station for the Shepperton Branch Line.
For both journeys, I used the route between London Bridge and Waterloo East stations, that some want to use as part of Southern Crossrail.
Going to Waterloo, I started at Farringdon, and this waan’t a good place to start, as I didn’t have a clue to the best way and neither did the London Underground staff.
So I took the Metropolitan to Moorgate and hopped South on the Northern Line to London Bridge, from where I had three routes.
- Jubilee Line
- Train from London to Waterloo East.
- Bus
At a pinch, I could walk along the Embankment
I suspect that when Crossrail and Thameslink are fully open, there will be a better route, between Farringdon and Waterloo.
- Crossrail to Paddington, then Bakerloo Line to Waterloo.
- Crossrail to Tottenham Court Road, then Northern Line to Waterloo.
- Thameslink to London Bridge, then train to Waterloo East.
As a special Crossrail-Bakerloo pedestrian tunnel is being built at Paddington, that may be the best way. I wrote about this in Paddington Is Operational Again.
My route to Waterloo worked today, as did the route home after a raid on the excellent Marks and Spencer at Waterloo. The only problem was that a 141 bus to my house, had broken down and I had to wait at London Bridge.
I tend to use a 141 bus to and fropm London Bridge, as one stop is in the forecourt of the station and the other is less than a hundred metres from my house.
So how could this abbreviated Southern Crossrail Lite route be improved?
- The London Bridge end works well, as generally all trains for Waterloo East station turn up on Platforms 8 or 9, which are the two sides of the same island.
- Only one up escalator at London Bridge was available and I have a feeling, there could be a bit of a reliability issue.
- I used a lift to go down coming back, to avoid walking to the escalator, and the lift was the sort of size the Victorians used because escalators weren’t in common use until later.
- The lift was certainly big enough for a cricket team and all their kit.
- There needs to be better connection between main line and Underground at London Bridge. I suspect this will get better, as more of the station opens.
- For this route four trains per hour, as you get on a Sunday, aren’t enough.
- At Waterloo East, the walking route could be improved.
- Waterloo East needs a Next Train To London Bridge Indicator.
- Waterloo has twin up and down escalators between the main concourse and the walking route, which is more than enough. Especially, as they were all working!
But I did notice several passengers used the route from London Bridge to Waterloo East stations, including at least two couples with children in pushchairs.
This new Southern Crossrail Lite is going to prove an invaluable alternative to the Jubilee Line.
Smithfield’s Iceberg
One Central London Crossrail station, that doesn’t seem to make the headlines is Farringdon station.
This article on bdonline.co.uk is entitled Crossrail prompts Farringdon makeover plans, brought the station into my mind.
Like some other Crossrail stations, Farringdon is a long double-ended station, stretching almost from Barbican station to the current Farringdon station, where Thameslink and the Sub-Surface Lines cross.
Wikipedia says this about Crossrail development at the station.
The Farringdon Crossrail station is being built between Farringdon and Barbican Underground stations and it will have interchanges with both of them.[19] Access at the Farringdon end will be via the new Thameslink ticket hall. Work is anticipated to be completed in 2018. Crossrail will link Farringdon to London City Airport and London Heathrow Airport, the Olympic Park in Stratford, Canary Wharf, Bond Street and Oxford Street, and Maidenhead in the west and Shenfield in the east. The station will also be a hub for cross-London travel, being the only station to be on both the north-south Thameslink service and the east-west Crossrail service.
This Google Map shows the area.
farringdon And Barbican Stations
Station Entrances
There would appear to be station entrances in Long Lane at the Barbican end and Cowcross Street at the Farringdon end, according to this page on the City of London web site, which contains these details of Farringdon station.
The station will include two ticket halls. The eastern hall will be located within the City at Lindsey Street and the western hall (shared with Thameslink, and which opened in December 2011) is be located at Cowcross Street in the London Borough of Islington. The eastern ticket hall will also provide a second entrance to London Underground’s Barbican station.
The entrance to the eastern ticket hall will be via a double height space, occupying most of the frontage on Long Lane and part of the frontage on Lindsey Street. The remaining frontage will be formed by future over-site development. Part of the frontage is also required for the discharge of Smithfield Market car park ventilation and escape stair.
Access to the platforms will be by means of escalators and there will be a number of lifts to provide step-free access to the Crossrail platforms and the London Underground platforms at Barbican station.
Preliminary discussions have commenced with Crossrail about the need for complementary measures such as improved crossing facilities and streetscape improvements to handle the projected increase in pedestrians in this area when the station opens. Crossrail have been advised that the over-site development will have to complement the settings of the listed market buildings and the Smithfield Conservation Area.
Rail Lines
It is interesting to look at this map of the rail lines through Farringdon from carto.metro.free.fr.
Lines Through Farringdon Station
Note how the two Crossrail tracks appear to move apart through the area. It will certainly allow lots of escalators at each end of the Crossrail platforms.
Platform Length
Crossrail platforms are long, to accept the Class 345 trains, which are two hundred metres long.
But this article on the Crossrail web site, which is entitled Current Works At Farringdon Station, contains this paragraph.
A new ticket hall is being constructed at the eastern end adjacent to the London Underground Barbican Station. It is linked to the Cowcross Street Ticket Hall by two platform tunnels which are among the longest on the route at 350 metres, more than double the length of the Hammersmith and City line platforms.
As the crow-flies distance between the two Sub-Surface Line stations is around 500-600 metres, these are seriously long platforms.
Obviously, this length of 350 metres is deliberate, but why?
I can think of the following reasons.
- Longer platforms might be needed to connect to the two ticket halls.
- Because the platforms appear to curve apart, they would need to be longer.
- Passenger access to the various walkways, escalators and lifts, might be better.
- There could be some safety reason.
- Two trains could both be partly in the Farringdon platforms at one time, to perhaps transfer passengers from a stalled train.
But whatever the reason, it could be a long walk,, if you get in the wrong end of a train for the exit at your destination.
A Gallery
Early on a Sunday morning, I walked between Barbican and Farringdon staions.
I’ll split comments into sections..
Barbican Station
Note the following about Barbican station.
- It has some excellent brick walls enclosing the station.
- The station was unsympathetically remodelled by the Nazis.
- You can still see the remains of a steel and glass roof , that was removed in the 1950s.
- There will be an entrance to the Barbican end of the Crossrail station at Farringdon from the Western End of the central platform.
My thoughts on Barbican station.
- When as a family we lived in the Barbican, we used this station extensively and I suspect that the humble entrance to and from the station will be heavily used by Crossrail passengers.
- If the central island platform proves to be too narrow for a walking route, it could always be widened, by using some of the space, where the trains used to run to Moorgate.
- Will an entrance be built on the other platform to Crossrail, so that passengers going East on the Sub-Surface Lines will have an easy step-free interchange with Crossrail?
On a personal travel point, Barbican might be my entrance to Crossrail/Thameslink, as I’d just take a 56 bus from round the corner from where I live.
The Long Lane Entrance To Farringdon Crossrail Station
This Google Map shows Barbican station and the building that will contain the Long Lane entrance to Farringdon Crossrail station.
Barbican Station
This map is a very informative one.
- You can actually see behind the hoardings on the platform at Barbican station.
- There are two trains in the station.
- There is a gap in the buildings on the South Side of the station along Long Lane, that I labelled a development opportunity in the gallery.
- You can see the two domes on the Eastern end of Smithfield Market.
This image shows how the Long Lane entrance to Farringdon Crossrail station and Barbican station, will end up being treated as one station by travellers.
This is an image from the Farringdon station page on the Crossrail web site.
And this is my picture taken on my walk.
I think that the angles are similar, but I probably needed to stand further out.
This second image from the Crossrail web site, shows the view from just round the corner.
This is the nearest picture I have.
Note the zebra crossing, which appears on both images.
The Cowcross Street Entrance To Farringdon Crossrail Station
This Google Map shows the Cowcross Street site in relation to the current station.
Farringdon Station
The site with the obvious hole and what looks to be a large grating is where the Cowcross Street entrance is being built. If you go into the Thameslink Ticket Hall and look to your right, you’ll see that the wall is not of the highest quality. It could be just temporary, until the Crossrail station is built.
Between Comptoir Gascon and Smiths of Smithfield, is a small Crossrail site, which is shown in the gallery. Is it just a delivery and work site, or is it for something more substantial?
I think it could be the former, as from a Metropolitan Line train, little is visible, as this picture shows.
Behind The Hoardings On Charterhouse Street
This Google Map shows quite good detail.
Behind The Hoardings On Charterhouse Street From Above
The hole shown in the top-left corner of the second image is shown on some drawings,labelled as Network Rail Lift Shift.
But, I can’t help thinking that with the development of Smithfield and especially the new Museum of London, that an entrance to Farringdon station at this location, would be beneficial,
The New Museum Of London
This is being built in West Smithfield. This Google Map shows the area.
The New Museum Of London Site
This article in the Guardian is entitled Off to market: Museum of London shows off its new Smithfield site.
Read the article and this third paragraph is an ambitious vision.
“Our job is to make this the best museum in the world,” Ament said, carefully stepping around pigeon droppings and pools of water in the old market, which has been empty for the last 30 years while developers and conservationists fought over its fate. “I’m desperate to keep the train line running through it – nobody else has one of those. Just imagine the people on the trains looking out and seeing a museum around them, and the people in the museum seeing the trains go by.”
Surely, one of the best cities in the world, needs one of the best museums in the world to explain itself.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the railway lines in the area.
Snow Hill station would have been just South of the Museum site, but it is known that under the market there are numerous railway lines and sidings, where animals were brought to the market.
These must create ideas for the architects.
There are more notes on Snow Hill station on this page of the Disused Stations web site.
The train line refereed to in the Guardian article previously, is of course Thameslink, running in the Snow Hill Tunnel.
Certainly, the future development of the area must provide a decent connection between the Museum and Farringdon station.
I don’t think that Snow Hill station will be reopened, but there must be ways to connect the museum to the Thameslink platforms at Farringdon.
A Walk from City Thameslink Station Through The New Museum Site To Farringdon Station
I started the walk at City Thameslink station, as I wanted to see if the new Class 700 trains, changed voltage smoother than the Class 319 trains. I felt that three decades of progress had improved matters.
The Museum site needs work and some good architects. This is one proposal.
There is more in this article on the Dezeen web site.
The Future Of The Widened Lines To Moorgate
Trains from North of London used to go to Moorgate station along the Widened Lines until 2009, when platform lengthening for Thameslink at Farringdon station meant they couldn’t be used.
Two platforms at Moorgate are still used in busy times, but two platforms at Moorgate and Barbican stations are unused.
The only thing, I can find about the future of these lines is they could be used for storing Metropolitan Line trains.
If this is done, then let’s hope there is worthwhile oversite development!
Some spaces are quite large as this picture from East of Farringdon station shows.
Space East Of Farringdon
You could store a lot of trains there.
London’s Future Air Terminal
This article on the Network Rail web site is entitled Farringdon Station: London’Newest Transport Hub.
This is said.
From 2018 Farringdon will be the only station where Thameslink, Crossrail and tube services meet. Passengers will have the choice to travel north-south, east-west or around London.
With up to 24 trains an hour running in each direction on Thameslink and Crossrail, including tube trains Farringdon will be served by over 140 trains an hour.This will relieve pressure from the Tube and deliver more seats for commuters.
Farringdon will provide direct links to three of London’s major airports, Heathrow, Gatwick, and Luton, and to St Pancras International for Eurostar services.
I have a feeling some of the spaces and oversite development in the area of Farringdon station, could become visitor-friendly ones, like hotels, cafes and restaurants.
Get it right and long-haul passengers into Heathrow and Gatwick, might prefer a night to refresh and enjoy themselves around Farringdon, before travelling out a day or so later.
The area will have a lot going for it in a few years.
- The Barbican Centre
- St. Paul’s Cathedral
- Hatton Garden
- The best church in London; St. Batholomew-The-Great
- The new Museum of London
- A short walk to the Thames.
- Direct links to Gatwick, Heathrow and Stansted airports.
- Direct links to Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge, Old Oak Common, Paddington and St. Pancras stations.
- One-change links to City and Stansted airports and Euston, Marylebone, Victoria and Waterloo stations.
- Good restaurants
- Superb urban walks.
If it all goes wrong, you can always visit the Wife Market.
As some places like Iceland and Dubai market themselves as a journey break, why can’t London? Or do passengers prefer ice, geysers, sand and anonymous concrete and glass buildings?
Not that London doesn’t have a few of the latter!
Conclusion
The area round Farringdon station will be a new centre for London.
I wonder what my Huguenot grandfather, who was born in 1870, a couple of hundred metres to the North, would have thought?
Could Old Oak Common Be London’s Super Hub Station?
Old Oak Common station is going to be a very important rail hub in the future, with all the services that various companies and organisations would like to see serving the proposed station.
This map shows some of the existing and proposed rail lines in the area.
Rail Lines At Old Oak Common
Current Plans
I’ll now list the lines shown in the map or that go through the area. and are listed in Wikipedia, as having connections at the proposed Old Oak Common station.
1. Bakerloo Line
The Bakerloo Line will call
2. Central Line
The Central Line will call.
The Central Line acts as a loop from Crossrail through Central London, serving stations not on the direct route, in Central London between Stratford and Bond Street.
I wrote about the relationship between Crossrail and the Central Line in Ducking And Diving Between Crossrail And The Central Line.
3. Crossrail
Crossrail goes through the area and development of a station has been proposed.
4. Great Western Main Line
The Great Western Main Line goes through the area and local and other services may call.
5. HS2
HS2 will be building a station at Old Oak Common.
6. North London Line
The North London Line is consulting on a new station as I wrote about in Should An Overground Station Be Built At Hythe Road?
The North London Line acts as another East-West line across London and will probably have a frequency of upwards of the current 4 trains per hour (tph) between Richmond and its Eastern connection to Crossrail at Stratford.
7. West Coast Main Line
The West Coast Main Line goes through the area and local and other services may call.
8. West London Line
The West London Line will call and this line gives an easy route to Balham, Clapham Junction and East Croydon stations, which by-passes Central London.
I suspect that the frequency of trains on this route will be increased.
Eight lines is an large amount of connectivity.
Other Possibilities
If that isn’t enough connectivity, there are also these extra possibilities.
1. Chiltern Railways
Chiltern Railways have ambitions to use Old Oak Common station as another London terminus, with perhaps 2 tph.
I wrote about it in Linking Chiltern To Crossrail.
2. Dudding Hill Line
The Dudding Hill Line, runs to the West of Old Oak Common station. It could be electrified and have a station that is connected to Old Oak Common station.
For various reasons, both the Brent and Cricklewood \curves would be electrified, thus giving fully electrified access to and from North and South on the Midland Main Line.
3. Gospel Oak To Barking Line
Transport for London have published ideas to extend the Gospel Oak to Barking Line along an electrified Dudding Hill Line.
Suggestions have talked about 4 tph between Hounslow and Gospel Oak stations.
4. Heathrow Express
Heathrow Express uses the Crossrail route, so it could call.
5. Midland Main Line
If Chiltern can justify using Old Oak Common station, I suspect that services on the Midland Main Line can make the same arguments for using Old Oak Common station as a terminal.
Consider.
- Electrification of the Dudding Hill Line makes this possible.
- St. Pancras which is very much A Fur Coat And No Knickers Station, is short of capacity.
It would give passengers from the East Midlands much better access to London and the South East.
6. Thameslink
There are no plans to link Thameslink to Old Oak Common station, but why not?
I proposed this in Will The Third Runway At Heathrow Be Actually Built In The Near Future?
Under Integration With Both HS1 And HS2, I said this.
It would be possible to do the following.
- Arrange for Heathrow Express and/or Crossrail to call at Old Oak Common for HS2.
- Terminate some Thameslink services at Old Oak Common, thus linking HS1 and HS2.
- Build an easy entrance at St. Pancras to Thameslink close to Eurostar.
- It goes without saying, that Old Oak |Common will make interchange easy between the umpteen lines meeting there.
The Dudding Hill Line would be electrified.
This proposal and the related electrification of the Dudding Hill Line would do the following.
- Give Chiltern, Crossrail, GWR and Heathrow Express a connection to HS1.
- Give Thameslink a better connection to HS2 and the West Coast Main Line
- Create a fast ink between HS1 and HS2.
What could a Thameslink service to Old Oak Common station look like?
- I would terminate 4 tph trains at Old Oak Common to give an adequate level of service.
- It might be advantageous to use eight-car Class 700 trains on this route, so that all trains North of Cricklewood could be twelve-car trains.
- Could the trains going to Old Oak Common be the Wimbledon Loop trains?
- There could be advantages in having 2 tph between Old Oak Common and London Bridge.
Obviously, passenger statistics would determine the services required.
Old Oak Common As An Airport Hub
If all or some of these plans come to pass, Old Oak Common station will be well-connected to the following airports.
- Birmingham – Under 50 minutes by HS2.
- City – Under 20 minutes by Crossrail
- Gatwick – Under 50 minutes by Thameslink
- Heathrow – Around 20 minutes by Crossrail and around 15 minutes by Heathrow Express
- Luton – Under 30 minutes by Midland Main Line.
- Manchester – Around an hour by HS2.
- Southend – Around 80 minutes by Crossrail and Greater Anglia.
- Stansted – Around 55 minutes by Crossrail and Stansted Express.
The figures are very much my best estimates, as the Thameslink and HS2 web sites don’t have simple journey time calculators as does the Crossrail web site.
But these timings do show some interesting facts, that will effect the developments of airports in Southern England.
- Birmingham Airport is a practical alternative for those living with easy access to the HS2 stations at Euston or Old Oak Common.
- Gatwick access needs to be faster to compete with Heathrow and Luton.
- When HS2 reaches Manchester Aiorport, it will be a practical alternative for Middle England.
- Southend Airport will be good for those East of London, but the journey time needs to be cut, by running faster trains to London.
- Stansted Airport needs a faster connection to London and they will push for the four-tracking of the West Anglia Main Line.
There will be a massive battle for passengers and Network Rail will be under tremendous pressure to perform.
Rail Companies, Lines And Terminals, Without A Direct Connection To Old Oak Common Station
There is quite a few, even if you cut out train operators like Arriva Trains Wales, Scotrail, Northern and TransPennine, that don’t serve London.
1. Caledonian Sleeper
With all its connectivity, would Old Oak Common be the logical destination for the Caledonian Sleeper?
Could Old Oak Common, be London’s hub for all sleeper trains?
2. Circle, District And Metropolitan Lines
There are various ways to get on the Circle, District and Metropolitan Lines depending on where you want to go.
Just as the Central Line acts as a loop from Crossrail, the Sub-Surface Lines have various loops running parallel to Crossrail through Central London.
- Circle and Metropolitan Lines, running North of Crossrail, from Paddington to Whitechapel.
- Circle and District Lines, running South of Crossrail, from Paddington to Whitechapel.
- District Line, running, South of Crossrail, from Ealing Broadway to Whitechapel.
My prediction in Is Whitechapel Station Going To Be A Jewel In The East?, seems to becoming true.
3. c2c
As I said in Will c2c Push For Access To Stratford And Liverpool Street?, c2c needs a connection to a station on Crossrail.
With some reorganisation of services, I believe that it might possible to have a 4 tph service to Stratford and Liverpool Street stations, which would give passengers in the c2c area, access to Crossrail
4. East Coast Main Line
These are routes between Old Oak Common and Kings Cross station for the East Coast Main Line.
- Crossrail to Farringdon and then the Metropolitan Line
- North London Line to Highbury and Islington and then the Victoria Line.
- Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus and then the Victoria Line.
- Crossrail to Tottenham Court Road and then a 10, 73 or 390 bus.
- Narrow boat on the canals.
- If Thameslink should in the future serve Old Oak Common, that can be taken to St. Pancras Thameslink, followed by a walk.
None of the routes are of the best.
If you had plenty of time, Tottenham Court Road station and then a bus would be a good route, as the bus drops you in the front of Kings Cross station, with totally flat access to the trains. If you’re early and it’s sunny, you can sit in the best Waiting Room at a London station.
For local services on the East Coast Main Line, there are two slower alternatives.
- Crossrail to Moorgate and then use the Great Northern Metro.
- Thameslink to St. Pancras Thameslink, cross to the other platform and take Thameslink to Cambridge or Peterborough.
The second route, would be much easier, if St. Psncras had an island platform for Thameslink. At least it’s only escalators and lifts.
There is one development, that might happen, that could improve journeys to and from Kings Cross station. That is the reopening of Maiden Lane station.
5. Jubilee Line
The Jubilee Line has interchanges with Crossrail at Bond Street, Canary Wharf and Stratford stations, with an interchange with Thameslink at London Bridge station.
It also has a step-free interchange with the Bakerloo Line at Baker Street station.
The Jubilee Line also acts as a loop from Crossrail serving stations away from the main route through Central London between Stratford and Bond Street.
6. London Bridge, Cannon Street And Charing Cross
I have grouped all these three stations together as the rebuilding of London Bridge station and the Thameslink Programme have connected these three stations in a way that will change passenger patterns dramatically for users of these three stations.
For myself, it will mean that to access any trains from Cannon Street and Charing Cross or on Thameslink going South, I will probably use a bus to the superb London Bridge station with all its escalators and lifts, rather than fight my way through Central London.
Others will also choose to go direct to London Bridge, possibly by using the Jubilee or Northern Linse. It will be interesting to see how passenger usage changes at Cannon Street and Charing Cross stations.
London Bridge shows what could have been done, if they’d spent the money wisely at the dreadful St. Pancras.
There are four main routes between London Bridge and Old Oak Common stations.
- Bakerloo Line to Waterloo and then the Jubilee Line.
- Crossrail to Bond Street and then the loop of the Jubilee Line.
- Crossrail to Farringdon and then Thmeslink
- If Thameslink serves Old Oak Common, there could even be a direct train.
I suspect there are other routes and it will all be down to personal preference and where you catch your next train in London Bridge.
Cannon Street station could almost be considered a London Bridge North station.
- It has seven terminal platforms. Try fitting more into London Bridge.
- It is within easy walking distance of much of the City of London.
- On a nice day, many might even walk from Cannon Street to Moorgate for Crossrail, as this route could be pedestrianised.
- It has access to the Circle and District Lines, which with a change at Paddington give access to Crossrail and Old Oak Common station.
- In a few years time, it will have good access to the Northern and Central Lines at Bank station.
Cannon Street station will become more important, as Network Rail and the various operators learn how to use the new infrstructure.
Sometimes, I struggle to see the point of Charing Cross station, but as it’s a very busy station others certainly see the station’s purpose.
It’s on the Bakerloo, Circle, District and Northern Lines, so getting to Old Oak Common won’t be a problem.
Transport for London are looking to take over South London inner suburban routes, so I think we’ll see changes in the management of Cannon Street and Charing Cross stations if this happens.
7. Northern Line
Both branches of the Northern Line are directly connected to Crossrail.
- Tottenham Court Road station connects to the Charing Cross Branch.
- Moorgate station connects to the Bank Branch.
Connections to the Northern Line might improve, if two separate lines are created
8. Piccadilly And Victoria Lines
The Piccadilly and Victoria Lines share three interchanges, but unfortunately they have no interfaces with Crossrail and only one poor one with Thameslink.
The best bet is to get on the Bakerloo Line and change at either Oxford or Picadilly Circus.
9. Victoria
Victoria station is another tricky station from which to get to and from Old Oak Common.
- Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus and then Victoria Line.
- Crossrail to Paddington and then Circle or District Line.
As some services out of Victoria stop at stations served by the West London Line, it is possible to use that line to by-pass Central London.
10. Waterloo
Like London Bridge, Waterloo station is very well connected to Crossrail and the Old Oak Common hub.
- Bakerloo Line direct.
- Crossrail to Bond Street and then the loop of the Jubilee Line.
- Crossrail to Tottenham Court Road and then the Northern Line.
As some services out of Waterloo stop at stations served by the West London Line, it is possible to use that line to by-pass Central London.
Conclusions
I have come to the following conclusions.
Everybody will want to be connected to Old Oak Common station.
Groups of lines across London are emerging.
- East to West – Crossrail, Central, District, Metropolitan, North London, Gospel Oak To Barking, Dudding Hill.
- North to South – Thameslink, West London,East London, Northern.
- North-East to South-West – Crossrail 2, Piccadilly, Victoria.
- North-West to South-East – Bakerloo, Jubilee
A very strong grid with good interchanges is probably the main objective.
Looking at these groups, makes me think, that actions are suggested, that would strengthen the network.
- Build Crossrail 2
- Increase the capacity on the Bakerloo Line
- Split the Northern Line into Charing Cross and Bank branches.
London will quickly fill the extra capacity.
A Fur Coat And No Knickers Station
St. Pancras station is not my favourite.
My hate affair with the station started when I wrote Could St. Pancras Thameslink Station Have Had An Island Platform?, where I first called the dreadful concoction a fur coat and no knickers station. I said this.
St. Pancras is very much a fur coat and no knickers station!
Show on top and draughty and lacking at the bottom!
I don’t take back one word of what I said.
The station is the interchange between the following lines.
- Metropolitan and Circle Lines of the Underground
- Midland Main Line to Corby, Derby, Leicester, Nottingham and Sheffield.
- Piccadilly Line of the Underground
- South-Eastern Highspeed services to Kent.
- Thameslink between Bedford and Brighton
- Victoria Line of the Underground.
So to say the least it’s complicated.
Problems For Train Operators
The three main operators of the services in the above ground station, must despair at how few platforms, they have been allocated.
If you catch a Midland Main Line train to Nottingham say, you often have to walk to the second train in the platform. If they had a couple more platforms, then this walk would be avoided and extra services like a Luton Airport Express, that I wrote about in Luton Trains Its Eye On Sub 30-Minute Express, would become possible.
It’s the same with South-Eastern Highspeed services on the other side of the station.
Eurostar is perhaps better. But, if other operators wanted to run services, is there the space to accommodate their trains and the services they require?
Endless Walking For Passengers
Problems for passengers are very much concerned with the difficulty of changing between the various lines at the station.
I’ll give exchanging between the Victoria Line and Thameslink as an example.
It’s a very long walk down a tunnel to get from the Victoria Line to St. Pancras station and then you have to descend into Thameslink.
I wonder how many trains out of St. Pancras are missed because first-time passengers, assume that the time they’d habitually allow at Waterloo, London Bridge or Euston, is totally inadequate?
Thameslink Is Not An Island Platform
Thameslink needs this so that passengers on the Bedford branch can easily walk across the platform to get the Cambridge/Peterborough branch.
But it’s all too late now to do anything.
Elizabeth Line
It is a mistake that the Elizabeth Line doesn’t call at King’s Cross St. Pancras station for Eurostar and East Coast services.
Crossrail 2
How do you fit Crossrail 2 into this mess?
What Would I Do?
I would ask a friendly earthquake to completely destroy the complex, so it is rebuilt as a properly functioning station.
My serious ideas follow.
Short Term Improvements To St. Pancras
These would mainly be concerned with handling passengers.
- Thameslink needs a link at the Southern end of the platforms to the Metropolitan Line Ticket Hall.
- The Metropolitan Line Ticket Hall is decluttered and just serves as an interchange between lines.
- Eurostar needs to educate its passengers, so they use contactless bank card ticketing or Oyster.
- Perhaps Eurostar in-train staff, should sell a suitably-valued Oyster on board.
- Less shopping and more ticket machines and staff to handle passengers from and to Eurostar.
- More escalators are needed to the Midland Main Line platforms.
I suspect all operators have their own pet projects.
A Luton/Gatwick Express
Four Thameslink trains an hour between Gatwick and Luton Airports could be dedicated as Luton/Gatwick Expresses.
- Paint them red, so passengers don’t end up in Peterborough instead of Luton.
- Use trains with tables, wi-fi and space for luggage.
- Run them between Bedford and Brighton.
- Stop at Luton, Luton Airport Parkway, St. Albans City, West Hampstead Interchange, St. Pancras, Farringdon, City Thameslink, Blackfriars, London Bridge, East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges and Haywards Heath or whatever travel patterns say.
This would give Luton Airport the service they desire, without needing any extra platforms in the Midland Main Line station.
Since the opening of the Luton DART, services to Luton Airport have improved.
It would be interesting to see the passenger patterns to and from the airports. Do they have a different pattern than that of commuters, so some degree of smoothing numbers, will be naturally applied?
A Heathrow Express
Four trains per hour to Heathrow via West Hampstead Interchange and Old Oak Common for HS2, would be what Heathrow and HS2 needs.
But where do you find the single platform to turn the trains at St. Pancras?
More Platforms At St. Pancras
On resource grounds alone this is essential.
Conclusion
The architects who created this mess, shouldn’t be let near a station again.
Will The Third Runway At Heathrow Be Actually Built In The Near Future?
If nothing else the 25th ofSeptember 2026 statement by the Government, stated that the UK is going to build another runway in the South-East.
But I have my doubts, that a third runway will be open at Heathrow in the near future.
Building The Third Runway
As I said in Building The Third Runway At Heathrow, I don’t believe that the actual construction of the Airport would present any problems for any large construction company or more likely consortium. This is illustrated today, by this article on the BBC, which is entitled New Heathrow runway may be built above the M25, which says to me that engineers are looking for easier and more affordable ways to build the new runway.
Rebuilding The Current Terminals
Heathrow are also disclosing a master-plan, for rebuilding a lot of the airport to make it more efficient and up with the best.
- There will be two main terminals; Heathrow West and Heathrow East with satellites in between handling the actual planes.
- These two terminals and the satellites will be between the two existing runways, with a passenger and baggage transport system beneath.
- Terminal Five will become Heathrow West.
- An extended Terminal Two will become Heathrow East.
- Crossrail, Heathrow Express and the Underground will serve both main terminals.
- A Terminal Six would be mainly for the third runway, would effectively be part of Heathrow West.
I believe that this rebuilding could start well before the third runway is even given the go-ahead, as many of the works will be within the current Airport boundary.
Rail Links To The Airport
Part of the master-plan is extensive rail links to the Airport.
- Crossrail, Heathrow Express and the Underground will serve London.
- There will be rail links to both the West and South.
- There will be a rail link to both HS1 and HS2.
- Could we even see a rail-based cargo transport system running under all the terminals, bringing in supplies for the terminals and the planes?
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the current rail links at Heathrow.
Rail Lines At Heathrow
Note.
- The Piccadilly Line is shown in blue.
- The lines going South lead to Terminal Four.
- Crossrail has Terminal Four as its terminus
- The Heathrow West and Heathrow East concept fits the rail lines well.
- Terminal Five station is ready for access from the West.
I think just as Gatwick are embracing rail with a vengeance, rail can be a major force in the development of Heathrow.
We could even be seeing the current rail line through Terminals Two and Five becoming a high-capacity rail line connecting all the terminals to the West, East and South.
A Greener Airport
If as many of the traffic movements in and around the airport could be moved from polluting road transport to electric trains, Heathrow’s pollution footprint could be reduced.
As an example, you could envisage a factory in a low cost area by a rail line to the West of Heathrow creating airline meals. These would be packaged by flight number and then taken by electric cargo train direct to the appropriate terminal or satellite, ready for loading onto the plane.
Could we even see an airport, where very few trucks and service vehicles, use the runways and aprons? You certainly see a lot less vehicles on an airport, than you did decades ago.
I found this page on the Heathrow web site, which is entitled Our Vehicle Fleet Is Making The Switch.
This is a paragraph.
850 vehicles in the airside fleet at Heathrow are electric, making it one of the largest fleets of electric airside vehicles in Europe. As well as electric tugs that move baggage around the airfield, we use electric cars and vans to transport our people. We are trialling electric specialist ground support vehicles such as belt loaders, cargo loaders and push back tractors.
I was surprised to see pushback tractors mentioned, as some weigh up to fifty tonnes. But according to the Wikipedia entry for pushback, there are interesting developments in this field. This is said about robotic push back tractors.
The Lahav Division of Israel Aerospace Industries has developed a semi-robotic towbarless tractor it calls Taxibot that can tow an aircraft from the terminal gate to the take-off point (taxi-out phase) and return it to the gate after landing (taxi-in phase). The Taxibot eliminates the use of airplane engines during taxi-in and until immediately prior to take-off during taxi-out potentially saving airlines billions of dollars in fuel that is used. The Taxibot is controlled by the pilot from the cockpit using the regular pilot controls.
Even as a trained Control Engineer and a private pilot with over a thousand hours in command, I can’t help but wonder at the concept.
As a final thought, surely if all unnecessary vehicles could be removed from air-side, this must improve safety and security.
What too, would low or even zero carbon operations, do for the image of the airport?
Travelling To The Airport
One consequence of the rebuilding of the terminals with rail links to both London and the West, will be a reduction in the number of travellers, who drive or are driven to to the airport.
In the London Olympics every event ticket came with a London Travelcard, so that you used public transport. Could we see public transport tickets bundled in with air tickets to cut the need for vehicles to drive to and from the airport?
I certainly think, that we’ll see rail-connected parking to the airport, just because land close to an airport is so expensive.
Local Transport To The Airport
I suspect that a lot of journeys to and from the airport are quite local, as they concern local residents, employees or travellers perhaps spending a night after or before a flight close to the airport.
These journeys have not been forgotten in the master-plan, as it talks of improving bus services.
But the most interesting development is the ULTra PRT system, I talked about in A Visit To Heathrow Terminal 5.
A Heathrow-wide system has been proposed. This is said in Wikipedia.
In May 2013 Heathrow Airport Limited announced as part of its draft five year (2014-2019) master plan that it intended to use the PRT system to connect terminal 2 and terminal 3 to their respective business carparks. The proposal was not included in the final plan due to spending priority given to other capital projects and has been deferred.
There have been suggestions that they will extend the service throughout the airport and to nearby hotels using 400 pods.
The system at Heathrow may not be built, but expect something like it at an airport near you.
Imagine turning up in a convenient car park or train station, with family and baggage, ready to travel on holiday. You scan your pre-printed boarding pass or click one on your phone and a pod arrives, which takes you to the satellite your flight will use.
As they travelled, passengers could scan passports and they would be given up-to-date flight information.
Flying is a total pain, best summed up by the old pilot’s moto.
Time to spare, go by air!
A decent system to bring people to the airport, could make flying more of a pleasure.
Integration With Thameslink
I believe that it would be possible to have a direct Thameslink connection into Heathrow using the |Dudding Hill Line to link to Crossrail.
In Could Thameslink Connect To Heathrow?, I show how it would be possible to create a four tph service between Heathrow and Thameslink.
This could create an easy link to and from Gatwick and Luton Airports and Kings Cross, St. Pancras and London Bridge stations.
Integration With HS2
I’m taking this first, as it’s probably easier than linking to HS1
When Phase 2 of HS2 opens, services Northward from Old Oak Common station are proposed to be.
- Birmingham – 3 tph
- Edinburgh – 2 tph
- Glasgow – 2 tph
- Leeds – 3 tph
- Liverpool – 2 tph
- Manchester – 3 tph
- Newcastle – 2 tph
- Preston – 1 tph
- Sheffield – 2 tph
- York – 1 tph
I estimate that Heathrow to Old Oak Common will be about 20 minutes by Crossrail and Heathrow Express.
As changing planes at Heathrow, according to the Airport takes between 75 and 90 minutes, using HS2 would be competitive.
,Especially if the interchange at Old oak Common was well-designed.
Leeds will be about ninety minutes from Old Oak Common. so if the interchange timings are right, a passenger could be in the centre of Leeds around two hours after coming through Arrivals at Heathrow. A chauffeur-driven Ferrari couldn’t do that legally.
Integration With HS1
This is more difficult, as neither Crossrail nor Heathrow Express serves St. Pancras.
There are a choice of routes.
- Crossrail to Farringdon and then Thameslink or the Metropolitan Line to Kings Cross St. Pancras.
- Heathrow Express to Paddington and then a taxi.
- Heathrow Express to Paddington and then the Metropolitan Line
- Piccadilly Line to Kings Cross St. Pancras.
Interchange could have been designed to be a lot better.
I seem to remember that original plans for the Heathrow Express envisaged St. Pancras as a second London terminal, using the Dudding Hill Line.
But this route is probably impossible owing to there not being enough platforms at St. Pancras, which is A Fur Coat And No Knickers Station.
As there are other operators, who need extra platform space at St. Pancras, perhaps a couple of extra platforms could be built.
But I doubt it!
If Heathrow were to be linked to Thameslink, as I indicated earlier, this would solve the problem.
Terminals And The Third Runway
Extra terminal capacity, will be able to handle more passengers, but will the runways be able to handle the extra planes?
I suspect there are various strategies, that will keep the number of flights within the capacity of a two-runway airport.
- Larger aircraft with more capacity, will make better use of slots. 737s and A320s are carrying more passengers.
- Quieter aircraft, linked to better air traffic control, might givenoise and capacity advantages. Thuis page on the Heathrow web site, is entitled Steeper approach trial report.
- Reorganisation of air cargo to release slots.
- Use of Crossrail and/or Heathrow Express to connect to HS1 and HS2.
The more Heathrow use their intelligence, the further into the future the date for the third runway will recede.
Looking At The Cash Flow
Obviously, I don’t have any figures, but sorting out the terminals early and creating extra passenger capacity, may give Heathrow better cash flow to generate the vast sums needed to build the completely new Terminal Six and the third runway.
I’d love to see their full cash flow, but I suspect that the third runway, will only be needed when to expand the traffic, they need m the slots it will deliver.
The early costs would and could be.
- Fighting the protestors and the politicians.
- Obtaining Planning Permission.
- Buying up the private .properties in the way.
- Rolling out an anti-pollution philosophy.
- Creating Heathrow West (Terminal Five) and Heathrow East (An Extended Terminal Two)
- Extending the rail network.
- Professional fees.
Perhaps by the early 2020s, they would have a strong cash flow and ownership of all the land they might need.
Then at an appropriate time, they would build the new runway and any terminals needed, in the space they had acquired.
As today’s article on the BBC indicated, they wouldn’t even have to build a tunnel for the M25.
It would hopefully be a large, but reasonable straightforward construction operation.
The Opposition Is Gathering
This article in the Independent is entitled Heathrow expansion: Airlines react to Government’s airport decision.
- Stewart Wingate of Gatwick of Gatwick is quoted as being disappointed and saying he’ll read the Government’s reasons in detail.
- Dame Carolyn McCall of easyJet, said their planned move to Heathrow is contingent on the right deal.
- Willie Walsh of BA’s parent said he was pleased a decision had been made.
- Craig Kreeger of Virgin Atlantic, said: “We support expansion, provided it delivers for our customers.”
- Nick Burton of Luton Airport said that we must now focus on demand before the new runway is built in 10-15 years time.
- Charlie Cornish, chief executive of Stansted’s owner, Manchester Airports Group, said that we should make the best use of the runways we’ve got.
That doesn’t sound like a vote of confidence to me.
And I haven’t included all those who will lose their homes, the environmental protesters and those like me who don’t like Heathrow’s attitude.
The statistics are also not on Heathrow’s side either, as traffic is growing fast and another runway is needed soon, with a second one perhaps ten years later, to satisfy rising demand for air travel.
So What Could Happen?
Much of this is speculation, but Nostradamus couldn’t predict this one.
- In The Planemakers’ View On The South East’s New Runway, I quoted from an article in The Times, which said that Heathrow’s hub model is superseded by the views of the planemakers, who think it’s all about point-to-point flights in appropriate aircraft.
- Gatwick could probably apply for permission for a second runway in 2019.
- Luton, Southend and Stansted Airports are ambitious and want to expand.
- Better rail services to Stansred Airport have been announced.
- Luton Airport wants a better rail service.
- Birmingham Airport gets a connection to HS2 in the mid-2020s.
- Eurostar and other companies will increasingly add rail services to Europe.
These and other factors will eat into Heathrow’s market share, thus delaying that crucial point, where the third runway needs to be built.
But that doesn’t really solve the short term problem The only way to satisfy that is to create a runway in the South-East as soon as possible.
And the only place that can be built is Gatwick.
The growth in air traffic will continue and a few years later, Heathrow will get its runway.
Will Crossrail And Its Class 345 Trains Set Mobile Connection Standards For The UK?
Search for “Class 345 trains 4G” or “Class 345 trains wi-fi” and you find reports like this on London Reconnections about the Class 345 train.
This or something like it, is said in several of these reports.
According to the accompanying press notes both free wifi and 4G services will be delivered on board, as will multiple wheelchair and luggage spaces.
It would be very embarrassing for London’s flagship multi-billion pound project, if it wasn’t correct.
So it would appear that I could board a Class 345 train at Shenfield and watch a video all the way to Heathrow or Reading.
But where does this leave Thameslink?
Their Class 700 trains have been designed without wi-fi, 4G and power-sockets as I said in By Class 700 Train To Brighton And Back.
But at least Siemens felt that the Department for Transport, who ordered the trains, were out of step with reality and appear to have made provision to at least fit wi-fi.
This article on Rail Engineer is entitled Class 707 Breaks Cover and it describes the Class 707 train, which is a sister train to the Class 700. This is said about the two trains and wi-fi and toilets.
Thameslink (or the Department for Transport which ordered the trains) decided not to include Wi-Fi in the Class 700s, a questionable decision that has now apparently been reversed. Fortunately, Siemens had included the technology framework in the design so, hopefully, the upgrade will not require too much effort. Suffice it to say that South West Trains has included Wi-Fi in its specification for Class 707s.
Reversing the story, Thameslink Class 700s are all fitted with toilets. However, South West Trains has decided not to include toilets in its Class 707 specification given that the longest journey time is less than one hour and their inclusion would reduce the overall capacity of the trains.
So it appears that Siemens may have future-proofed the trains.
This article on the Railway Gazette describes the third fleet of the Siemens trains; the Class 717 trains for Moorgate services. This is said.
Plans for the installation of wi-fi are being discussed with the Department for Transport as part of a wider programme for the GTR fleet.
So at least something is happening.
But how close will mobile data services get to the ideal that customers want.
- 4G everywhere from the moment you enter a station until you leave the railway at your destination station.
- Seamless wi-fi, so you log in once and your login is valid until you leave the railway.
It will be tough ask to achieve, as it must be valid on the following services.
- Crossrail
- Thameslink
- London Overground
- London Underground
- All train services terminating in London.
And why not all buses, trams and taxis?
On a related topic, I believe that for safety and information reasons, all bus and tram stops and railway stations must have a quality mobile signal and if it is possible wi-fi.
One life saved would make it all worthwhile.
My Links To Thameslink
Thameslink is a railway, I don’t use much these days, as getting to stations is not that easy, since London Bridge was taken off the route, by the rebuilding.
St. Pancras is an absolute pain of a station to use, as the station was designed by a sadist with long tunnels from the deep-level Underground lines.
Farringdon is a better interchange going South, as it is step-free from the Westbound Metropolitan Line, which I take from Whitechapel after using the East London Line from Dalston Junction. But going North coming home from Farringdon is not easy.
City Thameslink is a bit of a walk from the 56 bus, which stops by my house.
Blackfriars is not the easiest station to get to from my area.
These are my thoughts about using Thameslink after about 2018, when the Great Northern Metro is open with its new Class 717 trains.
My Link To Thameslink Going North
Living where I do approximately midway between Highbury and Islington, Dalston Junction and Essex Road stations, getting to some major rail termini can be difficult and if I was taking a case with me, I would have to use a bus or taxi.
I tend to avoid Highbury and Islington station going out, as the station and its environs is in desperate need of a rebuild and to get say to the Victoria Line for Kings Cross is a long and difficult walk from the bus stop and through the maze of roads and tunnels to the platform.
But with Essex Road station having a frequent bus service from the stop nearest my house and a 10 tph connection to Finsbury Park, that will be my route to get to Thameslink going North to Cambridge or Peterborough.
I don’t think I’ll be alone, in using the Great Northern Metro to get access to Thameslink to go North.
My Link To Thameslink Going South
I have a choice of routes to go South on Thameslink.
- I could take the same route as for going North, but the interchange at Finsbury Park is a dreaded down and upper.
- I can take a 141 or 21 bus to London Bridge station. I regularly use this route coming home, but going South is dreadfully slow through Bank.
- I can take a 38/56 bus to the Angel and get the Northern Line to London Bridge.
- I can take a 56 bus to St. Bartholomews Hospital and walk downhill to Farringdon station.
- I can take a train from Dalston Junction to Canada Water and then use the Jubilee Line.
- Don’t suggest the Victoria Line to St. Pancras as the walk in the depressing tunnel at Kings Cross is to be avoided at all costs.
- Don’t suggest a 30 bus to St. Pancras, as it requires a long walk through the busy Shopping Centre at St. Pancras because Thameslink doesn’t have a much needed Southern entrance.
- I could always go via Essex Road and Finsbury Park.
I actually would like to take a train from Dalston Junction to say New Cross Gate for East Croydon and get Thameslink or the myriad Southbound services from there.
But the new proposed timetable for 2018, would seem to make that an more difficult dream, unless I wanted to wait for a long time on say Norwood Junction station.
Conclusion
Going North is easy, but as they don’t serve the \greater East London, GTR treat us with contempt and make it difficult for us to use Thameslink easily, if we’re going South.
Sittingbourne Station
Sittingbourne station is the next major station after Rainham station, as you go East on the Chatham Main line.
It doesn’t want for much more, as it has three long platforms, a step-free footbridge and most of the things a good station needs.
It is the station that connects the Sheerness Line to the Chatham Main Line.
So would it be a better idea to run the Thameslink service to Sittingbourne instead of Rainham?
The trains could even co-ordinate with the shuttle train to Sheerness.
It is a possibility, but Sittingbourne has five trains per hour (tph) going into London and they all pass over the bottleneck of the the level crossing at Rainham station.
I discuss this more in What Do You Do With A Problem Like Sheppey?
The Anonymous Widower 