The Start Of Change At Victoria Tube Station
On the early-evening BBC London News last night, the BBC showed preview pictures of the new entrance to Victoria tube station, which they indicated is on Brettenham Place.
The station certainly needs more capacity, as this extract from Wikipedia indicates.
Victoria is currently the fourth busiest station on the London Underground, after Waterloo, Oxford Circus and King’s Cross St. Pancras, with nearly 85 million using the station (not including interchanging passengers) in 2013, of which around 60 million (including interchanges) use the Victoria line platforms. The station was not built for this number of passengers, which results in severe overcrowding. To prevent any dangerous situations like crowds pushing people off the platforms onto the track, crowd control measures are in place at the busiest times. This effectively means closing all the entrances to the Underground platforms and operating as an exit-only station until the overcrowding is relieved. These measures can last anywhere between a couple of minutes (when minor delays are occurring) up to several hours (during major incidents).
As to the layout of lines through the station, Victoria tube station is fairly simple, as this map from carto.metro.free.fr shows.
Note.
- The Circle and District Lines have a typical Victorian layout, with two platforms on the outside of the tracks.
- The 1960s designers of the Victoria Line at least left a lot of space between the two tracks.
- The Victoria Line also incorporates two full sidings, numbered 22 and 23 between the tracks.
As nearly all trains throughout the day run run between Walthamstow Central and Brixton, the use of these sidings must only be for purposes like overnight stabling and parking failied trains.
According to Wikipedia, currently each set of lines have their own ticket offices on different levels and built over a hundred years apart.
Walking between the Circle/District Lines and the main line station is not for the faint-hearted or those with need for step-free access. The 1960s designers at least made walking between the Victoria Line and the main line station a bit easier, but there is still a flight of steps to be overcome.
If I go to Victoria station with a wheeled bag, which is not often, I take the easy route of a 38 or N38 bus from around the corner, direct from around the corner from my house.
So what is happening over this weekend?
This Google Map shows the area to the North of the station.
Note.
- North of Victoria Street is a massive building site.
- The rows of white-roofed red buses on the station forecourt..
Wikipedia says this about the current upgrade.
To provide a lasting solution to this problem preparatory building work has begun on major upgrade of the station. This will include a new northern exit/entrance on the north-west corner of Victoria Street which will be accessible via a new additional ticket office under Bressenden Place that will lead to both the Victoria line and the Circle and District line platforms.
I will go and do some more digging.
The Victoria Line Platforms
Currently, the Victoria Line platforms have two sets of escalators.
- The original set of three, that so up into the Victoria Line ticket hall under the bus station.
- A second set of three, that go from the platforms into a series of passages underneath the Circle and District Line platforms, to which they connect with short sets of stairs.
These pictures show the Victoria Line platforms, various passages and works.
It looks like there are two new sets of works.
One set could just be an extension of the current lobby at the bottom of the original escalators. This would increase the capacity between the Victoria Line and the main line station.
Judging by the sign saying Cardinal Place on the other works at the Northern End of the platforms, it would appear that these works are a new entrance from Cardinal Place.
The Cardinal Place Entrance
On the surface, the Cardinal Place Entrance is clearly visible, outside the Cardinal Place development.
According to a personable member of the station staff, The new entrance will open sometime after ten on Monday morning.
At Cardinal Place, the overall design would appear to be simple, where an escalator shaft has been dug between the Northern end of the Victoria Line platforms and a new entrance hall beneath Bressenden Place, which then has the simple pop-up entrance shown in my pictures
The constructure, appears to have been carried out, without massive closures of the Victoria Line platforms.
The surface building also looks very similar in concept to the new standalone glass and steel entrances at Kings Cross St. Pancras and Tottenham Court Road stations.
So I wonder how many new entrances can be created at existing stations, by using a similar design and building method.
Walthamstow Central Station
Walthamstow Central station suffers very bad overcrowding , with only two escalators and no lifts having to cope with the passengers from over 40 trains per hour.
This map from carto.metro.free,fr shows the layout of platforms at the station.
Note how there is a wide lobby at the Eastern end of the platforms underneath the Overground lines, which is used to accommodate the escalators and the waiting queues of passengers.
The crossover to the West of the station was installed in August 2015 and I suspect that this work didn’t compromise any of Transport for London’s thoughts of improving capacity at Walthamstow Central.
It could be tight to dig a shaft for three escalators into this area, but at least the area on top is mainly grass, market stalls and not the best of buildings, with the exception of the Library.
If you look at the length of the current escalators at the station, they indicate that the Victoria Line is not deep. So that would help.
I suspect we could see a very innovative and simple solution to create a new Western entrance at Walthamstow Central station.
I would also be possible to build the entrance without any disruption to either existing train services or passengers in the existing station.
Could Reversing Sidings Be Used On The Chingford Branch Line?
In Improving The Chingford Branch Line, I showed how the new Class 710 trains and some adjustment to timetables could run eight trains per hour (tph) to Chingford, with 4 tph each going to Liverpool Street and Stratford, by getting the trains to cross at the level crossing at ighams Park station.
Several stations in London, including some on the Underground, have what is known as reversing sidings. In How Trains Reverse At West Croydon, I described the working of the reversing siding there, which London Overground trains use to swap tracks to get back to Dalston Junction station.
So could a strategically placed reversing siding be placed to turn back some services, before the Highams Park level crossing?
I don’t think a reversing siding would be needed until the Coppermill Curve was reinstated to allow trains to go to and from Tottenham Hale to Walthamstow, And even then, it would only be needed if more than eight tph were running to Walthamstow.
A reversing siding would allow the following.
- More than eight tph to go to Walthamstow.
- The creation of a triangular service from Tottenham Hale to Lea Bridge via Walthamstow.
- Services between Chingford/Walthamstow and Seven Sisters/South Tottenham for a future Crossrail 2.
- Services between Chingford/Walthamstow and Gospel Oak along the Gospel Oak to Barkjing Line.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the railway lines around Seven Sisters station.
There are certainly a lot of possibilities.
- The Seven Sisters Chord gives access to Seven Sisters, Enfield Town and Cheshunt.
- The Gospel Oak to Barking Line gives access to Cricklewood, Gospel Oak, Richmond and West Hampstead.
- The Gospel Oak to Barking Line gives access via Cricklewood to the Dudding Hill Line for Acton..
- The Gospel Oak to Barking Line gives access via |Willesden Junction to the West London Line for Clapham Junction.
If another four tph service is created to Walthamstow, I suuspect it will be a third long East-West service, which will give eight tph on the busy part of the Gospel Oak to Barkling Line west of South Tottenham.
There are only three stations or four if you add in Forest Road, which I talked about in New Stations On The Chingford Branch Line.
- St. James Street
- Walthamstow Central
- Wood Street
- Forest Road.
I’ll look at each in detail.
St. James Street Station
This is probably too difficult and it’s the first station.
Walthamstow Central Station
This Google Map shows the station.
Walthamstow Central Station
I think it could be a possibility.
I think that the platforms are certainly able to accept eight car trains and might even take twelve, so there should be space for a reversing siding between the two lines to the East of the station.
Wood Street Station
This Google Map shows the station.
Wood Street Station
Again, I think this is a possibility.
Wood Street station will need a lot of rebuilding to make it step-free and there is space beyond the platforms towards Chingford to put in a reversing siding for a train.
These pictures show the station.
It is a station with potential.
Forest Road Station
This Google Map shows where Forest Road station will probably go.
Forest Road Station
It could be just too restricted a site.
How Would The Trains Be Organised?
I think that Walthamstow Central or Wood Street will be the station with a reversing siding.
Say there are going to be three 4 tph services. They could be.
- Gospel Oak to Walthamstow Central or Wood Street
- Liverpool Street to Chingford
- Stratford to Chingford
The sequence at the reversing station would be.
- The train from Gospel Oak arrives in the down platform, discharges passengers and goes into the reversing siding.
- The two Chingford services arrive in the down platform, one after the other, pick up any passengers and go to Chingford.
- The two Chingford services arrive in the up platform, one after the other, pick up any passengers and go to Stratford and Liverpool Street.
- The train for Gospel Oak comes out of the reversing siding into the up platform, picks up passengers and goes on to Gospel Oak.
No passengers would have to change platforms to change trains.
Would It Be Sensible To Have A Reversing Siding Anyway?
I’m no expert, but I think the answer is Yes!
Crossrail have a reversing siding at Chadwell Heath station, that they say is for service recovery, in this page on their web site.
So perhaps, if say there was a problem on the highams Park level crossing, a train or two could be diverted to the reversing platform to await their slot on the return from Chingford.
Conclusion
A reversing siding at either Walthamstow Central or Wood Street would allow extra services to be developed around the Coppermill Curve and also be useful for service recovery.
Related Posts
Improving The Chingford Branch Line
Could Electrification Be Removed From The Chingford Branch Line?
Could The Hall Farm Curve Be Built Without Electrification?
Crossrail 2 And The Chingford Branch Line
New Stations On The Chingford Branch Line
Rumours Of Curves In Walthamstow
Will Walthamstow Central Station On The Victoria Line Be Expanded?
Wikipedia – Chingford Branch Line
Will Walthamstow Central Station On The Victoria Line Be Expanded?
This post is prompted by this article on London Reconnections, which looks at Transport for London’s World Class Capacity Upgrades for the Victoria, Jubilee and Northern Lines.
After the upgrade of the crossing at Walthamstow last summer, the Victoria Line now has a capacity of 33 trains per hour and most trains run all the way between Walthamstow Central and Brixton stations.
Sometime this year the limit will be further increased to 36 tph, which will be a very high limit considering the design of the line.
The London Reconnections article says this about future upgrades.
With the Victoria line pushing towards what must be the theoretical limit for a line with that amount of rolling stock and – more importantly – two-platform termini, there are no plans to further improve the service. Indeed the challenge of procuring more trains and finding the depot space for them would probably discourage any such plans on its own. This does not mean that the line will be forgotten, as both Oxford Circus and Walthamstow Central are on TfL’s top ten hit list of stations in need of a major capacity upgrade. Simply that the days of pushing more trains through the same stations more quickly have passed. In the case of Walthamstow Central it is highly likely that the next step will be making the station double-ended, with an entrance near or in the shopping centre.
Certainly with just two escalators, Walthamstow Central station can be busy with both working. At the moment it is on my list of stations to avoid, as one of the escalators is being replaced.
Is the idea of creating a double-ended station at Walthamstow Central worth pursuing?
Look at this map from carto.metro.free.fr, which shows the lines at the station.
Walthamstow Central Lines
So it would appear that the Victoria Line platforms could be somewhere under the bus station and the shopping centre.
It certainly isn’t an impossible dream to create a second entrance to the Victoria Line platforms.
Walthamstow Central station was one of London Transport’s economy stations. Wikipedia says this.
The underground station, like many stations on the Victoria line, was never completely finished. White ceiling panels were never fixed to the ceilings above the platforms; instead the steel tunnel segments were painted black and used to support the fixtures and fittings. This has had a detrimental effect on the lighting levels. There is a concrete stairway between the two escalators instead of a third escalator; this caused a hugely disruptive station closure for several weeks in 2004 when both escalators went out of service.
It would be hoped that any upgrade of the station finishes the 1960s era construction.
But surely creating a double-ended station is the way to go.
- It would take the pressure off the passageways in the existing station.
- The existing station is not step-free and there is no deep lift.
- If the second entrance had two escalators and lifts, it would give a lot of redundancy in platform access.
- There is plenty of space in the shopping centre for a new entrance.
Passengers interchanging with the Chgingford Brancxh Line and those interchanging with buses or going shopping, could possibly be persuaded by good design to use appropriate and different entrances.
Conclusion
It’s feasible.
But the biggest advantage is surely that by planning carefully, the second entrance can be built around the current station, without disrupting passenger entrance and exit.
Related Posts
Improving The Chingford Branch Line
Could Electrification Be Removed From The Chingford Branch Line?
Could Reversing Sidings Be Used On The Chingford Branch Line?
Could The Hall Farm Curve Be Built Without Electrification?
Crossrail 2 And The Chingford Branch Line
New Stations On The Chingford Branch Line
My Thoughts On Tube Noise At Walthamstow Central
This report in the Standard is entitled Homes in Walthamstow hit by ‘jack-hammer’ Tube train noise after Victoria line upgrade work.
It describes how after all of the upgrade work I described in What Really Happened At Walthamstow Central, noise levels have increased in some of the houses by the station. This is an extract.
Resident Lynda Bailey said the noise, which strikes about every three minutes during peak hours and less frequently the rest of the time, began after Transport for London undertook engineering work over the summer.
“We bought this house about 10 years ago knowing it was above the southbound tunnel of the Victoria line.
“We came a couple of times – it was a rumble but we deemed it to be reasonable noise, as did everyone else.
“But this is unacceptable. I would liken it to a jack-hammer in the next room, like a banging sound … It’s almost like we’re on a Tube platform itself.”
Tonight, I had supper with my son in Walthamstow. He told me how one of his friends lives in a hoise, where the noise has reduced considerably since the work.
It’s all very curious.
Taking my answers from this article in Rail Engineer, there are major differences, indicated in this extract.
Careful survey work of the tunnels checked every millimetre of available space – especially length. The new crossover design is a technical step-change in that it involves the use of Sonneville Low Vibration Track (LVT) – a track system embedded in slab concrete. The point ends have been taken as far as practicable into the tunnels to achieve the longest possible crossover length. Coupled with new components, the maximum speed has been raised to 60kph (35 mph) – enough to secure the required turnround and the 36 trains per hour throughout the line.
Put simply, the crossover should generate less noise because of the Low Vibration Track, but because of the increased speed, more noise could be generated unless LVT was used for a lot more of the line.
I would think that my son’s friend lives over the crossover and its LVT, whereas the other complainants are on lines, where the trains are now going faster. The Standard reports this.
“Our engineers are treating this as a priority and have been improving and renewing the track beneath their properties over the last week.
Hopefully, this will affect a solution. If not, I suspect that London Underground will have a solution in their toolbox.
I have been involved in various noise and vibration issues in the past and in most cases a simple solution is usually found.
If they can’t find one, then I suspect they’ll lay a bit more Low Vibration Track.
What Really Happened At Walthamstow Central
I heard a lot of complaints about the closure of the Victoria Line in August. So I was pleased to see this article in Rail Engineer entitled Life is not a rehearsal… but pumping concrete can be!
As detailed by Transport for London this is a summary of what needed to be done.
Improvement work planned this summer by London Underground (LU) will lead to the operation of 36 trains per hour. From April 2016, this will provide a train every 100 seconds during peak hours, making the Victoria line the UK’s highest frequency railway and comparable with the very best in the world. All peak-time trains will run the full length of the line from Walthamstow Central to Brixton, giving a 40% capacity boost for customers northeast of Seven Sisters.
But it wasn’t that simple to achieve and the Rail Engineer article explains the main problem of a crossing at Walthamstow.
The trackwork kept pace with the times, but wasn’t shiny and, of course, it was out of sight. At Walthamstow – the end of the line – the track arrangement ended in a scissors crossover. For the non-pway engineers, this is a compact and complex track arrangement where terminating trains arriving at the crossover from the south in the northbound tunnel can be routed into either of the two platforms at Walthamstow Central, then routed back from either platform into the southbound tunnel.
Changing it wasn’t simple and they used every trick in the book to do the project.
- A bespoke overhead crane was installed at the crossover, for ease of working, and after the job was completed it was left behind in the tunnel, so it could be used again if needed.
- A number of demolition techniques were used to remove the old track and its concrete base.
- They even wrapped the new track in polythene, so that no concrete got on the rails.
- They had actually rehearsed the major concrete pouring which required fifty truck-loads of concrete in the open at Acton Depot.
The major outcome is that the speed of trains through the crossing has been raised from 20 mph to 35 mph, which is necessary to achieve thirty-six trains an hour through London.
This is the sort of project that would make good television!
Except for one thing!
Nothing went wrong and the project was delivered thirty-six hours early.
Poetry In Walthamstow Bus Station
I was greeted by these poems and words on the shelters in Walthamstow bus station.
They are simple and different and even the supervisor was enthusiastic.
Transport for London now need to get the closely related Walthamstow Central station up to a similar standard.
Walking Between Walthamstow Central And Queens Road Stations
Walthamstow Central and Walthamstow Queens Road stations are not far apart and are considered to be an out-of-station interchange. This means that if you touch out in one station and then walk to the other to continue your journey, you only get charged for one journey.
It used to be tortuous to walk between the two stations, but in recent months a link called Ray Dudley Way has opened.
It does make the walk easier, but it is still not properly signed.
Note too, that it would appear that the eastern entrance to Walthamstow Central has been closed.
What Might Have Been At Walthamstow And Woodford
The World Class Engineering And Penny-Pinching Architecture Of The Victoria Line
The Victoria Line is to reverse one of my favourite phrases, an all knickers and no fur coat Underground line.
Underground and remember, it is a totally below the surface except for the depot at Tottenham Hale, it is superb, with some world class engineering.
1. The original 1967 Stock lasted until 2011 and was a real tribute to its designers and builders.
2. The trains run automatically and the line was the world’s first to do this. I remember reading a document about how it worked in 1969 or so and because of the date the automation was largely controlled by thermionic valves and relays.
3. There was quite a bit of innovative design in the layout of the lines, which included the hump-backed stations, summed up here from Wikipedia.
The line has hump-backed stations to allow trains to store gravitational potential energy as they slow down and release it when they leave a station, providing an energy saving of 5% and making the trains run 9% faster
4. The overall concept has proved to be sound, as the line has a very good safety record.
But they certainly didn’t spend a large amount of time, effort and money on the stations. Again from Wikipedia.
When the Victoria line was built, budget restrictions meant that station infrastructure standards were lower than on older lines and on later extension projects. Examples include narrower than usual platforms and undecorated ceilings at Walthamstow Central, Blackhorse Road and Tottenham Hale, adversely affecting lighting levels. At most stations there is still a concrete staircase between the up and down escalators, where an additional escalator could be installed.
Walthamstow Central, Seven Sisters and Highbury and Islington are still truly dreadful stations.
The Bad Stations Can Only Get Better
Hopefully :-
1. The takeover of the Chingford Line by London Overground and the developments in Walthamstow town centre, will result in substantial improvements to Walthamstow Central.
2. Crossrail 2 and the Overground takeover coupled with development could also improve Seven Sisters.
3. Much needed better disabled access, enhancements to the Northern City line and increased passenger numbers will drive a need for the rebuilding of Highbury and Islington.
4. Other stations like Brixton, Euston and Blackhorse Road will have improvements driven by other new and upgraded lines.
Finally fifty years on, the sins of the 1960s are being eradicated.
The Victoria Line Extension To South Woodford or Woodford
But there are no plans to extend the line to Woodford or South Woodford stations on the Central Line which was part of the original proposals. Again from History on Wikipedia.
It had been intended to build the line beyond Walthamstow Central to Wood Street (Walthamstow), where it would have surfaced to terminate next to the British Rail station. Proposals were also made to extend the line as far north as South Woodford or Woodford, to provide interchange with the Central line. However, in a late decision in 1961 the line was cut back to Walthamstow (Hoe Street) station, renamed Walthamstow Central in 1968.
Let’s take a look at the Underground lines in the area. This map from Walthamstow Central to Woodford station is from Google Earth.
Walthamstow Lines
The red line at the right is the Central Line with South Woodford and Snaresbrook stations shown, in addition to Woodford station to the north of the A406.
The orange and light blue at the left being the Gospel Oak to Barking and Victoria Lines, with the two Walthamstow stations; Central and Queens Road.
The Victoria Line was originally planned to surface at Wood Street station, which can be seen to the north of Whipps Cross Hospital and then presumably cut across the southern part of Epping Forest to the Central Line.
I can’t find an article specifically stating why the extension to Woodford was dropped, but I did find this general article on London Reconnections, entitled Why We Do (And Don’t) Extend Tube Lines. This is two paragraphs.
One lesson quickly learnt by the early entrepreneurs who built early tube lines (and by this, as for the duration of the article, we mean the deep level lines) was that the longer the line and the bigger the network, the more profitable it was. To some extent this may seem obvious – a tube line between only two stations is of limited use (although exceptionally the Waterloo and City line manages to perform this role).
As usage tends to tail off at the extremities, it made sense to have the ends only being a small portion of the line. It also made sense to maximise use of resources. Trains sitting in terminal platforms were not in revenue earning service and a lot of the infrastructure – such as power supply – had large initial costs but the add-on cost for these items when extending the line was not that great.
So it’s generally all about economics and probably in the case of the Victoria Line; government money.
Walthamstow is a large catchment are and it has two routes into Central London and one to the west, two of which will be upgraded in the next few years, so I doubt the Victoria Line will be extended in the near future. This Google Earth image from Wood Street to South Woodford stations, shows the mass of development in between the two lines.
Wood Street To South Woodford
Wood Street station is just visible at the bottom left and South Woodford is at the far right towards the top.
There is also the small matter of putting the line through the green lung that is Epping Forest.
So any extension from Walthamstow Central to the Central Line would probably be in an expensive tunnel.
But there are some other reasons why any extension will not be built as planned in the 1950s.
1. There now appears from this Google Earth image to be little space around Wood Street station.
Around Wood Street Station
Although it does look like that some of the buildings around the station were built in recent decades.
This would appear to further rule out a surface route.
2. Walthamstow now has an impressive new bus station, that was built 2005 and is the third busiest in London with twenty-four hour operation.
Buses go all over north east London from the bus station, to places like Wood Green, East Ham, Barnet and Ilford, but there is also a comprehensive local network that covers the area to Chingford and Woodford. This spider map shows all the routes from Walthamstow Central.
3. Crossrail will also have an effect when it opens. How will passengers between Walthamstow and Woodford, get on Crossrail? They have several choices.
What Should Be Done
In my view it would be better to spend money on the following.
1. Adding new routes and extra capacity to the buses in the area, so the in-between passengers will have a choice to go east or west.
2. After May 2015, improving the stations on the Chingford Branch from Hackney Downs to Chingford, with step-free access and better information systems and interchange with the buses in the area.
3. Increasing the frequency of Overground trains to Chingford and possibly running some through to Stratford via the reinstated Hall Farm Curve and the new Lea Bridge station.
4. New trains have been promised and I suspect they’ll arrive in the next few years. However, giving the Class 317 trains a good scrub, some new seat covers and a bit of TLC and they will hold the line in the meantime. On the Chingford branch more services are more important than flash new trains.
5. In the Future Developments section of the Wikipedia entry for the Chingford Branch, it is said that there may be a station at both Forest Road and Chingford Hatch, either side of Highams Park station. This map shows the area.
Around Highams Park
The red arrow indicates Chingford Hatch, with the two stations shown being Highams Park in the middle and Wood Street at the bottom.
The Effect Of An Expanded Stansted Airport
However, there is one factor that has been ignored, which would change everything.
And that is if Stansted Airport is expanded.
Plans for this sometimes show another rail link direct to London, which is an extension of the Chingford Branch line from Chingford.
Can Any Conclusions Be Drawn?
I can’t see any reason why the Victoria Line would be extended to join the Central Line, unless a second line is built to Stansted Airport or a similar large project was developed in the area, that required a major sort out of lines.
But the major conclusion is that because of developments that are already in place and others that could easily be implemented there are masses of ways to improve public transport in the Walthamstow area, which are proven and a lot more affordable.
I think that in perhaps ten years time, the following will have been done.
1. The Chingford Branch Line will have upgraded stations and a proper interchange to buses and the Victoria Line at Walthamstow Central.
2. The Chingford Branch Line will be running possibly as many as six trains an hour and a proportion will go to Stratford, rather than Liverpool Street.
3. There will be at least two new stations on the Chingford Branch Line.
4. The bus services based on Walthamstow Central bus station will be expanded.
5. New or refurbished trains will be running the service on the Chingford Branch.
I’m not speculating, just applying logic to see what is possible and history from the East and North London Lines after they were taken over by London Overground.
I shall be very surprised if the Victoria Line is extended to Woodford.
I will not be surprised to see house prices in the area rise astronomically, as they have done here in Dalston.
Good railway connections really seem to bring the best or worst out of house prices.
