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.
One For London Overground To Correct
I was at Walthamstow Central station last night and wanted to return home the quickest way, for which I have a choice of routes.
1. Take an Abellio Greater Anglia train to Hackney Downs and then get a 56 bus.
2. Take a Victoria Line train to Highbury and Islington and then cross the road and get a 277 or 30 bus.
3. Take a Victoria Line train to Seven Sisters and then get a bus to Dalston.
I prefer the first route, it has the least amount of walking and if it’s raining hard it’s mostly under cover. But the route has the disadvantage that you can wait fifteen minutes for a train. This is a bad picture of the information screen on the platform.
Information At Walthamstow Central
The trouble is that like all the other information screens at the station, it doesn’t give information for the Underground services in their station below.
Last night I waited about two minutes for a train, but if it had been six or so, I’d have probably dived into the Underground.
To make matters worse, if you arrive in the station using the underpass from the bus station, you do not pass any information screens at all and you have to climb the stairs to finds out the next train.
That’s not very customer friendly in my book.
Hopefully, when the Chingford services are taken over by London Overground in May, then as it will be an Overground/Underground station exclusively, then this lack-of-information problem will be resolved.
Before Overground – Walthamstow Central
When the Victoria Line was built in the 1960s, the design budget seemed to run out. Several stations like Euston, Highbury and Islington, Brixton and Finsbury Park, show British rail infrastructure design of the time at its worst.
Wikipedia includes this in its section on the history of the Victoria Line.
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 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.
So does this late cutback, explain why Walthamstow Central is another station in this design disaster group?
The station has the feel of something designed on the spur of the moment, with a simple subway underneath the Chingford branch to access the Victoria Line platforms. To get between the Chingford branch platforms and the entrance to the Underground station, you need to negotiate a tricky staircase. It’s almost as though London Underground designed the lower half and British Rail did the top.
A station designed today would probably incorporate escalators, lifts and wide straight staircases.
I can’t help thinking that the original plan of connecting the two lines at Wood Street was the correct one.
Wikipedia says this in its description of the station.
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.
As Walthamstow is going through a building boom in the moment and traffic through the station will only increase, we must accept what’s done is done and we must find a way of correcting the mistakes of the past!
We can do two main things.
1. The interchange routes between the two lines at Walthamstow Central can be made easier by the addition of escalators and/or lifts.
2. We must provide alternative routes that take the pressure off Walthamstow Central. One simple idea would be to reinstate the Hall Farm Curve, which would allow trains to go a reopened Lea Bridge station and the major transport interchange at Stratford, with access to two Underground lines and the DLR.
As with many transport problems in London, I think that in 2018, London’s transport problems will change, with the arrival of the two biggest beasts of all; Crossrail and Thameslink.
1. Crossrail with its stations at Liverpool Street and Stratford will be fed directly by the Lea Valley Lines and pressure should be taken off the Victoria and Central Lines.
2. Thameslink calls at Finsbury Park, so will line be able to act as a bypass for those coming from Walthamstow and Chingford, who need to go to South London.
Hopefully all the changes will be for the better!
The Long-Awaited Walthamstow Link Is Nearly Here
It should have been a simple job, but it has grown into an eighteen year saga.
Walthamstow Central and Queen’s Road stations are not far apart and a pedestrian link has been needed for years to make interchange possible. Finally, it will be opening next month, as is reported here in ThisisLocalLondon. In the end despite an agreement the Council had to take the developers to the High Court.
How many other simple links should be created to make travelling by public transport easier?
From Canary Wharf To Walthamstow Central
On a quick examination, Canary Wharf and Walthamstow Central, are both important transport hubs in their parts of London and probably there is significant commuter traffic between the two stations.
After my trip on the cable car, I took the Jubilee line to Canary Wharf, where I had a coffee.
After looking at some other things, I found I was running a bit late for lunch in Walthamstow.
I suspect the fastest way is usually to take the Jubilee line to Green Park and then change to the Victoria line. Using my mother’s rule on seventeen stations and one change gives 39 minutes. but there was one flaw, the Jerrylee line wasn’t running past Waterloo. At least, I wouldn’t have to walk miles in the tunnels at Green Park.
The obvious choice seemed to be to take a DLR or the Jerrylee line to Stratford and then get a bus. I chose the DLR, as I was nearer, and after a few minutes wait, I was on my way.
It was then that I made the wrong choice. The first bus to arrive was a 257, which treated me to a mystery tour of Leyton and parts of Epping Forest.
When I arrived late at my lunch, I’d taken quite a bit over an hour.
So what does the Tfl Journey Planner say?
It did suggest one all Underground route via London Bridge and Kings Cross, which was fourteen stations and two changes. Or 38 minutes according to my mother!
the others suggested were verging on the exotic, in that they generally involved taking a Central line train to Leyton or Leytonstone and then getting a bus. One even suggested getting off the bus and taking the Overground.
I think all of this illustrates the problem of going north and south in East London, unless you can use the Northern line or the East London line.
Crossrail might improve the journey a bit, as you should be able to reach Bond Street a minute or two quicker. But will the change to the Victoria line, require superhuman stamina?
What might help though, is if the services to Walthamstow are improved, when the Lea Valley lines come under the control of the London Overground. If the Hall Farm Curve is rebuilt, services from Walthamstow to Stratford could be of the order of twelve minutes, giving a time of Canary Wharf to Walthamstow Central of about twenty five minutes.
Tfl have the figures for the traffic, but surely creating a good service between Chingford via Walthamstow to Stratford would relieve the Victoria line, by giving those in Waltham Forest, an alternative route to Central London.
TfL haven’t published any plans for the Lea Valley lines and I’m waiting to see what they propose. If I judge them on the current Overground, it’ll have a few surprises and innovations.
Merrily We Roll Along
I came back from Walthamstow on Friday on one of Greater Anglia‘s ubiquitous Class 317 trains.
A Greater Anglia Class 317 Train
They may look to be scrapheap-ready trains from the 1980s, ripe for replacement with shiny new expensive trains. Incidentally, the train in the picture is one of the last ones built in 1987, so it’s a comparative youngster compared to some.
But underneath the tired paintwork and uncomfortable seating, there is a legendary Mark 3 coach struggling to get out. These coaches used in the InterCity 125 and in many other trains, were made as early as the 1970s and most are still running in 2013.
The Class 317 is closely related to the Class 455, some of which have been refurbished by South West Trains to a very high standard. I talked about them here.
It looks like these 317s are going to get their own version of the Class 455 refurbishment. it is reported here in Wikipedia. Work is ongoing to create a prototype with new and more efficient traction equipment and a new interior to test passenger reaction.
So yet again, it looks like more Mark 3 coaches will be emerging from their chrysalis. The Wikipedia article talks of increasing the life of the trains by twenty years. Not bad considering that many of them are over thirty years old now!
The InterCity 125 is well-known as a design classic of Kenneth Grange. But who’d have thought that the humble coaches in the middle, would still be having a laugh at everybody’s expense nearly fifty years after they were designed.
Interchanging At Walthamstow
For years it has been claimed that you can interchange between Walthamstow Queen’s Road station on the Gospel Oak to Barking line and Walthamstow Central station on the Victoria line.
But the promised footpath hasn’t been delivered.
It should make a lot of difference!
The Anonymous Widower 