Waterloo Upgrade August 2017 – Was It Alright On The Day?
This article in the Standard had a headline of Waterloo station upgrade: Furious commuters hit out at ‘shambolic’ queues on first weekday of major works.
This article on the BBC had a headline of Waterloo station: Stations quiet after upgrade warnings.
This article on the Independent had a headline of Waterloo station upgrade: Passengers report trains better than normal despite predictions of ‘month of chaos’.
There certainly isn’t lots of interviews on the BBC this morning with irate passengers.
This was the first paragraph from the Independent.
Commuters reported easier journeys than normal on train lines into London Waterloo on Monday morning as some passengers apparently took alternative routes or worked from home to avoid a predicted “month of chaos”.
But I think that Network Rail and South West Trains must have got it more or less right.
London thought they would have a problem during the 2012 Olympics and Transport for London flooded the streets and stations with extra staff to help passengers.
And it worked!
Network Rail and South West Trains have done the same, at least at Waterloo.
And it seems to be working!
Waterloo Upgrade August 2017 – 5th August 2017
It’s all change at Waterloo station with Platforms 20 to 24 open for business.
I think what has been revealed today is an excellent stop-gap to allow platforms 1 to 9 to be extended.
- Network Rail and South West Trains are also to be congratulated on putting a large number of informed staff on the platforms to answer passegers’ questions.
- With luck too, the vast open spaces around platform 20 to 24 will help to calm passengers.
- But they weren’t lucky in that everything was disrupted by a signal failure early in the day.
If I have any criticism it is over the length of time it has taken to get these platforms open.
The International platforms were closed about the time my wife died in December 2007.
That closure has just been too long.
Passenger And Train Capacity
From what I saw today, Network Rail have opened five new platforms numbered 20 to 24, with the following features.
- The ability to handle twelve-car trains.
- Wide platforms for large numbers of passengers.
- A new very wide gate line.
- Lots of natural light and fresh air.
Passengers will wish all stations could be this good.
Just imagine five packed commuter trains arriving at those new platforms at around the same time.
- Each pair of new five-car Class 707 train can hold just over sixteen hundred passengers.
- A ten-car Class 720 train, which must be similar to South Western Railway’s new trains can hold around fifteen hundred passengers.
So can the platforms, gates and concourse handle all those passengers?
As the flow of passengers seems straight down wide platforms and into the Underground or out of the station through the Victory Arch, I suspect that the station has been designed to handle the greatest number of passengers, the trains can deliver.
With Crossrail, the stations at Shenfield and Abbey Wood will be handling twelve trains per hour (tph) in a two platform layout or 6 tph at each platform.
I suspect that the signalling and track layout at platforms 20-24 at Waterloo station, is such that each platform can handle at least four tph and possibly the six, that will be achieved at Shenfield and Abbey Wood.
If they can handle six, that is an unbelievable thirty tph.
This figure is probably way in excess of other capacity constraints in the complex rail network out of Waterloo, but at least platform capacity won’t be a constraint on growth in the future.
But four tph on each platform, would give a theoretical capacity of twenty tph or around thirty thousand passengers per hour. That is a massive increase in the capacity of the station.
It has to be taken into account, that part of the Waterloo Upgrade for August 2017 is lengthening Platforms 1 to 4 at the station and improving the track layout for the lower-numbered platforms. Access to the Underground is also being improved at platforms 1 to 4.
Are Network Rail creating another high-capacity set of four platforms at the other end of the station?
What is happening at platforms 1 to 4 will be revealed at the end of the month.
Conclusion
The work has whetted my appetite as to what the station will eventually look like!
In An Analysis Of Waterloo Suburban Services Proposed To Move To Crossrail 2, I came to the following conclusion.
Crossrail 2’s proposals for the suburban branch lines from Waterloo to the four destinations of Chessington South, Epsom, Hampton Court and Shepperton stations, can be fulfilled using the following.
- More platform capacity at Waterloo.
- Modern high-performance 100 mph trains like Class 707 trains.
- Some improvements to track and signals between Waterloo and Wimbledon stations.
- Wimbledon station would only need minor modifications.
- A measure of ATO between Waterloo and Wimbledon stations.
What effect will this have on the design of Crossrail 2?
The Class 707 trains will not be arriving, but high performance Aventras will.
This August’s Upgrade will certainly make substantial increases in service frequencies and passenger capacity possible.
Waterloo Upgrade August 2017 – 4th August 2017
These pictures show everything ready for the start of the first partial closure of Waterloo station from tomorrow.
From tomorrow, the five platforms in the old International station will come into use until the 28th of August.
Note.
- The piles of track ready to be used to reorganise the lines into Platforms 1 to 9.
- The new destination board in front of Platforms 20 to 24.
- The lowered concourse in front of Platform to 24, which will become retail units.
I shall be there in the morning.
What Is Happening At Waterloo In August?
There have been various alarming headlines promising chaos at Waterloo sation for the whole of August.
This article in Rail Engineer, which is entitled Waterloo and South West Route Upgrade, gives a factual view of what should happen.
An Outline Of The Work To Be Done
This is a list from the article, which lays out the work being done.
- Redevelopment of the previous International terminal and platforms;
- Extension of Platforms 1-4 to accommodate 10-car trains in place of the present eight-car units;
- Platform extension at 10 outlying stations – Feltham, Chertsey, Camberley, Egham, Virginia Water, Sunningdale, Ascot, Martins Heron, Bracknell and Wokingham;
- Track and signalling alterations on the approaches to Waterloo to create longitudinal space for the platform alterations;
- Thirty new five-car Desiro class trains;
- Improvements in access to the Bakerloo, Northern and Jubilee tube lines from platforms 1/2 and 3/4 and from the former International terminal.
This Google Map shows the platform ends at Waterloo station.
Note.
- The curved roof of the International station at the left
- The square roof of the main station, at the top right.
- Platforms are numbered from 1 to 24 from right-to-left.
- The five platforms in the International station are numbered 20-24.
- Platforms 1/2 and 3/4 are the shortest platforms to the right and will be lengthened to ten-cars.
- Platforms 5/6 and 7/8 are the medium length platforms. .
- Trains are visible in Platforms 8, 9 and 10.
- Platforms 11/12, 13/14, 15/16, 17/18 are all longer platforms.
- A train is visible in Platform 19, which lies alongside the International station.
This Google Map shows Platforms 1/2, 3/4 and 5/6.
Note.
- The complicated track layout, linking the tracks out of Platforms 1 to 4 together.
- The nose of an eight-car train in Platform 4.
- Platforms 1-4 will probably need to be lengthened by something like forty metres.
- The black cabs and a white one alongside the station, which are 4.6 metres long.
It certainly isn’t a small and simple project.
The Work Schedule For August
This is a shortened extract from the article describing how the work will be done.
The overall programme commenced in 2016 with the initial redevelopment stages of the International platforms. They have been shortened at their far ends to take 12-car trains.
When these platforms are ready for use by Windsor line services on 5 August this year, Platforms 1 to 10 will be closed between then and 28 August. This closure will allow Platforms 1 to 4 to be extended to accommodate 10-car trains and Platforms 5 to 8 will be modified.
An even more severe closure, of Platforms 1-14, between 25 and 28 August, over the Bank Holiday weekend, is needed in order to complete the track and signalling alterations.
Extension of the platforms at the outlying stations is now complete apart from the work at Feltham, which is complicated by the proximity of a level crossing.
The end result of this, the largest investment for decades, will be an increase in peak time capacity into Waterloo of 30 per cent.
There is a lot more information in the full article.
What’s Wrong With The Class 707 Trains?
As I wrote earlier under point 5 in An Outline Of The Work To Be Done, thirty Desiro City Class 707 trains were to be bought for this capacity upgrade .
But the new operator; South Western Railway has decided that these trains are not wanted.
Why?
I’ve ridden both the Class 700 trains, which are the Thameslink version of the Class 707 train and Crossrail’s Class 345 train, which is a version of Bombardier’s new Aventra, which South Western Railway have ordered to replace their suburban fleet.
- In my view in terms of noise, vibration and harshness, the Bombardier product is better.
- The Class 345 train also gives a strong impression of space with its seating layout and large windows with slim pillars.
- The Class 345 train is a bit more spartan, but then it is effectively a large Underground train, rather than a long-distance commuter train.
- The Class 345 train has wi-fi and 4G connectivity, whereas the Class 700 trains have none.
Some of the trains being replaced by South Western Railway are refurbished Class 455 trains. They may be thirty-five years old, but after a high-class refurbishment, they do a good job and set a very high standard, that any new train must exceed.
If I was on a route across London , where I had a choice of one of these Class 455s or a new Class 700 train, I’d choose the older British Rail product, if there was no difference in time.
But it can’t just me passenger reaction to the two new trains, that have made South Western Railway ditch the trains. Although it is very important.
Bombardier have not disclosed all of the technical details of the Aventra and I think that these technical details are the key to the decision.
I have been suspicious for some time that Aventras are fitted with batteries to handle the regenerative braking and other issues.
In Do Class 800/801/802 Trains Use Batteries For Regenerative Braking?, I describe the electrical systems of Hitachi’s new trains and come to this conclusion.
I will be very surprised if Class 800/801/802 trains don’t have batteries.
Will the Class 385 trains for ScotRail have similar traction system?
So if Hitachi are using batteries, why shouldn’t Bombardier? In Is The Battery Electric Multiple Unit (BEMU) A Big Innovation In Train Design?, I write about my trip in Bombardier’s prototype battery train in February 2015.
So does an Aventra have a sophisticated battery system to handle the regenerative braking?
As an Electrical Engineer, I believe that using a battery to handle regenerative braking energy is much more efficient than returning the energy through the third rail or overhead wire, as another train needs to be close to use the energy.
Regenerative braking is quoted as saving up to twenty percent of the energy, but how much could be saved by an integrated train-track electrical system? Bombardier are understandably keeping their mouths shut.
But every Watt saved is less operating cost for the train operator!
Trains with onboard energy storage could give Health and Safety advantages, in places like stations and level crossings. If all trains using a level crossing were had onboard storage or were diesel, could the third rail be cut back to reduce the daanger to tresspassers?
There is also the facility for joining two five-car trains into a ten-car train automatically, which I’m sure is available on Aventras, just as it is with the Hitachi trains.
Splitting and joining at an intermediate station, as Sputheastern do at Ashford International, Great Northern do at Cambridge and Southern do at Gatwick, gives the following advantages.
- Only one train path is needed between London and the intermediate station.
- Between London and the intermediate station, capacity is maximised.
- The two split services have more appropriate capacity to their routes.
- Train companies probably spend less on track access charge and electricity.
- Train companies might even need less trains.
The only disadvantage is that passengers must get in the right portion of a train.
Is the major problem with the Class 707 train, that they don’t have the ability to couple and uncouple automatically?
Increasing Capacity On Waterloo Suburban Services
A new franchise is taking over the services out of Waterloo station to the South West.
There is an informative article in Rail Technology Magazine, which is entitled First MTR joint venture awarded South Western franchise.
I wrote about the suburban services in An Analysis Of Waterloo Suburban Services Proposed To Move To Crossrail 2.
The Services Proposed To Move To Crossrail 2
These suburban termini and their routes are proposed to be connected to Crossrail 2.
- Chessington South – 34 minutes – 9 stops
- Epsom – 37 minutes – 9 stops
- Hampton Court – 36 minutes – 9 stops
- Shepperton – 51 minutes – 14 stops
The times are for a typical one-way journey from Waterloo, which usually has a frequency of two trains per hour (tph).
But consider.
- The routes are probably timed for 75 mph Class 455 trains.
- The latest Class 707 trains are 100 mph trains and probably execute a station stop much quicker.
I would think it is highly likely that a Class 707 train could do a round trip to Chessington South, Epsom and Hampton Court stations, within an hour. For the purpose of this calculation, I’ll assume that trains to Shepperton take two hours for the round trip.
So this would mean that to execute the current 2 tph, would need the following number of five-car trains, which would work as a ten-car unit.
- Chessington South – 2×2 = 4 trains
- Epsom – 2×2 = 4 trains
- Hampton Court – 2×2 = 4 trains
- Shepperton – 4×2 = 8 trains
So a total of 20 new five-car Class 707 trains would be needed to run these four services at a frequency of 2 tph, stopping as they do now!
As they can’t do the round trip in an hour with the current stock, they need to use more trains. And drivers and depot space!
Services to Windsor and Eton Riverside
Services between Waterloo and Windsor and Eton Riverside stations currently take 54 minutes.
I don’t think it is unreasonable to expect that a Class 707 train could do the round trip in two hours.
So that means that just eight trains are needed to run the ten-car 2 tph service to Windsor.
Services On The Hounslow And Kingston Loop Lines
These seem to be timed as follows.
- Hounslow Loop – 85 minutes – 20 stops.
- Kingston Loop – 79 minutes – 22 stops
Consider.
- The services are probably timed for 75 mph trains.
- 100 mph Class 707 trains with a faster station-stop performance could save a minute at each stop.
- All the platforms on the loop have only recently been updated for ten-car trains.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Class 707 trains, run round the Hounslow and Kingston Loop Lines in under an hour.
This would enable clockface services, simplify train scheduling and please passengers, signallers and the train operating company.
Other Services
There are other services that would benefit from Class 707 trains.
These are two examples of services out of Waterloo
- Weybridge via Hounslow and Virginia – 75 minutes – 20 stops.
- Guildford via Epsom – 71 minutes – 17 stops
Would a Class 707 train, bring these journeys under the magic hour including a turnback?
Waterloo Station
When the former International platforms at Waterloo station has been upgraded in the Summer, it will have five new Platforms 20-24.
To gain efficient access to the new Platforms, Network Rail are replacing the Eurostar tracks, with lines that enable trains to take a sneaky quick route in and out of Platforms 20-24.
These pictures show the lines going from Platforms 1 and 2 at Vauxhall station to the former Eurostar Platforms.
It looks like when it’s finished Platform 1 at Vauxhall will be the up platform towards Waterloo and Platform 2 will be the down platform.
Currently Platform 2 at Vauchall seems to handle services that come through Putney and Clapham Junction stations, with services going the other way using Platform 3.
According to Services in the Wikipedia entry for Putney station, typical off-peak service at the station is.
- 10 tph to London Waterloo
- 2 tph to Weybridge, calling at all stations via Hounslow.
- 2 tph fast to Windsor & Eton Riverside, calling at Richmond, Twickenham, Whitton, Feltham and all other stations.
- 2 tph taking the Kingston Loop Line via Richmond to return circuitously to Waterloo
- 2 tph in each direction round the Hounslow Loop Line to return circuitously to Waterloo
- 2 tph between Waterloo and Reading, which go through without stopping, but they stop on Sundays.
This means that there are 12 tph in both directions from Putney to Waterloo via Clapham Junction and Vauxhall.
It does look that after all the work is finished, these services will go into the rebuilt Platforms 20-24.
Will the various services be given their own platforms in Waterloo?
It would be a way of increasing passenger throughput in the station at busy times, as commuters would know that their trains always used the same platform. Simple and efficient!
It could be done with all services and I think this is done to a certain extent now.
Conclusion
South West Trains new fleet of thirty Class 707 trains is sized to run the services to Chessington South, Epsom, Hampton Court, Shepperton and Windsor and still leave a couple of spares for breakdowns and maintenance.
This calculation shows that you can sometimes replace a large number of 75 mph trains with a significantly smaller number of 100 mph units and still attain the same service frequency.
As they have just lost the franchise, I feel a little bit sorry for Stagecoach. But not that sorry!
Upgrading Waterloo Station
Some reports are giving Network Rail a good kicking over a month-long closure in August of Waterloo station.
I will point readers to this article on Time Out, which is entitled Passengers have been told to avoid Waterloo station for a whole month during major re-building works, as it gives facts rather than emotion.
I have found this video on this page of the South West Trains web site.
It explains the problem well.
South West Trains summarise the work at Waterloo as follows.
- Create a spacious, modern and accessible station concourse by rebuilding the former Waterloo International Terminal.
- Increase services by bringing platforms 20–24 back into use and introducing modern facilities along with new track and signalling.
- Allow longer ten-carriage trains to run to suburban routes by extending platforms 1–4.
Time Out finish their article like this.
All the chaos is down to an £800 million upgrade of Waterloo and South West, which aims to provide 30 percent more space for passengers as well as faster, more frequent services. If anything, it could be a decent excuse to book a holiday somewhere sunny. That’s how we’re taking the news, anyway.
It is probably good advice.
The Eurostar Platforms At Waterloo Station Are Being Brought Back Into Use
When travelling to Shepperton, I walked from Waterloo East station to the balcony at Waterloo station.
You get a good view of the disused Eurostar plaforms, which are being brought back into use.
I also took a few as my train left the station.
At least this monument to bad planning of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, is being put to a laudable use of providing more capacity at Waterloo.
There’s some more pictures from before the work started in Waterloo’s Blue Elephant.
Southern Crossrail
I noticed that Southern Crossrail has appeared in the list of proposed UK rail projects on Wikipedia.
There is a Southern Crossrail web site.
An Outline From History
Basically through tracks at Waterloo station would go straight on and take over the lines from Charing Cross station, through Waterloo East station.
This is said in the Wikipedia entry for Waterloo East station.
Formerly a rail connection ran across the concourse of the main station. This saw little service, although H.G. Wells’s novel The War of the Worlds describes its use to convey troop trains to the Martian landing site. The bridge which carried the line over Waterloo Road subsequently accommodated the pedestrian walkway between the two stations until replaced by the current high level covered walkway. The old bridge remains and is now used for storage.
So it’s not science fiction courtesy of Mr. Wells.
Shutting Stations And Joining Up Services
Charing Cross station could be shut or reduced in size, Waterloo East could be moved over Southwark tube station and the services into Charing Cross would run back-to-back with some into Waterloo.
This Google Map shows the stations and the lines.
Southern Crossrail
Destinations Served
Destinations in the West could include.
With the following destinations in the East.
At least it does something useful with the Hayes Line.
Building Southern Crossrail
Southern Crossrail say this about the engineering required.
The minimum engineering requirement would be for the centre part of the concourse at Waterloo to rise up over four through tracks. There would need to be lifts and escalators.
A new bridge, alongside the old one, would be required to carry three new tracks over Waterloo Road.
The old bridge referred to is the one that is referred to in Wikipedia, as being used for storage.
The engineering involved is probably no more difficult than that used to update Thameslink at London Bridge, with the new viaducts over Borough Market.
But I can remember , that when that project was mooted, there was a lot of local opposition.
Given the farce of at times, when London Bridge station was being rebuilt, I think passenger groups will be against the changes.
Southern Crossrail give these additional changes on their web site.
- Signalling changes to increase the throughput
- Flyovers between Battersea and Waterloo thus allowing the local, suburban and express lines to be segregated on the approach to Waterloo, would increase throughput further
- Waterloo East Station would close releasing some land and a new station above the new Southwark station on the Jubilee line could be opened for interchange with Thameslink
- Closing the line up to Charing Cross would allow for greater throughput. Commuters travelling to the west end can change at London Bridge using the Jubilee line. This will have the added advantage of opening up the front of Waterloo through to the South Bank.
My views on these changes and other points follow.
Signalling And Flyovers
The signalling and flyovers probably need to be done anyway, whether Southern Crossrail is built or not.
Certainly, both Thameslink and Crossrail provoked a bit of a track sort-out on the approaches to London.
A sort-out of the lines into Waterloo would probably need to be done for Crossrail 2 anyway.
Rebuilding Waterloo East Station
I rarely use Waterloo East station, but it has a terrible connection to Southwark tube station and a tortuous walk to Waterloo station, unless you’re going to the balcony for lunch or to meet someone.
The map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the Undserground lines beneathe Waterloo East station.
Lines Underneath Waterloo East Station
A new Waterloo East station could be built that had better connections to all of the Underground Lines in the area.
- Bakerloo Line – Very useful for the West End and Crossrail.
- Jubilee Line – Double-ended with connections to both Waterloo and Southwark stations.
- Northern Line (Charing Cross Branch)
- Waterloo and City Line
If rebuilding Waterloo East station would allow building on released land and above the station, together, then surely it is a project a quality developer would relish.
Decent pedestrian links could also be provided into Waterloo, as they should be anyway.
I think that there could be a strong case for the redevelopment of Waterloo East station, whether Southern Crossrail is built or not.
Improving The Waterloo And City Line
One of the side effects of rebuilding Waterloo East station would be improved access to the Waterloo and City Line.
A new entrance is being built at the Northern end and if the Southern end were sorted, London would have got a useful short new Unerground line, with a lot of the money provided by property development.
Serving Charing Cross Station
I believe that a rebuilt Waterloo East station would give better connections to the Underground, than does Charing Cross.
What Waterloo East lacks is connection to the District and Circle Lines and good walking routes to Whitehall. And you mustn’t annoy the Sir Humphries in their commute from Sevenoaks or Petts Wood!
Providing you didn’t close Charing Cross completely, there would be a same platform interchange at London Bridge.
But I suspect that an innovative solution could be found to get passengers from Waterloo East station to the North Bank of the Thames.
Properly done, it would enable passengers using the trains at Waterloo to get easily across the river .
Why are we wasting millions on the Garden Bridge, when a proper cross river connection further West would give benefit to millions of travellers?
At present these are the services that serve Charing Cross in the Off Peak.
- 2 trains per hour (tph) Dartford via Bexleyheath
- 2 tph Gravesend via Sidcup
- 2 tph Gillingham via Lewisham and Woolwich Arsenal
- 2 tph Hayes avoiding Lewisham
- 2 tph Sevenoaks via Orpington
- 2 tph Hastings via Tunbridge Wells
- 1 tph Dover via Ashford International
- 1 tph Ramsgate via Ashford International and Canterbury West
Obviously, there is a lot more in the Peak.
As it looks like the limit of trains through London Bridge to Waterloo East and Charing |Cross is somewhere around or above 20 tph, it could be that if Southern Crossrail is built, then there is a logical split.
- Suburban services go through to Waterloo and into the South West suburban network.
- Long distance services go to Charing Cross.
Platform arrangements at London Bridge and Waterloo East could be designed, so that if you’re on a train going to the wrong destination, you step off and step on the next one.
The Jubilee Line By-Pass
Now that we can see the new London Bridge station emerging and Charing Cross services are calling at the station again, I think we’ll see some interesting ducking-and-diving alomg the South Bank of the Thames.
Suppose you arrive at London Bridge on perhaps a train from Uckfield and need to go to Waterloo to get to Southampton. Until about a month ago, you would have to struggle across London on the Underground. Now you could take a frequent Charing Cross service to Waterloo East and just walk into Waterloo.
We mustn’t underestimate the effects that a fully rebuilt Thameslink and London Bridge station will have on passengers getting across South London.
If Southern Crossrail was built, it would be an alternative for the Jubilee Line between London Bridge and Waterloo.
Southern Crossrail might even lead to a rethink about how the Jubilee Line operates.
Positive Points
- Terminal platforms are released in Waterloo station, as services are joined up.
- No infrastructure changes would be required at London Bridge station.
- No tunnelling
- Southern Crossrail can be built before Crossrail 2.
- Southern Crossrail can be built to be compatible with Crossrail 2.
- The Tramlink connects Wimbledon in the West to Elmers End in the East.
But it will exceedingly difficult to convince the powers-that-be that it is a viable project.
Conclusion
I think it could be one of those projects that is so bizarre and wacky it might just be feasible.
But if it is built or not, London could benefit tremendously, by a quality rebuild of Waterloo East station.
In a phased building of Southern Crossrail, the order of construction could be.
- Rebuild Waterloo East station.
- Upgrade the lines into Waterloo with flyovers and signalling.
- Rebuild the concourse at Waterloo, so that the connecting tracks could go through to Waterloo East.
- Put in the bridges between Waterloo and Waterloo East.
- Connect up the services one-by-one.
It is the sort of project, that a good project management team, could push through with little disruption to services and passengers.
Whither Waterloo?
After looking at Waterloo International, I sat in a train before it left for Clapham Junction and it got me thinking about the future of Waterloo station.
It is busy as this extract from the Wikipedia entry shows.
With over 94 million passenger entries and exits between April 2011 and March 2012, Waterloo is Britain’s busiest railway station by passenger usage. The Waterloo complex is the 15th busiest passenger terminal in Europe, and the 91st busiest railway station in the world. It has more platforms and a greater floor area than any other station in the United Kingdom (though Clapham Junction, just under 4 miles (6 km) down the line, has the largest number of trains).
This Google Map shows how big and hemmed in on all sides, the station complex is.
Waterloo Station
It certainly has its problems.
1. Waterloo Station Doesn’t Have Enough Capacity For Trains
South West Trains want to run ten-car trains and the platforms need to be lengthened. That project is in the pipeline, but little seems to be happening.
They also want to bring the other four Eurostar platforms into use. As these platforms were built for the very long Eurostar Class 373 ytrains, they are a complete mismatch for the typical trains that South West Trains typically run.
2. The Lines Into Waterloo Need Sorting
If you increase the trains using the station, you’ll need to increase the capacity on the lines leading into the station.
3. Waterloo Station Doesn’t Have Enough Passenger Facilities
$25million has been spent on creating a retail balcony with shops and restaurants.
But I think that even this is proving not to be sufficient at busy times!
4. The Underground And Waterloo And City Line Don’t Have Enough Capacity
Getting to Waterloo is not easy for people like me in East London and we’re not the only area of London, from where getting to Waterloo is difficult and often overcrowded.
There are two ways that Waterloo can go. Either you try and squeeze more and more trains and passengers into the existing sites or you reduce the number of both to fit the current facilities.
If Crossrail 2 is designed properly and built, it will have the following effects on Waterloo,
1. Reduce the number of trains needing to use Waterloo, by diverting trains and passengers into the tunnel at Wimbledon and then under Central London.
2. This will in turn, free up much-needed platform space and train paths.
3. As passengers will not be changing at Waterloo, but passing underneath on their way to Central London, the pressure will be taken off the station facilities.
If the Northern and Bakerloo Lines get some of proposed capacity increases, this will also take the pressure off Waterloo. But the one I’d improve would be the Waterloo and City Line and make it run 24/7.
There is also an unofficial proposal for Crossrail 3, which would link Waterloo and Euston via a tunnel.
Possibly! But let’s make full use of Thameslink, the East and West London Lines and Crossrail 2 first. I think that if we reorganise Old Oak Common and manage to get an extra track or two along the West London Line.
Waterloo’s Blue Elephant
Waterloo International station was built for Eurostar services at a cost of £120million. I needed to get out of Waterloo to Clapham Junction and I noticed that the first train was in Platform 20 in the old Waterloo International.
So I went and had a look inside for the first time since C and myself went to Paris for the weekend.
I could have thought of better ways to spent £120million on the railways.
Every Transport Minister in the UK, should have a photograph of this blue elephant subtitled Don’t Create Another Of These on his or her desk.
Architects might like the design, but I think that there are much better-designed stations in the UK. Manchester Victoria is my current favourite, which scores highly on design, quality of construction and affordability.
The biggest crime though for Waterloo International, is that it was designed and built and when it was found to be inadequate, a replacement station was started.
It definitely scored -2 out of 10 for overall planning.
It is interesting to note that the whole farce of the Channel Tunnel Rail Link was more politically-led, whereas Crossrail is much more led by what engineers and architects say is possible. From what I’ve found out about Crossrail 2, it would appear that it has gone further down that route.
