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 Post subject: Central line to Uxbridge
PostPosted: Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:08 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jan 16, 2012 3:25 pm
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Chiltern’s Oxford route progress

Pg. 8 Dec 2011 Modern Railways
Caption: (Toads get tunnel under new rail curve and coppiced trees for the bat nests?)
“Transport Secretary Justine Greening has said that she is minded to grant a Transport and Works Act Order for Chiltern Railways Proposed new rail route to Oxford. She said she will need to be satisfied that Chiltern and Natural England have reached agreement upon mitigation measures to protect bats and great crested newts.”

New Station tunnel for Bank Northern Line
Pg10
In summary:
LU is developing a Transport and Works Act order for submission after the Olympics in late 2012 for a new southbound Northern Line tunnel (as their platform tunnels are less structurally dependant on each other and less curved than Central line platforms as noted in the L Underground ‘history of the tube lines’ books series). The construction would start in 2015, with completion scheduled in 2021.

The reasons for turning the present Southbound platform into a concourse by one of the running platform tunnels are so as to provide relief capacity for the approx 40,000 (out of a total 56,000 per annum) passengers changing lines . There is a proven demand need for this as 43% more passengers interchanging at the station since 2003 “and entering and leaving the station is up about a third.” Also there would be step free lift access from a new ticket hall in King William Street to both the Northern Line and the Docklands Light Railway.

Deduction of James Ware from this

That this is a proposal that is like Northern Line London Bridge platforms in 1996 and then Angel station platform and new entrance (also on the Bank branch of the Northern Line). The Central line is less able to be adapted at this location (though carrying more passengers) as the station platform tunnels curve NE - SW (Liverpool Street to Bank) and approximately E-W (Bank to Marble Arch via Tottenham Court Road under High Holborn and Oxford Street). It is anticipated that Crossrail Line 1 will relieve capacity on The Central Line from Old Oak common / Ealing Broadway / Bond Street to Stratford / Whitechapel / Liverpool Street.so that the restrictiveness of construction that makes altering the Central line platforms and lengthening the Waterloo and City Line platforms and trains owing to the foundations of buildings above and nearby (including Waterloo main line station under which Waterloo depot / sidings for the Waterloo and City Line have been since construction in the reign of Queen Victoria) extremely difficult and disruptive.

With better engineering departments
And experience from Crossrail 1, perhaps central line work is a possibility in the 2025-2045 time category given government spending commitments re HS2 and National Rail Network in England as that is direct rule by Westminster.






London Rail special in December 2011 edition of Modern Railways

Context:
Previous editions of Modern Railways have covered the following and TfL London overground /Underground / Rail have developed some of these (*)

Metropolitan Line Croxley Rail Link extension developed by Herts County Council (prior to that 1997-2010 with indirectly elected regional authority / agency input as previous attempts at County Council had no binding effect and did not have a finance package for it under the then framework for local / County government finance). In 2011 the jointly organised group (Mouchel, Herts CC, Three rivers DC, Watford BC, TfL, National Rail) submitted a public display and in October 2011 a feedback document (the final submission to the DfT) was presented to the UK ‘federal’ transport department.
This is because Transport has at present no English Parliament to handle devolved and part financed matters (unlike Scotland and Northern Ireland and Soon Wales once the Welsh Office and Westminster complete consultations on it following the Yes referendum result for primary law making powers).

DLR Bank branch to Victoria LUL / National Rail / Coach Station under Fleet St / Aldwych / Strand / St James Park (*)
Route altered to Euston by incumbent Mayor of London instead of Cross river tram (see below).

Cross River Tram or DLR to Victoria / Euston: Waterloo and Peckham / Elephant and Castle to Aldwych .and then north via Russell Square to Euston and St Pancras / Kings Cross Regeneration office and residential blocks. This has been deemed counterproductive as at present Buses terminate At Aldwych from East and West and there are buses from North and South London. To handle all that capacity and the buses that presently terminate in front of Euston rail station while it is rebuilt for HS2 would require a bus station and use of (*) the Embankment and former Tram tunnels. This is not feasible as the current Mayor is looking at Extending the Docklands Light Railway from Bank to City Thameslinkn (where at present there is no tube connection) and then via Aldwych or Chancery Lane to Holborn so these tunnels are likely to be adapted or partly used. Then the DLR would head north to Euston so that a 30 trains per hour capability and three car trains to the City and Docklands could take the extra passengers that HS2 could bring.

However reversing sidings are needed so a split service from Victoria and Euston to Docklands with stabling sidings under Victoria Main Line services, and where the two branches join near Aldwych, an empty train link line from Victoria branch to the Euston one so that the starting service in the morning is reliable and can begin at the beginnings of the traffic day. This would be the case if there is no way of building underground sidings North of Euston as there are office and housing tower blocks close to the site which could make it very difficult to build. Hence The DLR could serve Euston and have a crossover junction both before the station and after it so thata broken down train has somewhere to be stabled (somewhere around / between the Victoria and Circle Line tracks and the London sewers which need the new super sewer prposed by both former Greater London Mayor Livingstone and the current mayor Boris Johnson).

The delayed by Green Belt ‘New Works programmes’

Since the 1940s a SE extension on the Bakerloo line to Camberwell has been given permission at House of Commons and then the GLC (which didn’t get funding priority for it as road capacity went up with first the introduction of trolley buses and then Diesel double deckers and the geology for tunnelling is more complex), however owing to economic difficulties (ie recessions reducing tax income to the government) and the lack of a process for Capital and central government to agree on how to build it).

Prior to WW2 the Northern Line Mill Hill east branch was designed to be further extended to Edgeware to share a station with the Northern Line Edgeware branch via
Golders Green. Then in tunnel to Aldenham (where the depot was built and when the Line was curtailed at Edgeware, converted into a Bus maintenance depot for London Buses), the service was curtailed. Given engineering repair being reduced by financial constrictions the 1959 sand 1938 stock had a longer journey time and prone to faults when fares were then excessively cut by the GLA (the then leader of the GLC Labour groups thinking / defence might be to offset macro economic inflation so that employment was still possible). Hence train journeys on the post war network took longer as the destruction of national energy infrastructure in WW2 had to be replaced and be reliable enough to work on electricity. Hence though nearer London than the Met Line (Amersham) if it had been built, Trains from Aldenham would have had a longer journey time to the City and West End.

Hence If London Overground were to run a new service Stratford- Camden Road- Primrose Hill and North to Watford Junction and Willesden Junction low level terminating Bay using extra 378 stock ordered in time for 2017 International Athletics and 2015 rugby World Cup and also Grays – Rainham- Barking – Gospel Oak –Willesden Junction (new platforms on the freight connection tracks to the East of the Low level station) – Watford Junction on the West Coast slow tracks and the Euston-Watford junction rail lines is possible. Then a rededication of the 24 Train paths an hour Bakerloo line service with less trains north of Wembley Central and Stonebridge Park to run on one of the following five options produced by rail consultancy firm JRC and a an extension to the Old Oak Common redevelopment by Bakerloo Line Trains (pg. 59 Modern Railways December 2011), with a eversing siding North of Paddington Station being constructed during the Crossrail line 1 disruption.

They suggest (Pg 56-59 Modern Railways December 2011):
B1 A jubilee line relief railway to Canary Wharf via Old Kent Road and Surrey Quays (approx £1.6 billion)
B2 An Inner London tube to Canada Water (jubilee interchange) then part of N Kent Line to Charlton via Deptford and Greenwich.
B3 £1.9million direct tube to Lewisham via Old Kent Road and the new Cross area
B4: to Lewisham via a direct tube to Peckham and then via New Cross or Nunhead
B5 Historic tube via Camberwell and Peckham and onto Lewisham, approx £2.3bn
Prior suggestions include extension beyond New Cross and Lewisham to reach Blackheath to join the middle of the three lines from there to Dartford, terminating at Slade Green, which was developed partially as part of the Mayor of Greater London’s Transport strategy of May 2010.

Modern Railways pg. 59 (December 2011):
“TfL prefers a route for the Bakerloo to Beckenham Junction and Hayes (Kent) via Camberwell, Peckham and Lewisham. This would cost £3.5-4bn and have a high level Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) of 1:4:1. An option via the Old Kent Road offers a shorter journey time with a BCR of 1:9:1”

The article in Modern Railways continues:
“The LSE RUS (JW: London and South East Rail Users Strategy) looks ahead to capacity problems on national rail in the London commuting area. It identifies that converting the Lewisham – Hayes (Kent) branch for use by tube series ‘Could allieveate main line and suburban routes via London Bridge, with services on this line rerouted via a southern extension to the London Under ground Bakerloo Line. Such a line would also provide additional capacity in inner South London, greatly improving travel opportunities for areas such As Denmark Hill (East London Line phase 2) and Camberwell. There may also be capacity relief to the Elephant and Castle corridor to Blackfriars, depending on the specific route chosen”




Rail magazine
Croxley Rail link update pg 22-23 went to press prior to the 14/12/11 agreement to fund the extension to Watford Junction. And thuis public consultation and transport and Works act submission in the New Year

Ruislip Gazette on No to Night buses in Ruislip / Eastcote and Northwood
14/12/11 pg 1
In summary
While Other boroughs such as Barnet, Croydon and Barking and Dagenham have night buses, and there is one bus down the Uxbridge road to Uxbridge from Holborn, Eastcote Residents assn has stated that with taxis from Central London after the last train sometimes reaching £60 and the 24 bus to / from Oxford only stops at Hillingdon Station, a bus service is needed. TfL say that as part of an ongoing review of bus routes and their usage they have “…estimated that (passenger numbers) would use a new service would not be enough to justify the additional costs. We will continue to monitor the situation.”

The cabinet member for transportation has questioned how TfL could know how TfL does this given the lack of a night bus route to Ruislip. A partial answer to that is the oyster / travelcard technology records passenger numbers getting on the bus and there was a nigt bus to Ruislip from acton, Greenford and then Northolt, Eastcote Lane (Eastcote Arms) and then Victoria road to Ruislip station. When passenger numbers on it fell the route was curtailed at Northolt Station. Now its been so many years since any predictions from that to be of questionable accuracy, Cabinet Member Burrows has said: “I am willing to take it up as a cabinet member and ask why our residents don’t get that service. If TfL can justify it with figures then fair enough, but I think if they did something like a trail run for one month it would at least give us a fair chance to show whether we want it”


Also in the same newspaper (page 8) TfLs reduction in the number of peak hours trains running from Aldgate to Uxbridge with two ‘slow’ (all station trains) to Amersham this is done so that there is more capacity on those branches ie:

From Harrow office blocks to Pinner / North Harrow/ Northwood and stations further out on the Met / Chiltern Lines

Uni students near Baker street / Waterloo to living at home / house shares by students trying to keep their credit ratings higher so that they can get a part rent part buy mortgage on favourable rates of interest and take care of their parents and children.

Hence ‘We are paying more and getting less’ says one Eastcote resident. However when I was a kid in the 1980s there were only4-6 trains on the Uxbridge branch off peak and less through running trains from Aldgate and Moorgate to Baker Street and onto Uxbridge. Since the creation of TfL that has increased to 6-10 trains per hour off peak in Uxbridge and with new rolling stock and signalling being introduced. The main problem with the S stock is that it has less seats in the same 8 carriage length train. This is because its designed for greater passenger numbers travelling shorter distances and greater air circulation in the trains as they are air conditioned.

On page 66 of Modern Railways one option to deal with changing traffic patterns, namely commuting by Car from counties round the M25 and along the A40 and A4020 (Uxbridge Rd from Denham to Shepherds Bush, referred to as the 607 tram / 207 trolleybus road as it used to Run from Uxbridge to Shepherds Bush) and M/A4, is an extension of The Central Line to Uxbridge with further extension to Heathrow.

Another Cabinet member on Hillingdon Council, Cllr D Mills is quoted in that article that at present ‘TfL feel at the moment the business case is weak, and it is up to us to build it up’ In the local paper the suggestion made was an extension from West Ruislip to Uxbridge (to serve the redevelopment of the USAF / RAF airbase for housing next to West Ruislip station) and the current track layout of the relevant rail lines in the enthusiasts rail atlas; the Rail atlas of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

However the recent history of rail improvement proposals, vested Land interests and green belt protection combined with a request for a review of the HS2 route where it is currently proposed to run and another article on pages 68-69 about rail service improvements to Heathrow. These combined and when crosschecked by an amateur reading the West London Ordnance Survey map or the more detailed 1:25,000 map which show the land height and road cuttings suggest the following problems:

1) Ickenham Cricket Club would have Central Line tracks running on it on an embankment (descending to Tunnel to go to Uxbridge under fields between Breakspear Road and the Road to Harefield that used to have South Harefield station and a route to the old Great Central Railway Uxbridge Station the other side of it
2) This Great Central branch has had its embankment subside and has ex quarry Fishing lakes on either side making it difficult to safely tunnel through. There is also the risk of the Oil distribution depot on the site of that old railway junction between Branch and GCR Main line (which could mean that they extract it from beneath said gravel). The Uxbridge Rd end has had the embankment removed and council housing built on it in the 1970s with an office block now used by Bucks University. Its opposite a youth club for Uxbridge and the surface geology is gravel (like the River Lea and Victoria Line tunnels south of the Thames which increases tunnelling costs
3) Any tube tunnel from near there would therefore have to go under Vyners School and 1950s family housing on land that also descends in height. The journey on that route would therefore be uncomfortable. After that there is the difficult way of crossing the A40 and Uxbridge Golf course as the former has a multi level rail junction and the latter is on a descending height and on the south of the road the hill it would tunnel under has also got residential family housing.
4) Since the closure of the Main line rail branches to Uxbridge, Multi storey office blocks, shopping centres and residential tower blocks have been built so it may be difficult to construct tunnels through them to Heathrow under South Uxbridge and the Frays River and Grand Union Canal and the relevant buildings foundations. This is what makes it difficult to use the Old Piccadilly Line sidings at Park Road / Belmont Rd to be caused for a descent into Tunnel for Piccadilly and Central Lines to go to Heathrow. If built on that alignment it would mean that the London Bus depot from which most of Hillingdon’s buses are run, would be closed and the tunnel would go under its Diesel storage for the buses.

They suggest that a continuation NE and curving underground to Uxbridge is too difficult and costly when cheaper alternative routes using Brownfield sites are possible.

Other alternatives
1) Since the Westfield White City development there is spare stabling tracks in the Rebuilt White City depot, Ealing Broadway station and North Acton. The Central line depot in Ruislip therefore could have its engineering train tracks down to a reversing siding for Piccadilly line trains that terminate at Ruislip station. Combined with a new set of crossover points at Ruislip station (East side of it by the car park) and before Ruislip Manor station. Then a dual track line from Ruislip Gardens station to the site of that siding so that a junction onto the Uxbridge Met branches and a separate pair of running tracks to run in tunnel under a rebuilt Ickenham station car park with the option of it being multi storey (previous similar example Hounslow West when the Piccadilly Line was extended to Heathrow via Hatton Cross).

With a new arts complex being built as part of the redevelopment of RAF Uxbridge, the loss of the Garden between the Ickenham Compass theatre and the present LU Line is necessary to prepare for descent in tunnel under the A40 at the Master Brewer Junction at a usable gradient and to ensure that local cultural activities in Hillingdon could continue during safe construction of the line.
2) From what would then be a four platform Hillingdon station with multi storey park and ride car park interchange, stations in Hayes End and Stockley Park and then HS2 Heathrow (also underground beneath the extisting ‘Heathrow Villages’ before turning North to interchange at West Drayton or Iver for Crossrail line 1.


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