On Jun 7, 2:19*pm, "Graham J" wrote:
The East London Line is basically a north-south route, except for the
upcoming section to Highbury and Islington. But what if a connection
were made to the Lea Valley Lines, which according to my calculations
(which are sometimes wrong!) are only three-quarters of a mile away
from Dalston Junction)? I'm not sure whether this would be best on the
surface, elevated or underground, but then you could have West Croydon
and Crystal Palace trains to Enfield Town and Chingford...

Having made the journey from Norwood Junction to Edmonton Green only last
Friday, I have to say that is a nice dream. Good to have a trip on the ELL
but it gained me diddly squat time wise, just the rather dubious pleasure of
45 minutes on the 149 northbound. Has to be said that emerging at Dalston
Junction isn't really something that gladdens the heart, but then again the
immediate surroundings of West Croydon and Crystal Palace (if you don't turn
into the park) aren't much to write home about either.

I'd like something much more modest. Platforms on the Suburban Lines around
about where Bishopsgate Low Level was, linked in with Shoreditch High Street
station. *Up trains as often slow to a crawl or a complete halt there anyway
so they can do something more useful with their time, and northbound it
wouldn't waste much time as the trains aren't up to speed anyway.

As an alternative to that, once the GE13 bridge and ramp were removed,
that there was the opportunity for squeezing another pair of tracks
down that way had a bit more of the corridor been levelled down to
track level (and had the Broadgate Tower's foundations had it factored
in). The link to the Met could have been either reinstated (and
doubled) and platforms 1&2 given over, or the curve sunk below
concourse level for a SSL service running north alongside the northern
side of the existing lines until the GE13 bridge (under the
Bishopsgate site where demolition wasn't possible), where the ramp
could have been removed and the main formation slewed southwards,
enabling the new route to run along the existing formation, then
there's ample room all the way down to Bethnal Green Junction o run up
the WA lines up to Enfield/Cheshunt. On that line a station at
Shoreditch High St. would have made a lot of sense.