Sir Benjamin Nunn wrote:

"Annabel Smyth" wrote in message
...

I guess it could cut into the common slightly where the horse riding
track is at the moment, then cut into the Streatham Hill area (not sure
about how the well heeled residents would feel about that though...
what do I care, BULLDOZE!). Come out at the high road at Streatham
Hill and onto Brixton from there.

Well, whatever - by then, we very much hope, the Streatham Hub will be
operational, and Streatham Station itself the site of a major transport
interchange (and a wonderful new leisure centre including ice rink and
swimming-pool etc). So why on earth not link it to Brixton by whatever
means possible - there is even a possibility for a railway connection
over existing lines.....



Streatham needs the Victoria Line extension first mooted about 50 years ago.

Brixton-Streatham Hill-Streatham-Streatham Common----- thence overground to
Croydon.

It's a blindingly simple idea, and would almost definitely become the most
heavily-trafficked tube route out of Central London overnight thanks to the
existing rapidity of the Vic.

You've just hit the problem. The Victoria is already bursting at the
seams in the peaks. They can't extend it because there isn't enough
capacity on the current route.

Annabel pointed out in another post that the frequency is already every
2 minutes (30tph). If the line were extended to Croydon, the extra
passengers would mean that either the frequency in the centre would have
to be increased (very difficult) or platforms would have to be extended,
both along the existing route and the overground stations to Croydon
(very expensive).

An extension to Streatham with a corresponding frequency increase in the
centre with new signalling might be able to cope - but Croydon would be
too much.

I know there were tunnelling problems in the 1960s, but surely technology
has moved on sufficiently now for this not to be a problem. They could
resite Brixton on a straight alignment and at a deeper level if necessary.

Seems like TfL are obsessed with pouring their money into 'new' schemes
which actually don't involve a lot of new routes at all, but are simply
using existing infrastructure in a differently-branded way.

I think this is just a reflection of the times - for radial routes, many
key traffic generators are already based around the existing rail
routes, so services like Crossrail are most useful since they take the
traffic from these routes directly to their destination rather than
dropping it off at the edges of the centre.

Construction costs also seem to be escalating out of control (see the
Jubilee Line Extension) and using existing infrastructure in a different
way keeps costs down. I believe the JLE cost around £1,000,000 per metre
of length - tunnelling is expensive even if it is now technically
possible under South London.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London