"Tom Anderson" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 30 Nov 2004, Aidan Stanger wrote:

make Goblin the primary cross-London freight line

If a way could be found to 4-track the NLL from Dalston to
Stratford, to avoid conflict with Crossrail 1 at Forest Gate and to
avoid conflict with the ELL/NLL between Camden and Dalston (i.e.
ELL/NLL running on the southern pair Dalston-Canonbury - see Mod
Rlys Dec issue - but NLL towards Hampstead leaving to the north at
Camden, therefore requiring that freight crosses the path of the NLL
passenger services), then the Goblin upgrade and the tunnel to
Primrose Hill are unnecessary.

Just thought - I wonder if you could avoid tunnelling from Gospel Oak to
Primrose Hill by double-decking the NLL from Gospel Oak to just west of
Camden Rd west junction, with a north-to-west spur to join the Primrose
Hill line to the WCML? This stretch of the NLL is all on viaduct anyway, so
adding a deck on top may be quite easy.

One more thing: the four-tracking on the NLL ends at Camden Road east
junction; the Primrose Hill and Hampstead branches diverge to the west, at
what i assume is called Camden Road west junction. Thus, you'd need to
four-track between the two junctions; it's not at all far, but it is in a
heavily built-up area.

Is it a genuinely 2-track width, or is there space for another 2 tracks
(i.e. 2 tracks used out of a 4-track-width alignment)?

If you did want to do the 4-track NLL option, double-decking could be a
solution for Camden Rd west to Camden Rd east to avoid any land take through
Camden (if it is genuinely 2-track, rather than 2 used tracks on a
4-track-width alignment); similarly for Hackney to Stratford. I don't know
how you'd deal with Dalston to Hackney though as that bit is in a cutting.

Off-topic I know, but double-decking could also be a solution for relieving
the bottleneck at the through platforms at Manchester Piccadilly....

Angus