Kev wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

If however the suggestion is the ELL is going to be a quiet line then
I'd offer the contrary prediction - I think it'll be a very successful
and well patronised line. I know this is contrary to what appears to be
the received wisdom in this group but I'm convinced it'll be a great
success.

I would like to be proved wrong, and my guess is that it will be a
qualified success, but I can't see how the billions being spent can be
justified. Not when you consider what the billions could be spent on.
At the end of the day it is a line that goes from no where to no where
via no where. Sorry to the people of West Croydon, Dalston and
Shorditch. It isn't as if these places don't have public transport
already.
Maybe if the people of Dalston had shown more patronage on the NLL then
Broad St wouldn't have closed.
I would agree that doing away with the useful capacity that Broad St
gave was a mistake though.


Kev wrote:

Mizter T wrote:

If however the suggestion is the ELL is going to be a quiet line then
I'd offer the contrary prediction - I think it'll be a very successful
and well patronised line. I know this is contrary to what appears to be
the received wisdom in this group but I'm convinced it'll be a great
success.

I would like to be proved wrong, and my guess is that it will be a
qualified success, but I can't see how the billions being spent can be
justified. Not when you consider what the billions could be spent on.
At the end of the day it is a line that goes from no where to no where
via no where. Sorry to the people of West Croydon, Dalston and
Shorditch. It isn't as if these places don't have public transport
already.
Maybe if the people of Dalston had shown more patronage on the NLL then
Broad St wouldn't have closed.
I would agree that doing away with the useful capacity that Broad St
gave was a mistake though.


I guess that you demonstrate the point I was trying to make to Mr
Arquati - there are some very skeptical voices that have and do appear
on utl!

As I made clear earlier I think it'll be a great success. Your comments
seem to allow for it's success ("qualified success" being your exact
words), but you appear to suggest that even if it is a success you will
nonetheless disagree that it will be money well spent.

All I can say is that I fundamentally disagree with you on that point -
I think the money will definitely be well worth it considering the
benefits that will accrue. Orbital rail services are set to become more
and more important in London, and the ELL project is an important piece
of that jigsaw.

Regarding your comments about Dalton's poor patronage: the ELL will
provide a more useful through link that goes south rather than stopping
at Broad Street (and for those who want the City the new Shoreditch
High St. station will be _just_ round the back of Liverpool Street
station); and in the late 70's / early 80's the demand for rail
services was fundamentally different from now - see the success of the
present-day North London Line and compare it to the ghost line it was
in the early 80's.

You and many others are also scathing about the potential demand a
north/south link on the ELL - I hold a diametrically opposed view. In
addition to brand new A-B journey opportunities, many journeys that
might otherwise have taken a different central London route will
instead go via the ELL.

Anyway, people who agree with my stance have won the day and the ELL
project is going ahead. In a few years I'm sure it'll be commonly
regarded as an invaluable part of the network in London.