John B wrote:
wrote:
Unfortunately, assorted local NIMBYs are being troublesome about the
Camden Town redevelopment
IIRC the main problem they had was that the proposed development was
out of scale (and it certainly looks it in the first picture on the
alwaystouchout link, less so in the second).
I'd disagree - I think the LUL plans would have taken a pretty scabby
part of London and provided a nice new focal point, taking some of the
focus away from the hordes of weed dealers, goths and Japanese
teenagers...
Camden Town really needs
a Mile End style flat, open platform interchange, with the two
northbound branches sharing one platform, and the other platform having
trains going southwards from both sides.
Yes, this would be the ideal final layout - although a Highbury-style
interchange (ie the same cross-platform layout but in tubes) would be
functionally equivalent if a total rebuild and realignment to match
Mile End were unfeasible. I'm 95% certain that the plans involve the
latter.
I'm not sure that's the case. because of the way the junction is laid
out. It's currently essentially cross-platform between the northbound
platforms, which is fine, but putting the southbound platforms next to
each other would cause a considerable headache because of the way the
branches intersect and dive off again. They would need to be in a
completely different location, *much* further south than at present.
As far as I'm aware, the Camden Town works were primarily for congestion
relief to the existing platforms, passageways, escalators and ticket
hall - not to rebuild the layout of the junction.
The rebuild of Camden Town would present not only the opportunity to
split the line into two - with significant reliability gains - but also
to extend the Charing Cross side from Kennington towards the south east
(Camberwell and beyond) - something which has been talked about in the
past but is a bit speculative and would totally depend on the rebuild of
Camden Town. It would also be competing with the similarly-speculative
Bakerloo line extension.
I suppose the reason above
ground demolition would be "needed" is access and, maybe, to pay for
the whole redevelopment in the form of property sale & rental.
Also to provide an interim station on the Buck Street market site - but
you're right, the reason they want to build a big thing above the
station is so they can make back some of the cost of the redevelopment,
which seems fair enough.
--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London