London Banter - View Single Post

Paul Corfield · October 10th 03, 07:55 AM posted to uk.transport.london

On 9 Oct 2003 02:20:37 -0700, (Gary Jenkins) wrote:

Does anyone have any suggestions for improving transport in the
Cinderella parts of SE London? Would it be a realistic long-term
project to lobby for a new tube line starting say at Sidcup and
running through Eltham, Kidbrooke and Charlton to link with the
Jubilee at North Greenwich or Canary Wharf and then continue through
Hackney to finish at Finsbury Park or Tottenham Hale? This would
greatly improve transport links to Docklands and really help shift
Lonson's centre of gravity to the East.

Interesting that you think you need a Tube Line to solve your problems.
Given the distance to places like Sidcup I'm not sure this would be a
universally acceptable solution. Your route also forces everyone heading
to the Centre to change trains onto lines that are already overcrowded
at peak times.

I'm of the view that the lines in South East London need to be
resignalled and then have the service redesigned into a form of S Bahn
type service. You would need much better interchange and higher
frequency services and possibly a compromise on service patterns - there
is the current conflict between getting people to the West End (CX /
Vic) and to the City (L Bdg / C St) from the same places.

With some ingenuity and planning it would be possible to run some
services through the East London Line and possibly via Thameslink -
admittedly there would be compromises. Beyond that you are probably
talking about RER style tunnels between Victoria or Charing Cross and
Euston - not sure anyone is planning how Tottenham Court Rd would cope
with 2 Tube Lines and 3 Crossrail type lines running through it though!
--
Paul C

Admits to working for London Underground!