On Wed, 4 Jul 2007, Bob wrote:

http://www.publications.parliament.u...70627h0006.htm

Or, for those preferring a slicker interface with wee pictures of the
interlocutors:

http://www.theyworkforyou.com/whall/...7-06-27a.101.1

Martin Linton secured an adjournment debate on the 27th June 2007 about
bringing forward the ELLX phase two extension to Clapham Junction. There
were some interesting comments about taking over SLL services from
Victoria to London Bridge into the Overground network, the need for
connections to Finsbury Park, the dropping of the Wimbledon link

Linton mentions an idea i hadn't heard before, of extending the ELL from
CJ to Wimbledon via the Wimbledon branch of the District line. There's
some capacity available there, clearly, but how do you get from CJ to East
Putney? Doesn't that mean sharing tracks with Windsor line trains? Isn't
that a terrible idea?

and what is described as "creative thinking" by TfL at Dalston
Junction/Kingsland. Does anybody have further details?

Not me, sorry. They can't be considering an off-street walking route, can
they? That would involve underpasses or viaducts that would cost
hojillions. I imagine it won't run to much more than some wider pavements
and re-phased lights.

Things i thought were interesting:

Linton saying:

"[...] most of south London is poorly served by the underground, and that
it suffers badly as a result. It suffers economically because all the
railways go in a purely radial direction to London termini, which is okay
for getting to and from work but useless for getting around town. People
find it much more difficult to get to shops, restaurants and entertainment
centres in south London than in north London."

What? North London has the NLL; south London has two SLLs, and quite an
orbital slant to the Chatham lines. The vast majority of 'getting around
town' in north London is either on radial lines or buses, which the south
has plenty of, so i think he's talking nonsense here.

Linton again, on the usefulness of the orbital line for cross-London
travellers:

"For instance, they will be able to get off a Southampton train at Clapham
Junction, go around the orbital and catch a Hastings train from Peckham,
catch a Glasgow train at Watford or go to Finsbury Park to catch a train
on the east coast main line, if my geography is right. They will be able
to do all that without needing to go through the centre, alight in a
congested terminus, get on the congested Circle line and fight their way
through the crowds."

How many Glasgow trains stop at Watford, then? And how many long-distance
ECML trains at Finsbury Park? And how long will ELL from Clapham Junction
to Finsbury Park take compared to riding in to Victoria and getting the
Victoria line to King's Cross? Indeed, do any of those journeys involve
the Circle line?

"The new route will offer an opportunity to serve the huge population of
12,000 in north Battersea who are remote from stations because of the 1.8
mile gap between Clapham Junction and the next station. I shall certainly
workwith Wandsworth council, I hopeto make a business case for a station
between those two."

Interesting. Where's this 1.8 mile gap? It sounds like he's talking about
north of CJ, but i make it 1.2 miles to Queenstown Road Battersea. Does he
mean south of CJ? I would have called that Wandsworth, i think, and it's
still only 1.4 miles to Wandsworth Common. QRB isn't going to be on the
ELLX; it did occur to me the other day that one could build platforms on
it there without too much trouble, though (although they'd be curved).

Corbyn asks why the NLR is going to be run by a concessionaire, and
Hillier gives him an answer that indicates that she has as little idea as
him about why this is being done. Although Corbers does later say "I study
old railway maps and think about those matters quite a lot", so he's one
of us really!

Brake brings up Land Value Capture. Good man.

tom

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