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Tom Anderson · June 3rd 08, 06:25 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.railway

On Tue, 3 Jun 2008, wrote:

On 2 Jun, 19:58, Mizter T wrote:
On 2 Jun, 18:27, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 2 Jun, 17:51, Mizter T wrote:

I wonder what the delay was in opening the station - maybe it was just
to keep 'first train enthusiasts' on their toes! (Or maybe just allow
them a lie-in instead of a crack of dawn start...)

I went down there last night for a look just as the builders were
packing up (I wasn't expecting it to open as early as today). The only
things amiss were a few noticeboards hadn't been put up and one
segment of the down platform's canopy was missing.

The official line was that regulatory safety checks hadn't been done.

HMRI (if it was the HMRI) evidently don't do sunday inspections then!

When I passed by late on Friday I was half-hoping I might be able to
get a ticket machine to spew out the first ever Mitcham Eastfields
ticket - alas no, the place was still crawling with workmen!

Can anyone say exactly how long this station took to be built - i.e.
from the start the proper construction phase? It's certainly been
fairly rapid - well under a year.

And is there anywhere else in Greater London which is similarly
deserving of a brand new railway station on an existing line?

I suppose under that criteria my vote would go for a Brixton station
on the South London Line (which will hopefully play host to ELLX
trains to & from Clapham Jn in years to come) - but that would be an
incredibly difficult and expensive station to build, unlike
Eastfield's quick-and-cheapish new modular station. Is there anywhere
else deserving that's like Eastfields in London - somewhere where the
line is running more or less flat on the ground, not high up on an
embankment or viaduct or low in a cutting or even in a tunnel - i.e.
any *realistic* suggestions?

Stations at Walworth and Camberwell on the line into Blackfriars would
seem the obvious candidates.

Re-instating Junction Road/Tuffnel Park on the GOBLIN.

Barking Reach, on the Dagenham Dock line.

Ah, now i think what needs doing here is an entirely new bit of line
building, from Dagenham Dock, via what will be the Thames Gateway
development area and Canning Town, into the City. It could perhaps be a
more sensible route for the Docklands branch of Crossrail - after Isle of
Dogs, i'd go Canning Town, City Airport, Gallions Reach, Creekmouth,
Barking Reach, Dagenham Dock, and on to Grays. You could even slip in a
crafty tunnel and terminate the line at Northfleet International. Much
better than poxy Abbey Wood. I'll draw that on my map too. Note the
cunning position of the crossing at Tilbury - this allows easy addition of
a branch towards Hoo Junction, and so a route for Kent freight avoiding
south London.

tom

--
102 FX 6 (goblins)