Stephen Furley wrote:

I believe that the original plan for the re-opening of the Snow Hill
(London) tunnel was for Southern Region trains to be extended to a new
interchange Station at West Hampstead; the idea of through running from the
Southern to Bedford came later, but I'm not sure when. The tunnel
re-opening idea had been around for a long time without much happening, but
once the final scheme was approved things happened quickly, and within a few
years trains were running. Why this couldn't have been decades before, I
don't know.


Because train travel was still declining, perhaps?

It took Ken Livingstone's and his Transport Chair, Dave Wetzel's ideas
for cheaper fares to kick start the growth of train travel to/from/
within London. Their eventual aim was to make London Undergound and Bus
travel free. The strong opposition of the Thatcher government rightly
put pay to that, but the fare reductions and the introduction of the
Travelcard and Capitalcard were enough to usher in a period of strong
growth in bus and rail use that continued for almost a quarter of a
century. A fine achievement.


It involved building a new fleet of trains, but otherwise the
work involved was relatively minor, certainly when compared to building a
new cross-London tube line, and the disposal of the Holborn Viaduct site
must have been worthwhile. It's a pity that an all-lines, including
Chiltern, interchange at West Hampstead never happened.


Closure of some/all of the Chiltern, and/or conversion into a bus
expressway, was still on the cards then. Also, the country was almost
bankrupt having been economically devastated by a deep recession, so the
money simply wasn't available.

When Network SouthEast was formed, there was a budget for paint to
relivery the trains and stations, and not much else. Against that
background, the re-opening of the Snow Hill line, the construction of
City Thameslink station and the tunnel up to Blackfriars, and the
building of the Class 319s, represented another fine achievement.

Well done Ken! I really hated his "loony left" politics but what he
achieved in transport simply amazed me. I still don't like his
politics, but I admire him for what he has achieved in transport.