On Aug 10, 8:22*am, Paul Corfield wrote:

On Aug 6, 12:28*pm, mistral
wrote:

Does anyone know if there any plans to build any new stations and/or
extra platforms to link up some of the existing bits of rail
infrastructure in the London area? Some of the proposals/ideas below are
more ambitious than others, but here's a list of some possible
interchanges. Broadly, they're listed in A to Z page order, starting in
NW London and finishing in the SE.

==============
Fantasy Stations
==============

6. Walthamstow Queens Road: GEL (Chingford line), Goblin, Victoria

Not a station per se but Waltham Forest Council are apparently taking
legal action to force the developers of the housing at the west end of
the car park at Walthamstow Central to provide the footpath that was a
condition of planning consent. *There is also a more expensive option
of creating a new entrance to the GOBLIN station on Selbourne Road
which would make the station much more accessible to the High Street
area. *You don't need a new station here - you just a safe, accessible
and convenient link which we should have had 10 years ago!

Good to hear that about the council's plans. It's so damn obvious
really - but alas, being damn obvious often doesn't mean much when it
comes to actually getting such things done!


18. Tufnell Park: Goblin, Northern

Long demanded by the user group for GOBLIN but there are no firm plans
for an Overground Station. There wouldn't be an integrated station
from what I understand - just station very close by giving convenient
interchange.

I can't see how there could be an integrated station - at least not
without very substantial reconstruction, which wouldn't ever be on the
agenda.

I dunno how many people on the GOBLIN use Upper Holloway to get to
Archway for the Northern line, but at only a five minutes
straightforward walk apart it'd surely make sense for a number of
journeys.


19. Hackney Central: GEL (Lea Valley Line), NLL

Network Rail were supposed to have this in their plans years ago. It
then disappeared from view. However there is increased pressure to
provide the interchange - possibly linked to the Access for All
proposals for Hackney Central. This would be a huge improvement if it
were to be provided.

Hackney Downs station is in serious need of a good bit of work done on
it, I'd say - cramped entrance and generally dingy and grotty
throughout, a good example of how not to do an urban station. I'm
quite sure that there's a fair number of people who're coming back
from town later in the evening who head to Hackney Central via the Vic
line and NLL (interchanging at H&I) instead of using Hackney Downs
station - Hackney Central being staffed (as an LO station), well lit,
well kept and all that. A shame because Hackney Downs has Tube-esque
service frequencies to and from Liverpool St.


25. Old Oak Common (Acton): Central, GW, KC, NLL

Depends entirely on Crossrail and High Speed developments. The local
authority is lobbying hard but given all the doubts about Crossrail
and High Speed development who knows what will happen.

A lot of talk for the foreseeable, that's what'll happen! One plus
point about any ideas w.r.t. an Old Oak Common hub station is that
pretty much all the relevant land is railway land, and that's not
about to change.


29. Shoreditch High Street (ELL/Central/Gt Eastern)

That'll never happen. Way too expensive and stopping services on very
busy lines will create significant passenger disbenefits.

Indeed. It's a sub-10 minute walk to Liverpool Street, should one want
to get on the Central line from the ELL. But anyway those coming from
points north on the NLL would do better to travel via H&I and the
Victoria line, or via Stratford - and those coming from points south
can change at Canada Water for the Jubbly line to get into town
(though they might have to play at being a sardine at peak times).

Talking about sardines, Bethnal Green to Liverpool St is reputed to be
the busiest section of the Tube at peak times, I don't know whether
any official figures back that up but it's certainly pretty crammo -
my mate who lives that way says he doesn't even dream of using the
line during the rush hour.

I was at Brockley station the other day and a train went through "overhead" as it were. I couldn't help thinking how easy it would be to create an interchange station by building platforms on the Lewisham/Peckham route.

More ambitious - and seemingly far too ambitious even to cross the mind of Boris or TfL - but increasingly necessary is extending the Victoria Line from Walthamstow Central to Leytonstone Underground Station. The eastern end of the Central Line is a self-contained loop because trains can be reversed at Leytonstone. When the Central Line is closed because of works or someone jumping under a train at Mile End, the Central Line keeps operating between Epping, Hainault and Leytonstone. As the Victoria Line has been resignalled and can now run a more frequent service, extending the line two miles to Leytonstone would provide real relief for the severely over-crowded Central Line.

Another location where interchange facilities between two currently separate stations should be installed is in North Clapham where Clapham High Street station and Clapham North station are a few hundred yards apart.

Brixton Station is another place where interchange facilities should have been added years ago. The line taking trains from Victoria to Dartford passes directly over the platforms of Brixton Station but has no platforms of its own! Interchange is therefore impossible. Yet Brixton is a major population centre and is already an important passenger transport hub because of the connections with the Victoria Line.