According to the story "New East London Line 'done by 2010'"

hyperlinked from http://www.thisislocallondon.co.uk/news/matters today, 16
November :



The [first stage of the] £900 million extension of the East London from
Hackney to Croydon will be finished within six years, the Mayor announced
today.

London Mayor Ken Livingstone said the north-south leg of the line, including
four new stations, would be ready two years ahead of the 2012 Olympics.

An east-west leg, between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction, will be built
in a second phase. (See map below).

An estimated 50 million passengers will use the completed line. Without the
extension, the current line would have carried 11.6 million people by 2011.

SNIP

On Friday the government transferred responsibility for the project from the
Strategic Rail Authority to Transport for London. Work is due to start next
year.

Phase one will lengthen the current line north to Dalston and south to West
Croydon and Crystal Palace. Four new stations will be built in the north:
Dalston Junction, Haggerston, Hoxton and Shoreditch High Street. (See box
for details.)

Wapping and Rotherhithe stations will remain open. Their future have been
under review due to safety concerns over many more passengers on the line.
Extra emergency exits will now be built.

Phase two will connect the line westwards to Clapham Junction, with one new
station at Surrey Canal Road. A further extension northwards will link
Dalston Junction to the North London Line stations at Canonbury and Highbury
and Islington.

After phase one, 12 trains an hour will run from Dalston Junction to Surrey
Quays, serving three routes to New Cross, Crystal Palace and West Croydon.
When phase two is done, it will increase to 16 trains an hour in each
direction through the central station.

London's Transport Commissioner Bob Kiley said: "There will inevitably be
some disruption as the work progresses, but the end result will deliver much
needed transport improvements for both east and south London."


4:33pm today

- - -end extract - -

Regards,

- Alan (in Brussels)