Regular readers will know that one of my favourite litmus tests of the Boris mayoralty is the East London Line Extension Phase 2. To recap – it’s vital, uncontroversial, the DfT, TfL, the LA Transport Committee, Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and the Greens all want it, it’s relatively cheap and follows on naturally from an existing project which has been built to connect to it. It should be the classic slam dunk. So why hasn’t it secured the necessary backing yet after nearly six months?
The Greens are trying to find out from Boris himself, as part of a cross-party group from the Transport Commitee (Shawcross/Pidgeon/Jones plus the Conservative’s Richard Tracey, a prominent advocate of the scheme). Their PR says:
The extension would relieve overcrowding at London Bridge station, allow people to circumnavigate central London, and increase access to the East End from south London – which is particularly important in light of the pressures that will be put on the capital’s public transport system during the 2012 Games.
The cross-party delegation of Transport Committee Members expressed their support for the project and called on the Mayor to take urgent action on securing funding for ELLX2:
Despite the bland assurances every MQTs that talks are in progress over the funding, time and money are getting tight if we want it complete by the time London Bridge is redeveloped for Thameslink, which is the date the existing South London Line service has to stop. It was urgent back in May, now it’s looking desperate. If this goes the way of the Cross River Tram, Boris Johnson’s first acts as Mayor towards the people of Peckham (and other south London areas where his professed desire to reduce crime should be focused) would be to remove all their proposed transport improvements. Classy.
Tags: 7 Comments
7 responses so far ↓
We don’t want vagabonds, harlots and cut-purses being able to leave their common little areas and travel further afield now, do we?
There is no reason for the South London Line to stop; that is an arbitrary decision made by Network Rail and London TravelWatch, neither of whom bothered to consult or listen to commuters in Lambeth; indeed London TravelWatch has consistently refused to meet anyone from the Lambeth/Clapham to discuss the issue.
The South London Line can be kept as it is the only overland rail link to London Bridge for several stations; other services can be withdrawn from London Bridge to allow the SLL to continue running. ELLX2 does not serve London Bridge, so SLL is necessary. In Clapham we need SLL as the Tube is hugely overcrowded, though according to London TravelWatch overcrowding isn’t a big deal and most commuters can board the first Tube train that enters the station. Three of us challenged this assertion – London TravelWatch refuse to give evidence for their claim.
Nick
The reason the SLL service being withdrawn is due to the fact that it’s the least used service: a 2-car half-hourly service. It takes up badly-needed space at both London Bridge and Victoria which could be used more efficiently by other services.
The SLL doesn’t need to serve London Bridge: the ELLX2 service would still go to Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye (both of which would retain London Bridge services) and Canada Water with its Jubilee line connection to London Bridge.
“There is no reason for the South London Line to stop”
There’s a very good reason, which is lack of capacity at London Bridge for terminating trains due to Thameslink. SLL got selected for the chop, if it survives something else would have to get the chop, doubtless from another area of south London where the locals would get upset about overcrowding on the remaining trains. There’s also the case of the other end of the line where diverting from Victoria to Clapham Junction allows Battersea Park station to be extended to allow longer trains there.
As for who made the decision it would be DfT rather than London Travelwatch or Network Rail, surely? Bit puzzled by that – London Travelwatch may be rather a wet blanket but they don’t have executive decision making powers. NR’s role is in preparing the South London RUS which is covered here:
http://londonconnections.blogspot.com/2008/03/south-london-rus-published.html
LC’s summary is:
“The South London Line service from Victoria to London Bridge is almost certain to be withdrawn, but they propose several replacement services that will use sections of the line (diagram on page 99), so most journeys should still be possible direct, and all will with a same platform change at Denmark Hill. This excludes Battersea Park, which will lose its SLL platforms when its others are extended.”
NR can’t do it unilaterally though, the TOCs involved have contracts with the DfT, who’d have the final say. Mind you, they’re not known as ‘DafT’ for nothing, in the trade.
The latest TfL Board Meeting minutes say a decision will be made by November…
The ELLX2 should have an interchange at Brixton to the Victoria Line. While adding to the cost of the ELLX2 it would reduce overcrowding at Victoria Station which is having a £500m upgrade, by facilitating access to the West End from South East London.
I agree it needs a station at Brixton to interchange with the Victoria Line. Should it not also have a station at Loughborough Junction to interchange with the Herne Hill to Blackfriars line? At present the SLL sails right past this station but has no platforms there.
More generally, it seems to be a weakness of the whole Overground scheme, as a potentially orbital service, that there are not enough interchanges with radial services even in places where it looks as if it should be fairly easy to build them.