Wednesday 21 May 2008

London Overground disruption this autumn

The North London Line and the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be shutdown for extended periods this autumn for the enlargement of Hampstead Tunnel and the GOBLIN upgrade.

I've already posted one set of possible alternative arrangements, but the latest Network Rail timetable has a different set which I've attempted to decode below.

  • The North London Line will be closed between Willseden Junction and Gospel Oak from September 1st to November 16th. Replacement trains are as follows:
    • The Watford DC Line will be diverted to Stratford via Primrose Hill (i.e. Watford-South Hampstead-Camden Road-Stratford), with virtually no trains to Euston. This service runs every 20 minutes.
    • Roughly every 15 minutes there'll be a Richmond-Willesden Junction shuttle. The connections at Willesden with the Watford-Stratford service don't look great.
    • Twice an hour there'll be a Gospel Oak-Camden Road-Stratford service, at alternating 20 and 40 minute intervals.
    • On Sundays, half-hourly Watford-Euston, Richmond-Willesden, Willesden-Stratford and Gospel Oak-Highbury services will run.
    • Passengers for the closed stations between Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak are expected to use "adjacent" stations on the Willesden-Queen's Park-Camden Road route, or local buses.
  • The Gospel Oak to Barking Line will be closed September 1st-28th with replacement buses running.
  • The West London Line appears unaffected.
A new London Overground timetable came in last weekend (not that TfL have bothered updating their site), and the printed book has a small note on every page warning of the disruption, promising further information in August.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Interesting stuff. I noticed too that London Midland's new timetable of its Euston services also ends in August instead of December, so perhaps they're required to stop their trains at Queen's Park during this period to make up for the loss of DC Overground services into Euston.

Anonymous said...

They hardly ever make trains stop at Queens Park on the weekends when things are up the spout these days. I remember when it had a regular service - and they even rebuilt the footbridge and put screens in recently!

Usually Wembley Central gets these extra stops, even though it's less busy/important and lacks as many Bakerloo connections to central London.

I've always thought that some peak hour trains stopping at QP would make sense, the quick change onto the Bakerloo into town would be easier and quicker than the tube at Euston for many locations: Paddington, Baker St, Piccadilly Circus, maybe Charing Cross/Embankment/Waterloo and possibly Canary Wharf through cross-platform changes too.

Anonymous said...

I live close to Acton Central. One of our regular routes into the centre is bus to Shepherds Bush and Central Line. Well it was.

Another is Acton Central to Hampstead and Jubilee line. Only not this autumn I guess.

Piccadilly/Jubilee line is another route. Only it seems to be closed every other weekend.

Having lived here for 15 years I don't understand why the North London Line is closed so much at weekends. One in three weekends has some disruption. Why? Haven't they finished repairing it after 15 years?

Acton is a great place for connections but Tfl doesn't seem to realise the combined effects of all these closure at the same time.

Anonymous said...

Given how short the closure is, it is a pity they're not taking the opportunity to allow for double-decker passenger trains in the Hampstead Tunnel. That might be useful for alternate routing for HS1 and HS2.

Alan said...

Will they really get the work done in 11 weeks, or will it overrun?

I like the way that TfL blithely expect people to find their own alternative routes. Not that easy.

It is a pity they can't run from Richmond to W Hampstead during the tunnel closure. No crossover, I suppose?

Anonymous said...

alex4d: as i understand, everyone's take on the the double decker train situation is its extremly ahrd (ie nigh on impossible) to make it work. here are some reasons;

1) our carriages are too short, due to the tight curves of much of the commuter network (ie 60ft/20m rather than 70ft/23m)

2) due to the use of multiple units, and the tight loading gauge below the platform, there is little room to put the running enignes below the carriage (for EMU or EMU) while at the same time having the bottom deck of carriage lower down.

3) the gauge clearance work is often for W10 (a 9.6ft container on a flat body) or W12 (a 9.6ft container with refrigeration unit). even at W12, its no where near as high as the American bi level cars (which are often used on line for double stacked containers)

Anonymous said...

i forgot one

4) dwell time, you'ld have to make a double decker commuter train (rather than long distance one) have very large metro doors to allow all the people to get off in the same time as single decker stock - because the railways are so crowded with train paths we can't allow them to stop any longer

Schuhmi2 said...

TFL have finally put up the new timetables, saying "Significant engineering works will take place on your Overground
network every day between 1 September and 16 November 2008."
the times look like they have changed already, but no other information about sept 1 onwards

Anonymous said...

When the Thameslink Blockade was on the number of bikes parked at St Pancras went up by over 1000% as people discovered that St Pancras Plus bike was miles betetr than the official options provided.

Likewise when the Drain closed the number of bikes parked at Waterloo leapt up dramatically - I have photographic record of both.

If TfL (Overground) made a decent commitment to proper cycle-rail integration they would find a location for secure overnight bike parking by Camden Road Station and provide either temporary additional parking at Euston and Kings Cross (closer and better tube access)

This would be supplemented by a city bike hire system - there are a number which can be set up in minutes including the Call-a-Bike system which DB (operator of the Overground) has been running in Germany since 2001, and OYBike who have a Central London depot close by in Camden. Grab a bike at Camden and ride to Euston or another hire point, or if you want to pay for the day take it to your office.

Sadly Overground's performance on bike parking seems to be going backwards with the long standing cycle parking at Gunnersbury being closed and cyclists sent packing - and no alternative offered (anyone affected by this post to cycling@ctc.org.uk and ask for message to be passed on)

So lest see if the Thameslink and Drain bike use boosts can be delivered this time with a bit of active support from TfL

A V Lowe / N Traynor

Anonymous said...

I was under the impression that the route from Queens Park to Stratford was not all 750v DC.

Are they using Dual Voltage units or am I just out of date??