East London Line progress photos: July 2008

Construction of the East London Line extension continues apace. Since I haven't checked in on progress since May, so it's time for another look at how they're getting on.

At Dalston Junction, the station is going to be in the basement of a massive development, and they've now put in the floor above the station. Trains arriving from Highbury & Islington will go through the hole on the right:

Via the magic of the telephoto lens, here's a glimpse of Haggerston station from Richmond Road. The white vertical line is the Regent's Canal bridge even further in the distance:

And here's Haggerston station from ground level:

At Hoxton station they've been digging out the viaduct arches and laying a concrete slab, and in the foreground are the fundations for the stairs and/or lifts alongside the viaduct:

That mysterious building alongside the site is huge, and could possibly be a ticket office. It has a large opening in the side roughly at viaduct level:

Here are a couple of glimpses of the top of the viaduct from a nearby tower block. It looks like they're starting to prepare the ground for tracklaying:


The viaduct ends in Shoreditch, and it looks like they're deliberately not connecting it up so they can keep this access ramp. Note the massive concrete support column where the viaduct will eventually be:

Turning the camera slightly to the right, they've finished this section of the viaduct and are working on the next section that connects it to the Shoreditch High Street bridge:

On the other side of Shoreditch High Street the viaduct linking the bridge to the already-finished Shoreditch High Street station viaduct is also taking shape:

They're also working on the viaduct between the station and Brick Lane, but it's very hard to see or photograph.

At Brick Lane they've put in this little walkway so they can build the viaduct across the top, although there's no sign yet of them doing so yet:


Just to the left is the notorious GE19 bridge. Reader Steven Gee sends in this picture of the missing slab:
Going by the known measurements of the bridge, I estimate the weight of the slab that fell on the bridge at around half a ton.

This is the ramp down from the bridge. It looked pretty much like this at the time the bridge collapsed, so I'm not certain they've been able to work on it:

Conversely, here's the nearby ramp down into the East London Line cutting:

Just west of Valance Road there was a brick arched bridge, which has been demolished and replaced:
This is to provide clearance so that trains coming up the ramp from the cutting can get under it.

Just north of Whitechapel there's not a lot happening:


At the north end of the East London Line platforms at Whitechapel they've been busy digging out Crossrail interchange subways:

Just south of Whitechapel they've busy laying new track:

And south of the river, they've completed replacing the track on the New Cross branch, though they seem to have forgotten the conductor rail:
There's no sign of any connection to the main line here for works trains to get in, which was once rumoured.

As always, it's just about impossible to get a decent photo of anything at the New Cross Gate depot site, but they appear to have finished the concrete shell of the control centre buildings; finished the ramps up to the flyover; put in the second, smaller span of the flyover; and are in the very early stages of laying track.