A few more West Hampstead Interchange details
In recent months plans have emerged to improve the interchange at West Hampstead in conjunction with the upgrading of the Thameslink station that will be done for the Thameslink Programme.
The various parties actually held a meeting last October but minutes have only just been made available, with lots of new details. The proposals are:
Thameslink Station – a new entrance on Iverson Road and new footbridge to west where platforms are wider to allow lifts. Existing entrance would remain open for people to/from the north. This will reduce pressure on West End Lane (WEL) pinch point.The new crossing provides access to the tube station, which will remain on the other side of West End Lane. I've made a quick mockup of the changes in Google Maps. One victim of the scheme - and likely source of contention - is the trees between Iverson Road and the Thameslink station, because at least some of which will need to be removed to make way for the new entrance.
NLL station – saw off front with a modest development to south at the same scale as current buildings.
West End Lane (WEL) – Make carriageway a uniform 7 metres all the way through and improve the public realm (footways on the west side) and crossings. Fully signalled junction with pedestrian crossing at WEL/Blackburn Road and widened footway between there and to beyond the NLL station would be provided.
8 comments:
No underpasses? No Met/Chiltern line?
Rubbish!
That's a very useful map - I'd not really appreciated the awkwardness of the site before viewing it.
I reckon BJ could find a new use for all the bendibuses he so despises, by arranging them all in a line between the three stations and asking customers to walk through them. Voila! Instant underpass connection at minimal cost!
Well, it's no more irrational than getting rid of the bendibuses in the first place...
Metropolitan and Chiltern line platforms are the most important additions needed for the interchange. The proposed plans are better than nothing, and would not prevent further improvements in the future, but fall short of what I had hoped for.
To be honest, I was never sure where all the new Met/Chiltern platforms would go - it would be so narrow. But I suppose the Jubilee platform is very wide.
Apparently to the north, originally, but what about the Jubilee siding? Southbound Met and Chiltern ones could be narrow, as they'd be mainly for people changing onto Jubilee rather than waiting around, I suppose.
But with better connections to elsewhere, WH would be much better placed to take longer-distance passengers from Marylebone.
Unless they had some platforms either side of the bridge and a snazzy design.
I fear that there is no-one with the vision, responsibility or finance to take a comprehensive look at how West Hampstead could be developed as a major rail interchange for north west London. With 6 lines going through it (7 with the Midland main line) it could be as important an interchange station as Clapham Junction.
To make it even better, it would also be a good site for a new coach station for all the long distance services to the north of england which currently have to slog through the West End from Victoria Coach Station, which currently has very poor tube connection, although the District line runs right underneath - a prime candidate for a new station!
The roads around WH are narrow and windy as it is, to be honest. But I agree with the interchange. Could become for Luton what Tottenham Hale is for Stansted. Not to mention all the Bucks - City/Canary Wharf traffic there must be.
Same with Willesden Junction - needs platforms on the Southern lines and the semi-fast London Midland ones too. Plus a few high level bay platforms, which could be done by building/extending the high level station across the mianline tracks.
This is awful. How can they possibly go ahead with this useless, half-baked scheme which will push more passengers onto crowded pavements and through a very dangerous road junction where a pedestrian recently got dragged under a lorry? The impact of this will be for TfL to say they have already "sorted out" West Hampstead - therefore no proper investment for a real transport interchange for decades to come. No, no, no, no and NO again!
Why were the minutes not circulated until July 2008? Do they want to stop people realising how cheap and useless these proposals are?
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