Board Papers: March 2008

TfL held an "open session" board meeting today. While I couldn't stay long enough to hear anything interesting, I did manage to snag an early copy of the board papers.

[ Update: The PDF is now online ]

Notes:

Tube

• Installation of Automatic Train Operation equipment to the Jubilee Line fleet is expected to be complete in October. The associated new signalling system (and possibly ATO) is down as coming into use in March 2009, starting from the east end.
• Severe delays on the Jubilee Line on February 5 and 6 were caused by a loose earth strap on one particular train causing shorts. It was installed as part of the ATO modifications.
• The last refurbished District Line train is due back in July 2008.
• The Shepherd's Bush Central Line project is now directly managed by TfL directly rather than Metronet, which may explain the sudden change of plan last December.
• A "Euston Interchange" project is mentioned, probably meaning linking up Euston Square. Initial design and "optioneering" (which shockingly is a real word) will happen in July.
• Acton Town and Hendon Central will shortly become step-free.
• Planning to provide step-free access is underway for: Green Park, Waterloo (Northern and Bakerloo), Baker Street, North Acton, Tower Hill, Paddington, Southfields, Finsbury Park and Vauxhall.
• The new signalling system on the Victoria Line will come be used in service from January 2009 (and as I understand it, has to occur at exactly the same time as the first new train).
• Kensington Olympia will be gated in October.
• The "London Underground extensions" section in the budget is conspicuously blank.

DLR

• A pilot test of a DLR ticket machine with (gasp!) Oyster starts in June.
• The board voted last month to apply for powers for the Dagenham Dock DLR extensions.

London Overground

• Crime on London Overground is down 40% and revenues are up 17% over the same period last year.
• LOROL's new integrated control room is yet to open, but should improve information provision.
• Five of London Overground's electric train fleet have "received the fleet refreshment package" and other improvement schemes are in the works.
• "Manufacture" of the first new train for London Overground began on 11 February 2008, 35 days late ("production" began last September). Testing of it is pencilled in for 23 June 2008.
• The apparent upping of the London Overground train order to 54 Electrostars (216 carriages) is mentioned again.

• "Discussions continued" regarding Thameslink and East London Line phase 2.
• One part of the East London Line construction schedule has been extended by 13 days to allow Crossrail-protection works to be done at Whitechapel so that the line can stay open during Crossrail construction.
• The ELL Operational Building Complex will be "available for use by employee" from December.

• Unlike the last two months, the possible takeover of Southern isn't mentioned anywhere.

Buses, Trams, Oyster

• A new lower level extension opened at Hammersmith bus station on February 16
• Oyster PAYG will be rolled out on a "TOC by TOC" basis if possible this year, "in advance of a wider rollout in 2009". That appears to be a backing off of the January 2009 date for all train operating companies.
• Visitor Oyster Cards are selling well on National Express coaches, particularly airport services.
• All buses will have iBus (i.e. talk) by February 2009.
• Bus priority schemes for "flagship routes" 53, 207 and 253 are planned, and bus 38 on Shaftesbury Avenue.
• Preferred routes for the Cross River Tram and Crystal Palace extension won't be chosen until next January.

Mayoral transport manifestos

Ken Livingstone launched his transport manifesto today, and you can download the full PDF here or read the summary. Boris Johnson has as an equivalent full PDF and summary. I've not read them yet, so I'll leave the interpretation to you.

On a related note, starting next Tuesday electoral rules bar the Mayor from making any even slightly politically advantageous announcements, and they already mean he has to watch his step, so expect quiet on this front (and potentially this blog) for the next two months.

ELL bridge move diary dates

We now have provisional dates confirmed for when each of the three major bridges being built for the East London Line extension are to be moved into place:

• Local signs state the Shoreditch High Street bridge (pictured) will be moved on the weekend of 29-30 March, with the road closed throughout.
• The GE19 bridge will be moved starting Sunday May 4th. Liverpool Street station will be closed from 1.30am until 3.30am on Tuesday morning. The date was mentioned in these lecture notes and is confirmed by page 87 of Network Rail's Anglia possessions register, assuming "Structures work 0m 48ch" refers to it.
• The New Cross Gate bridge will go in on on the weekend of May 10-11, a date given explicitly on page 177 of the Network Rail Southern Region possessions register.

According to the lecture notes, the Shoreditch bridge will be lifted and the other two will be slid. Thanks to reader abigailb for emailing the Shoreditch High Street info and the photo above.

Tube map watch: March 2008

A new copy of the pocket tube map is available at some tube stations (click to enlarge):

Changes from the February pocket map are:

• Shepherd's Bush Overground is shown as opening late 2008, rather than just 2008.
• Heathrow Terminal 5 is shown as solid rather than an outline, with red text stating "Opens 27 March 2008", rather than "Opens Spring 2008".
• The Mayor of London, Transport for London and London Underground logos have been added at the bottom.
• The blue boxes show details of the Victoria Line closures rather than just "See key for details"
• Tower Gateway is shown as "Closed June 2008 to spring 2009" rather than "summer 2008".
• The East London Line extension outlines have been removed.
• Bus ELP has become bus 381.
• The National Rail symbol and "Thameslink 200m" text have disappeared from West Hampstead.
• Borough has gained an "Exit only during peak hours" warning.
Liverpool Street has lost its aeroplane symbol.
• Pinner has lost its apparently unnecessary dagger symbol.
• The Piccadilly Line notes now state "Trains via Terminal 4 may stop there for up to 8 minutes".
• The Rorschach test style art on the front has become an RAF roundel, and the advert on the back is for Ikea rather than Oyster.

I got mine at King's Cross St. Pancras tube ticket hall - other stations I've been through recently still had the old one. The current version online is dated January and corresponds to neither.

"Number 10" supports TfL Southern takeover

The Guardian today provides some more speculation regarding the possible integration of bits of Southern into London Overground.

(try to ignore the gaffs re: London Overground being entirely within London, and the author's somewhat abstract description of Southern's routes)

Heathrow ULTra PRT

Heathrow Terminal 5 will add two extra modes of transport to London's repertoire, both variations on rubber-tyred people movers. The first is fairly conventional and is a lot like the one shown here (though T5 has double-ended cars), running in an underground tunnel to shuttle passengers from the main building to the satellite building where the majority of the terminal's gates are.

The other, ULTra PRT, is much more unusual. It uses four-seater battery-powered pods that operate like automated taxis, allowing passengers to choose their destination before they board, and it will take them straight there. The initial system only has three stations, one in Terminal 5 and the other two in a long stay car park on the northern perimeter, but it's hoped the system will one day cover the whole airport.

It's developed by a Welsh company and is amongst the first of its kind in the world - the only comparable systems are one on a university campus in West Virginia built in 1971 and a tiny one in Las Colinas, Texas.

One of the pods is currently parked on display on the guideway near the terminal building:

As the last picture shows, the guideway is basically complete at the terminal end, but at the northern it's still very much under construction:

You can see the route in this shoddy aerial photo and in the planning application, which I've transcribed it onto Google Maps. The planning permission also includes the layout of the track within the car park, the location of the station at Terminal 5, which is part of the multi-storey car park adjacent to the terminal, and includes a large area for parking out-of-service pods. There's also this long explanation of the system. You can see many more construction photos here.

Although Terminal 5 opens later this month, the ULTra PRT system will not be ready for another year.

How Farringdon Crossrail will work

New London Architecture have an exhibition on at the moment about Underground London, and included in the brochure is this diagram of Farringdon Crossrail station (the labels are my doing).

It shows how the station will connect into both Farringdon and Barbican tube stations, and how at the Farringdon end it incorporates the southern platform extensions and ticket hall that are being added as part of Thameslink Programme (shown in light green).

DLR Delta Junction upgrade

Delta Junction is the triangular junction at the north end of the Isle of Dogs, between Westferry, West India Quay and Poplar. Two corners of it are grade-separated already, and work is underway to grade separate the third by building a new dive-under as part of the current capacity upgrades. Here's a plan of the new dive-under and a side elevation, and I've also made my own diagram on Google Maps, which shows it in context.

The problem at the moment is trains from Canary Wharf to Poplar have to cross in front of trains from Bank to Canary Wharf (the routes shown in turquoise on my map), which limits capacity. The plan is to construct a new ramp that will take trains coming from Bank under the Canary Wharf to Poplar track, before coming back up to rejoin the route to Canary Wharf (dark blue). The route bypasses West India Quay station, meaning Bank to Canary Wharf trains won't call there. The station's easternmost platform will also need to be demolished (red).

London Overground for south London

This month's Londoner has a short article on Transport for London's ambitions to add services in south London to the London Overground network:

Following the successful takeover of the three Silverlink overground rail services in north London – that has delivered safer trains and increased revenue – Transport for London have asked the government for responsibility for national rail services in south London, too.

At last month's board meeting TfL discussed "taking a greater role" in running Southern services in London when the franchise is renewed next year, but not necessarily taking them over. Plans for a takeover were reported by the Times last year, in an article featuring a suspiciously similar quote from Ken as the Londoner have used.

Crossrail refused full track access rights

The Crossrail project has been busy applying for thirty year access rights (what they call TAO) to make sure its services can run on existing lines. The Office of Rail Regulation has published its draft decision:

we should approve a TAO; [however] the parties’ proposed TAO should be modified to contain rights to two fewer paths per hour in each direction at weekends and in periods other than the peak, shoulder peak and service start and end periods on weekdays;

That upshot is that during the daytime and at weekends they only have rights to run six trains per hour west of Paddington - probably four to Heathrow and two to Maidenhead. On the Shenfield branch, they've only been awarded rights for six trains an hour rather than the eight requested. Peak services are unaffected.

The decision only determines what trains Crossrail has guaranteed long term rights to run. The regulator thinks it's unwise to award them the full set now, in case demand for freight or other passenger services becomes more pressing. If it doesn't, it's entirely possible they'll still be able to run all the trains they asked to, and they have at least 10 years to argue their case.

If you haven't seen the application documents before, they contain all sorts of juicy details like the proposed track layout (west, central and east) and the service frequencies and stopping patterns. West of Paddington it's expected all trains will skip at least one of Acton, Southall, Hanwell and West Ealing; and there'll be half-hourly non-Crossrail diesel trains that skip many more stations, mainly to provide a decent service to Maidenhead and Twyford. The latter are unaffected by the rights decision, so Maidenhead will have a total of four trains per hour to London off peak.

[via Transport Briefing]

Surrey Quays could go back to being Surrey Docks

TfL are considering demands to rename Surrey Quays station on the East London Line back to Surrey Docks:

A TfL spokesman said: "TfL London Rail has been asked by local residents to consider reverting the name of Surrey Quays station to the original name of Surrey Docks while the East London Line is being extended for conversion to London Overground.

"In response to this request, we will consult with the local community this summer to get a wider range of opinions and views on the name of the station," he added.

It's hard to tell if this is just empty placating, but the combination of it being a reversion to an old name, the extended closure and the offer of a consultation gives it more chance than the average renaming campaign.

Sent in by diamondgeezer

AirTrack consultation

BAA have opened their consultation on AirTrack, the plan to link Heathrow into the South West Trains network, with services to Reading, Guildford and London Waterloo. I'd always had it down as a "we'll build it one day" type project, but it's starting to look like they might be serious.

The elements of this scheme are:

• fitting out two platforms at the Terminal 5 station which has already been built tunnelling between Terminal 5 and Hithermoor
• constructing a new alignment across Stanwell moor and Staines moor
• forming a junction with the Windsor line
• building a new station at Staines High Street
• linking the Windsor line to the Virginia Water line in Staines Town Centre (the chord)
• remodelling the existing Staines station

Once this new rail infrastructure is in place, two trains per hour will operate in each direction to London Waterloo, Guildford and Reading. It is currently proposed that services will stop at: Clapham Junction, Richmond, Twickenham, Feltham, Woking, Chertsey, Wokingham, Bracknell, Staines Central and the new Staines High Street station.

There are all sorts of options and details in the brochure. The biggest surprise is BAA's "aspiration" to extend Heathrow Express services to Staines. The area is currently only served by stopping services to London, so this could be a big improvement if through journeys are allowed. They also say they're going to make the Airtrack tunnel overhead electrified, which will require dual voltage trains as the SWT network is all third rail.

Apart from the branch to Heathrow, the main bit of infrastructure needed is a new curve in Staines. Currently the line from Waterloo forks just west of Staines station into two branches, to Reading/Guildford and Windsow/Heathrow. The curve is needed for trains to get between those two branches. Here's a panorama of the area where it will be built, taken from the middle of the fork. The branches on the embankments either side.
Although this is right in the middle of Staines, the only thing that'll be overshadowed by the new line is the back of a shopping centre. This area is already cut off by the two existing embankments, so there are no pedestrians passing through. Although there are no buildings in the way, the line will cut through the car park ramp, and there are various options for how to replace it discussed in the consultation.

Waterloo & City Line at Bank to get new entrance

TfL have announced plans to build a new entrance to the Waterloo & City Line platforms at Bank station:

The new street level entrance in Walbrook Square will provide step-free access with lifts, as well as escalators and stairs to the Waterloo & City Line platforms.

Legal & General is redeveloping Bucklersbury House [...] As part of the construction programme a new station box will be constructed in the basement of the building for London Underground.

The new entrance will open in 2013. Walbrook Square, which is a redevelopment of several buildings on the south side of Queen Victoria Street, a little to the west of Bank station.

East London Line progress photos: March 2008

Another month, another walk through the untamed pastures of E2. As an accompaniment to these pictures you should take a look at this set of notes from a recent lecture on construction progess. Last month's photos are here.


Dalston Junction, this time from the north end. This was all still bare earth at the beginning of the year.


Haggerston station. Moulds for the concrete have been put up, ready for pouring. The lecture notes mention that they were forced to demolish the viaduct here, as it was structurally unsound.


Hoxton station. I'm no idea what this is the foundation of, as the station is meant to be entirely under the arches, but they seem to be making good progress whatever. On the right, the arches have been cleaned out.


This is part of the curve from the end of the Broad Street viaduct to the crossing of Shoreditch High Street (see map). Since my last visit they've closed off Holywell Lane, creating one continuous building site for the length of the new viaduct. The pillars have been there a couple of months, so the closure and the scaffolding going up suggest they're about to do the deck.


The new Shoreditch High Street bridge is taking shape in Bishopsgate Goods Yard - it's gained arches but is missing its vertical tension bars. The concrete has been cast for the eastern abutment, and it's now wrapped in black plastic (above the red van). The western abutment (just out of shot to the right) is still bare rebar. Allegedly it'll be moved into place this month.

The bridge is bigger than it looks here - a diagram I have shows the arch as 11m high and 36m across (shorter than the similar 45m Regent's Canal bridge), and it will be positioned around 6m above road level.


At Shoreditch High Street station, they're busy pouring the slab for the viaduct deck.


The replacement GE19 bridge is now fully assembled - the bench in front of the hoarding gives a sense of its epic scale. The bridge will be pushed into place at the beginning of May.


Part of the huge depot construction site at New Cross Gate. This was taken from a moving train - there's a lot more going on than was captured in this picture.


Northbound trains heading for the ELL will cross the mainline on a flyover, descending this ramp within the depot site.

I didn't get a picture of the activity on the west side of the tracks, where a similar ramp is being built and the bridge itself is being assembled. The bridge is similar in design to the GE19 bridge above, though only the deck and a couple of uprights are in place. Also like the GE19 bridge, it will be moved into place in May.


The old ELL platform at New Cross Gate, which has lost its conductor rails and buffer stop. This track will become the through line for southbound ELL trains by connecting it to the main line south of the station.

Next installment (April 2008) »

Shepherd's Bush (Central Line) update

Blimey, that was quick. They've got they've got the frame for the enormous new station up already.


It's only the east half of the frame, as most of the original station is still standing (visible on the left). It looks like they're proceeding with the original plan to build half of the new station while keeping the original one open, which would have meant only closing it to build the rest. They've just replaced the keeping-it-open phase with an escalator-replacement phase.

East Coast Main Line RUS published

Network Rail have published their East Coast Main Line Route Utilisation Strategy. The recommended work affecting London includes:

• Six-car trains will be used on all shoulder-peak First Capital Connect inner-suburban services as soon as trains are available from London Overground (four are needed).
• Off-peak inner-suburban services will be increased from 3tph to 4tph on each branch, including weekday evenings and Saturdays.
• Extension of hours on the Moorgate branch is unlikely.
• The Up Goods line (the easternmost track) from Alexandra Palace to Finsbury Park will be converted into a third southbound passenger usage. The four stations it passes will get extra platforms on the line, and may also get them on the equivalent northbound line, the Down Slow 2 (the westernmost track). This will improve flexibility and capacity.
• Extra trains will run from the Hertford Loop to Moorgate in the morning peak.
• Outer suburban platforms will be extended to 12-car length progressively, in advance of when they're needed by the Thameslink Porgramme.
• Finsbury Park and Harringay are candidates for the National Station Improvement Programme, which seeks to improve station ambience.
• Finsbury Park and Highbury & Islington will be getting lifts to the National Rail platforms (and the tube platforms).
• A speculative section at the end mentions the [somewhat unlikely] possibility of inner-suburban trains going to Thameslink, with outer suburban trains being Intercity Express Programme trains to King's Cross
• Also speculatively, insufficient capacity at Moorgate could in the long term lead to some inner-suburban trains using the Canonbury tunnel to the North London Line.

If any of this sounds familiar, it's because most of it appeared in the draft document, published last June.

As an aside, both this document and the West Hampstead Interchange info mention that, come 2015, the split of Thameslink services between the Midland Main Line and the East Coast Main Line will be 16 vs 8 each hour, rather than the 14 vs 10 that appeared in previous documents. There'll still be two trains per hour into King's Cross (possibly peak-only), rising to six per hour in the longer term.

West Hampstead Interchange: It's back

Following a tip-off from reader THC that First Capital Connect are reviving the West Hampstead Interchange plans, I've spent the last couple of weeks bugging First Capital Connect's press office, and today they came through with some details:

• West Hampstead station will be rebuilt with lifts, a new entrance, ticket gates and cycle parking. I'd think the entrance will be further south.
• The pavement on the west side of West End Lane will be widened and the road crossing to the Jubilee Line will be improved.
• The North London Line station will get a "modified entrance" and lifts.
• There will be two "associated mixed use developments" to pay for it, which they also say will "improve the public realm".

The timescale given is 2011. In the mean time, they plan platform canopy renewals, extra information screens and and canopies over the ticket machines (and one extra) during this year.

This is far less ambitious then the previous plans, which were championed by Chiltern Railways, and potentially included a rebuilt tube station with Chiltern and Metropolitan Line platforms, relocating the NLL and Thameslink stations to the east side of the road, and an off-street interchange bridge between them.

Oxford Street Tram

At a debate last night Ken repeated his ambition to replace the buses on Oxford Street with trams:

If re-elected I intend to start installing a tram running the length of Oxford Street. There are some factors which pose difficulties but we have thought about it and there are ways of overcoming them. It will either be a shuttle tram or will be linked to the Cross River Tram

We would demolish the gyratory system [at Marble Arch], handing part of it back to green land and building two developments on part of it which will fund the project. People getting a taxi would have to use the roads running north and south of Oxford Street. We would phase the buses out slowly and maybe run some along Wigmore Street.

You can find a few more details in this Evening Standard piece, which mentions a £200m cost and a 2012-18 timescale. The article quotes statistics from this New West End Company press release, who sponsored the debate, and are major backers of the proposal. Ken discussed much the same idea in 2006.

Replacement bus ELP gone after 63 days

I was passing through Canada Water today and saw this:

Sad news for fans of prog rock, white rap, and barely used shuttle buses for which it's quicker to walk or take the normal bus.

New DLR railcars part 2

I got a telephoto lens in the post this week, so I've been back to Beckton to try it out, and got a much better shot of what the front end of the new DLR cars looks like:

They must now have at least three delivered, as the one I saw last week was number 104, and the very first delivered was allegedly 105.