Go here to see what I think is the first actual photo of one of the new S Stock trains. By 2015 these will be running all services on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines, with the first in passenger service some time in 2010.
[via District Dave]
In the latest issue of Modern Railways there's an interview with David Millard, manager of the Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines, discussing the ins and outs of the plans to turn the Circle Line into a Hammersmith-Edgware Road spiral (see diagram). That's right, a senior member of staff has confirmed it on record in a public forum. No more rumours, no more leaked internal documents. It's happening.
One consequence of the plan is an increase in the number of trains using Praed Street Junction and Edgware Road. The article mentions a proposed solution - run half of the District Line's services to Edgware Road only as far as High Street Kensington. However this will only be possible off-peak when demand is lower.
The timescale - like everything else in London - is to have it ready by 2012.
Update: I've just had another read of the article, and they say they could introduce it as early as December 2009.
The subsurface lines (District, Circle, Metropolitan, Hammersmith & City) are all due to have their trains replaced by S Stock from 2009-2015, which will feature air-conditioning and walk-through connections between carriages. The first two trains are already under construction.
The plan was to replace the elderly trains on the Metropolitan Line first like-for-like with 8 car trains, followed by 7 car trains on all the other lines. Since the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines currently use 6 car trains, some platforms would need extending and many sidings could no longer be used. The TfL board papers have consistently mentioned "affordability issues" with resolving this issue.
That brings us to an article in the latest issue of Modern Railways which claims the plan has been scrapped. Instead the Hammersmith & City and Circle Lines will be first to get the new stock because - according to MR - the H&C is due to become a "major Olympic artery". They'll be delivered as 6 car trains with the 7 car upgrade looked at again after the Olympics. The Metropolitan Line will be next to get new trains (possibly only 7 cars to begin with due to the needed "infrastructure improvements") and finally the District Line will get its 7 car trains.
No source is given, though it's implied the changes are part of the re-negotiated contract with Bombardier (who are building the S Stock) that follows the collapse of Metronet. On the other hand, Bombardier themselves announced agreement had been reached without these changes back on April 1st, a claim that's even repeated on page 46 of the same magazine.
And if it means anything, District Dave's prjb (one of the people at LU designing the trains with Bombardier) says the prototype train is 8 cars long, No word yet from him about the article.
I've made a diagram of the new Circle Line, so it's clearer what the proposal is and what issues it causes (click to enlarge).
I've included the other lines and their frequencies. As I understand it, each service on the network runs at roughly 7 trains per hour (tph), so that trains align when they meet at junctions. Hence one line on my map represents one 7 tph service, and the overall line thickness where they run alongside each other represents the total frequency on that section of track. I'm assuming that apart from the changes to the Circle, there'll be no significant changes to other lines.
You can see how there'll be double the number of trains on the branch to Hammersmith, but it also illustrates the big downside, which is the separation of the north and west sides of the [present] Circle Line. All trains from High Street Kensington terminate at Edgware Road, and all trains on the north side go to Hammersmith or up the Metropolitan Line, with none going towards High Street Kensington.
The major operation concern: the number of trains running over the flat junction at Praed Street, which will increase by a third because Circle Line services go over it twice on each journey.
Since I made my maps of Green Park and King's Cross St. Pancras I knew it was only a matter of time before I had a crack at Bank-Monument. And here's what I've come up with:
