Stratford International aerial photo

The Olympic Development Authority have published some amazing aerial photos of the Stratford Olympic site, including this one that shows the Stratford International DLR extension very clearly.

Here's an annotated version (click to enlarge):

You can see exactly where the track will go, taking over the North London Line route on the right and then running alongside the existing tracks on the left. They've been quietly boxing in the route at the Stratford station end, in order to build over it. The North London Line will be diverted to use new platforms parallel to the existing main line platforms, using the track along the right hand edge of the picture to get there.

This image shows a similar view but from nearer Stratford station.

[via Skyscraper City]

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.
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.

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.

London Overground notes

I've been forwarded a set of slides from a recent presentation given by Transport for London about London Overground. A few interesting things:

• The date for the Gospel Oak to Barking Line getting trains every 15 minutes is given as December 2008, rather than 2009 when the new larger fleet (pictured) arrives. Maybe they'll be getting the spare trains back* that they've leant to First Great Western. Or it might be a mistake.
• Work to construct Imperial Wharf station allegedly started on June 1st. Anyone seen anything yet?
• Work to fix Shepherd's Bush station is due to be completed by late summer, but they're looking strategically about when exactly to open it. Definitely by October though.
• During this autumn's closure, replacement bus services will run serving all stations Gospel Oak-Barking and Gospel Oak-Camden Road plus an oddball route running South Hampstead-West Hampstead-Brondesbury-Kilburn High Rd-South Hampstead-Hampstead Heath-Gospel Oak-Upper Holloway-Crouch Hill
• During the closure slab track will be laid in Hampstead Tunnel and road bridges carrying Sussex Way (near Upper Holloway) and Albert and Shrubland Roads (near Walthamstow Queen's Road) over the Goblin will be completely replaced.
• The rebuilding of the Camden-Dalston section of the North London Line begins in the second half of 2009, with "all week" closures happening in early 2010.

There are some similar presentation documents on the LOROL site. One of them is a lot like the one I've got except with a fraction of the detail. The other is stuffed full of dates:

• All London Overground stations are to be fully refurbished between July 2008 and November 2009, with new train displays, signage, help points, CCTV and so on.
• Former Southern stations on the East London Line extension will be refurbished between June 2009 and March 2010.
• Test running on the East London Line is due to start in Late 2009, with the core opening in April 2010 and running south of New Cross Gate from June.

* London Overground got custody of the whole of Silverlink's diesel fleet, but with no Bletchley-Bedford Line to run had more than they needed

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.

London Overground shutdown from September

The Network Rail closures register provides details of the North London Line and Gospel Oak-Barking closures this autumn (pages 190 and 193). As far as I can tell:

• The North London Line will be split in two from September 1st to November 16th for the enlargement of Hampstead Tunnel for container trains. The services will be Richmond-Willesden Junction and Gospel Oak-Stratford.
• For the week of September 22nd-28th, the section from Gospel Oak to Camden Road will also be closed. During this week, trains from Stratford will instead run to Willesden Junction via Queen's Park.
• From September 1st to September 28th, the Gospel Oak to Barking Line will also be closed. Major track maintenance and replacement will occur, probably not unrelated to the upgrade of the line.

Obviously this is all subject to change. Previously mentioned here.

[via Railchat]

The North London Line upgrade

Thanks to an anonymous commenter for pointing out that a whole load of info about the future of the North London Line has turned up on the Office of Rail Regulation website.


For one thing, they've chosen a service pattern, which I've illustrated above (the big numbers are frequency in tph, or trains per hour). The service on the North London Line are:

• 4 tph Stratford - Camden Road - Gospel Oak - Willesden Junction - Richmond (the current North London Line service)
• 2 tph Stratford - Camden Road - Gospel Oak - Willesden Junction - Clapham Junction
• 2 tph Stratford - Camden Road

That's a train every 7.5 minutes east of Camden Road. There are no trains via Primrose Hill to Queen's Park, as was once planned.

The 2 tph West London Line shuttle will continue, giving a train every 15 minutes between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction. The Gospel Oak to Barking line stays self contained, with a 4 tph service, apparently due to the high cost of through platforms at Gospel Oak. The connections at Gospel Oak in the draft timetable don't look good. No upgrade to the Euston-Watford service is included yet.

There'll also be 8 trains per hour beyond Dalston Junction to Highbury & Islington. The diagram in the application form names them as the Crystal Palace and New Cross services, meaning the third service - from West Croydon - will only go as far as Dalston Junction.

There's a detailed diagram of the new track layout between Camden Road and Dalston, which confirms the plans for the East London Line to have a segregated route to Highbury & Islington, with little possibility of ELL trains continuing beyond there (forget about circular services). Highbury & Islington will end up with 3 eastbound platforms, each on a separate island.

Another document gives details of how stations will be refurbished, with improved CCTV, lighting, help points and PA systems. Stairs, flooring, walls, canopies and platform services will brought up to higher standards. LED next train indicators will be installed.

Construction work to rebuild the North London Line track begins this September, with the new timetable due in December 2010.

North London Line upgrade track layout

A few months ago Modern Railways printed a diagram of the new track layout for the rebuilt North London Line, and it's made its way online here. It's a bit small but does the job. The top diagram is the current layout, the middle one shows the new layout, and the bottom is a rejected alternate option.

The four stations shown are Camden Road, Caledonian Road & Barnsbury, Highbury & Islington and Canonbury, with existing platforms shown in grey and new platforms in blue. The East London Line (yellow) will have dedicated tracks all the way to Highbury. Note there's little possibility of a regular service to further west. Camden Road will have a reversing platform in the middle, allowing extra trains to be run between there and Stratford, increasing frequency on the busiest part of the line.

The should all be done by January 2011. According to the latest TfL board papers, the construction contract will be advertised this month, and the budget is £326m, with £82m coming from the Olympic Delivery Authority.

[Thanks to Paul Scott for digging this up]