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]

The new DLR rolling stock

The first car of new DLR "B07 stock"* was delivered nearly two months ago, but unless my Google skills are failing me no pictures have appeared online yet. So I've been to Beckton to get some myself.

[ Update: A much better close up ]



From this distance at least it doesn't look as radical as in the artist's impression. The only obvious external differences are the curvier front end and full height windows in the doors. The livery has gained a black stripe along the windows and light blue bits on the swooshes. They have a mockup of new front end design at the London Transport Museum, which shows it better than I could.

A public exhibition of the new units is planned for "this month", and some of them should be in service during the first half of this year. The new units are to expand rather than replace the existing fleet, necessitated by the opening of the City Airport/Woolwich Arsenal branch and the plans for 3-car running. The latter is being partly paid for with Olympic funds.

[If you're determined to see this for yourself, it's currently parked towards the southwest corner of Beckton depot. Turn left (east) out of Gallions Reach DLR and follow Armada Way around the corner, and it should be right in front of you]

* Or B09 or C09, depending on who you believe.

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]

Stratford International DLR photos

User Class 50 on Flickr has photos of progress on the DLR station at Stratford International. One shows the station box close up (ignore the mentions of Crossrail in the caption). For context, check out this wider shot and the project map.

The station is deep inside the Olympic exclusion zone, so you're not going to see photos like this very often.

TfL October board meeting notes

Transport for London held a board meeting on Wednesday, and today they published the stack of documents (5 MB PDF) produced for it. A skim through the 286 pages reveals:

Oyster

• On October 7, TfL began replacing the now-redundant push-button Few Fare Machines with Advanced Fare Machines, which do Oyster, but don't do change. 100 are planned by January, and the full 350 by April.
• TfL's rollout of Oyster to Overground faced problems at Clapham Junction, because South West Trains are meant to be selling ITSO rather than Oyster cards. TfL ticket machines will be installed at each entrance.
• Barclaycard expect to issue 75,000 OnePulse Oyster cards by the end of the year.
• Cash fares are down to 3.5% of tube journeys and 2.3% of bus journeys.
• All the train companies have finally signed an agreement for Oyster PAYG use, which includes details of how fares money will be distributed. The Financial Services Authority have confirmed the scheme doesn't fall under e-money regulations.
• It's stated "C2C, ‘one’ and First Capital Connect" will be expanding PAYG from this January, but I think they mean Chiltern rather than FCC (see this blog's sidebar).

London Overground

• The upgrade plans for the North London Line are due to be agreed with Network Rail this month, for delivery in 2010-11. This presumably includes resignalling, 3 and 4 tracking in places and platform extensions for 4 car trains. The associated improvement in service is called "SLC2k" and is due in January 2011.
• The superstructure design for the "bridge at Liverpool Street" has been approved. I'm not sure if refers to the one over the Liverpool Street tracks by Brick Lane, or the one nearer Liverpool Street station over Shoreditch High Street.
• The 3 extra Overground trains ordered in July are said to be dual voltage and intended for the North London Line, rather than for the East London Line as stated at the time. I'm not sure which is correct.
• Stations on the Gospel Oak to Barking line will get shelters by March 2008, and initial repairs at all Overground stations will be completed by May. The full upgrade programme will run until November 2011, however.

Tube, DLR, Rail and Trams

• Approval has been given to apply for the Victoria and Archway station upgrade Transport & Works orders.
• Automatic Train Operation on the Jubilee Line is due by the end of 2009, and on the Northern by the end of 2011.
• The first new Victoria Line train is due in service by January 2009.
• Southfields, Baker Street (SSL only) and Green Park will be made step-free in time for the Olympics.
• The DLR City Airport extension is carrying 48% of the airport's passengers.
• The first new design DLR car is scheduled to be delivered on 14 December this year, a bit behind schedule. It's already running on a test track in Germany.
• Train and platform lengthening are planned for many London National Rail lines (details are in the minutes).
• TfL has now officially disbanded the West London Tram team, and appear not to be leaving open the possibility of restarting the scheme.
• Funding for the Crystal Palace Tramlink extension appears hazy.

North London Line getting 4-car trains (maybe)

I noticed this snippet in the 2007 Network Rail Business Plan:

On the North London Line platforms are to be extended to allow 4 car operation.

It's been suggested before in the Cross London Route Utilisation Strategy and various other places, but I'm fairly sure this is the first time it's been publicly discussed as anything more than a good idea. The timetable at the back mentions a date of 2010 for completion.

Oddly, the new trains ordered for the line will only be 3 car, and are due to be delivered by July 2009, which doesn't seem worth it if they're going to need extending straight away. Something else that doesn't add up is this from the TfL business plan:

256 new build vehicles in three-car and four-car formations. North London Railway (NLR) vehicles to be dual voltage, East London Railway (ELR) vehicles to be DC, with provision for future conversion to dual voltage use.

All other public statements have said 152 cars total with the possibility of 200 more. Evidently they've ordered 104 more without telling anyone. Even more weirdly they still seem to be promising 6 car trains to the Olympics people (see page 80).

Stratford Station upgrade

Last week, TfL announced major plans to rebuild Stratford station, mainly because the current station faces the wrong way for the Olympic site, Stratford City and Stratford International. Works include:

• A new entrance and ticket hall will be built facing north, allowing access to the various developments.
• The disused eastern subway will be reopened. Some of the existing platforms will be extended east to meet it.
• An apparently massive footbridge will be constructed on the east edge of the station, stretching from the northern ticket hall to the south side of the A11 road, connecting the station to Stratford Shopping Centre.
• The mezzanine level of the existing building will be extended east to connect to the bridge, with a new ticket barrier line.
  
• Fourteen new lifts will be installed, allowing step-free access throughout.
• Two new platforms will be built on the north edge of the station for North London Line services.
• The existing North London Line platforms (1 and 2) will be converted for use by the new DLR service between Canning Town and Stratford International.
• A second platform will be built on the south side of the westbound Central Line track, which should ease overcrowding on the existing platform, especially during the Olympics.

The new North London Line platforms are the first phase of the DLR to Stratford International scheme, and will need to open before construction of the northern part of the line can begin.