Posted 1st July 2008 | 6 Comments
Business chief will back west London Tube line
How the proposed north-south underground in west London would link in with Crossrail.
A LONDON Chamber of Commerce has plans for a £1.75 billion north-south underground line in west London to ease the area’s “chronic traffic congestion”.
Linking Brent Cross in the north to Kingston in the south, the line would pass through Wembley, Park Royal, Ealing, Brentford and Richmond, and create interchanges with key radial underground and surface railways.
It is envisaged that driverless trains would operate at high frequency, similar to those on the Docklands Light Railway and the recently opened metro in Copenhagen, Denmark.
“For the business sector in west London, the worsening traffic congestion is the number one barrier to further growth and investment and represents a serious problem for future economic sustainability,” said Frank Wingate, who heads West London Business, the sub-region’s chamber of commerce.
“This West London Orbital would improve a congested transport system, create new opportunities for our region’s businesses and employees and help regenerate key areas,” he added.
The present rail infrastructure provides commuter ac-cess to central London, and is due to be improved with Crossrail. However, for orbital trips the only alternatives to car travel are buses and cycling.
The orbital would, importantly, feature minimal surface works and minimum interruption of existing transport services, says West London Business, thereby avoiding the controversy and environmental debate that these incur.
Reader Comments:
Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.
Aiden, Kingston
This is a great idea. Usually it would take an hour to get to Brent from Kingston by train & underground. This would halve the time.
I think it's a great idea that it should be completely underground, it'll make the service much more convenient & faster than a regular train service.
phil, Cheshire, UK
Great - more of the nations railway investment poured into the "problem" areas of London. Meantime commuter travel in Northern conurbations rely in many places on the 30yr old Pacer railbus and commuters in Tyne & Wear continue to wait for finance for modernisation and expansion of the Metro system. Rolling stock on Merseyrail is ancient NSE reject and the Manchester Metrolink expansion is already several years late due to lack of funds. Isnt the London Orbital project enough for you people - you want more of ther national cake still?
Nathan, Portsmouth, UK
Running a service from Wimbledon via Kingston to Brent Cross would save a massive amount of journeys and time when travelling from the south.
Dave Holladay, Glasgow, Scotland
There is a rail route (underused ) for a much of the line proposed, and the ability to use this as a link is constrained by 2 factors. First there are chord lines which have been downgraded or lifted which permit an immense flexibility of operation in West London but with these being below the standard for regular of seamless passenger use we will see (as an example) trains stopping short as far out as Ealing and Reading for a Paddington blockade instead of having drivers regularly using routes to Olympia and Waterloo as alternative London terminii and connecting lines. Heathrow Express could run to Paddington or Wterloo International (a far better station for handling air-rail traffic - and where the Gatwick Express should also be terminating instead of mixed in with commuter services (which demand a barrier line for the high volume and growing use of smart ticketing - which acts against the needs of the sort of traffic using Gatwick Express and interurban /long distance services).
The Brent - 'Kingston' route could open with a minimum of immediate construction if it ran via Kew and Hounslow and terminated at Twickenham. The train paths on the North London Line through Acton, which are blocked by the need to provide paths from Gunnersbury to Richmond can offer the link to the Hounslow Loop
To avoid the fish nor fowl issue of trying to cross a train with a tram in its stopping regime the potential fior interchange with cycling and bus services should require the rail service to recognise that it cannot viable deliver door to door transport without using another mode as an integral part of the individual journeys.
Thus this link should have a second detail addressed - the spot provision of additional platforms and tracks where the fragmented train paths need to be connected.
There are a number of very useful and deliverble links in West London whic would get extra capacity and handy diversions. Cricklewood (Brent) - North Pole - Ealing. A Maidens Lane chord at St Pancras could get trains off the North London Line where the 4 tracks narrow back at Camden Road as well as offering a significant emergency option to deal with any failure of the seriously vulnerable 2 -tracks through Farringdon carrying 24 trains/hour. the ability to divert via the re-connected East London link or change trains to reach destinations close to those shut-off is an important contingency detail.
barry buttigieg, croydon, uk
great idea. much needed. let,s get on with this project very soon.
Vivek, Hounslow
Great Idea, I have longed for an outer london orbital network for years, you must include southall in access, there are chronic traffic problems in that area plus Ealing. There should be a north - south line through Kingston - Brentford/Hounslow - Ealing/Southall ect. there should be mutliple stops in areas such as Southall and Ealing to ease the local traffic and to create additonal stops to prevent use of "pick up and set down" and to allow for a smoother street level pedestrian/bus flow