|
|
| Re: 93 NEW PHOTOS of the London Underground and National Rail (Was: Cockfosters) (366398) | |||
 |
|||
| Home > SubChat | |||
|
[ Read Responses | Post a New Response | Return to the Index ] |
|
||
|
Re: 93 NEW PHOTOS of the London Underground and National Rail (Was: Cockfosters) |
|
|
Posted by Rail Blue on Tue Jan 9 07:38:20 2007, in response to Re: 93 NEW PHOTOS of the London Underground and National Rail (Was: Cockfosters), posted by Max Roberts on Tue Jan 9 06:15:46 2007. and how easy would 4-tracking the WLL be in any case?Pretty easy. You'd start the four tracking at Mitre Bridge Junction, with the slow lines (on the west side of the WLL) heading into Willesden Junction High Level, whilst the fast lines connect to the WCML. The next bit would be a massive bridge parallel to the existing structure over the Grand Union Canal and the GWML. There is then plenty of obvious space (former goods yards) alongside the line (even past the M41 splay) as far as at least Earl's Court, and probably the Fulham Road. There would be some demolition needed until the King's Road, then the space resumes until we hit the real expensive bit - a parallel span across the Thames. Then there's tons of space again until we can shed the Slow Lines at Latchmere (IIRC No.3) Junction. The challenge then is to rebuild Clapham Junction in some vaguely sensible way. The obvious solutions are: 1) the expensive way - dynamite the existing WLL diveunder, sharpen the curve, slew over the Slow Lines and the Down Fast, and bring the WLL up between the Fast Lines, then realign platforms 13-17 at Clapham Junction. 2) the cheap way - some flyover between Clapham Junction and Wandsworth Common (probably taking the Slow Lines from the east side of the alignment (where they need to be at Balham) over to the West, and having it all flipped all the way into Victoria). The disadvantages here are that platform 15 is not long enough for 12-car trains, and that platforms 16 and 17 would still be horribly curved. So, diverting major services westwards would cause uproar. It worked with Thameslink, which ultimately goes to real nowhere destinations in Central London (excepting of course London Bridge). Not convinced, it would be too disruptive of established traffic flows. Imagine telling all those Brighton Line commuters that they are going to have to find a way of getting from Olympia to their work places. But the idea would be to capture the InterCity market whilst discouraging commuter use. I'd envisage the WLL running 4tph to the Brighton Main Line: 1tph Brighton, Hayward's Heath, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, Clapham Junction, Shepherd's Bush, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham Curzon Street, Birmingham New Street, Oldbury, Wolverhampton, Telford Central, Wellington, Shrewsbury, Welshpool, Newtown, Caersws, Machynlleth, Dovey Junction, Borth, Aberystwyth. 1tph Brighton, Hayward's Heath, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, Clapham Junction, Shepherd's Bush, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Coventry, Birmingham International, Birmingham Curzon Street. 1tph Brighton, Hayward's Heath, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, Clapham Junction, Shepherd's Bush, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stafford, Crewe, Runcorn, Liverpool South Parkway, Liverpool Lime Street. 1tph Brighton, Hayward's Heath, Gatwick Airport, East Croydon, Clapham Junction, Shepherd's Bush, Milton Keynes Central, Rugby, Nuneaton, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport, Manchester Piccadilly. This would enable stops at Milton Keynes Central on Virgin Trains into Euston to be eliminated without making it difficult/impossible to travel north to/from Milton Keynes. Commuters can catch semi-fast Silverlink commuter trains. And with it being 4tph, WLL service can take the paths currently used by the Gatwick Express, maintaining the normal commuter service into Victoria, whilst giving a real choice of termini to passengers from Gatwick Airport (I suspect Shepherd's Bush with its cheap hotels and interchange to the Central Line would be quite a popular alternative to ending up in the middle of nowhere at Victoria). Other than separation of flows, a quadded WLL would have one other big advantage over a tunnel: it would provide an extremely useful freight link (Channel Tunnel - Chatham Lines - WLL - WCML Slow - Tame Valley Line - Castle Bromwich / Landor Street et cetera). |
|
|
|