Another
news update from me as I've found a couple of London Underground related news
stories from a TFL press release and Global Rail News. We also have the usual
bus news from LOTS.
From Global Rail News:
Final S Stock carriage
marks end of £1.5bn order
The
final carriage of the £1.5 billion S Stock train order has been presented by
Bombardier in Derby.
The
intermediary car, which is still being fitted out at Bombardier’s Litchurch
Lane facility, is the last of 1,395 S Stock carriages that have been built for
London Underground over the past few years.
The
final train will undergo testing before entering service sometime in the second
half of next year.
Altogether,
Bombardier is supplying 191 new trains for the Metropolitan, District,
Hammersmith & City and Circle lines, which make up around 40 per cent of
the London Underground system.
London
Underground has praised the reliability of its modern fleet. Managing director
Nick Brown, who was in Derby to mark the milestone, said the S Stock trains
were delivering 110,000 kilometres between service failures.
The
S Stock trains are an important element of a wider modernisation of the
sub-surface rail network.
Hopefully
we'll be able to see the last normal sized Wrightbus
New Routemaster built which is part of the New Routemaster rollout plan
paid for by TFL. Also the D Stock train for the District Line will be withdrawn
soon in favour of the new S Stock trains.
Below are the press releases from
TFL:
BAKERLOO LINE
EXTENSION TO IMPROVE TRANSPORT LINKS IN SOUTH LONDON BY 2030
Transport
for London (TfL) has confirmed it will be taking the next vital steps on the
proposed new Bakerloo line extension and will begin the detailed technical work
in 2016 to build a case for extending the line from Elephant and Castle to
Lewisham via Old Kent Road.
This
would allow TfL to seek permission from Government to start the construction of
the extension by 2020. If the project is given the green light, construction is
expected to start around 2024. By terminating at Lewisham, an extension could
be open by 2030, delivering significant benefits across south east London.
Passengers
travelling to central London from Lewisham, New Cross and the Old Kent Road
would benefit from more frequent services and faster journey times with the
Bakerloo Line extension, delivering capacity for 65,000 new trips in each
direction.
With
the Capital's population growing to 10m by 2030 from 8.6m today, extending the
Bakerloo line is vital in helping support the anticipated growth in south
London by providing improved transport infrastructure and enabling regeneration
in a number of the Mayor of London's key Opportunity Areas including Elephant
and Castle, the Old Kent Road, New Cross Gate and Lewisham.
TfL
carried out an initial public consultation in Autumn 2014 on route options for
extending the line south of Elephant & Castle. More than 15,000 people
responded, with 96 per cent in favour of an extension. Since then, further work
has been carried out to assess a number of possible routes and stations,
including options serving over 200 alternative destinations that were suggested
during the consultation.
Further
work is also underway to look at the wider rail network to ensure that it gets
the vital investment it needs to support growth in London and the South East.
Beyond Lewisham, TfL is working closely with Network Rail and the DfT to
develop improvements to the rail network, such as capacity enhancements to
allow for more frequent trains, which will complement and add to the Bakerloo
line extension.
The
Mayor and TfL will be working closely with Network Rail and Southwark Council
on plans for a new Thameslink station at Camberwell. This new station would
reduce journey times into central London by up to 20 minutes, and by providing
connections to the Underground and Crossrail, will improve access from
Camberwell to locations across London.
Richard
de Cani, TfL's Managing Director for Planning, said: "Following a
comprehensive assessment of route options for extending the Bakerloo line, a
route to Lewisham via Old Kent Road and New Cross Gate provides the greatest
opportunity to support growth with the potential to unlock 25,000 new homes
whilst improving access to jobs in Central London. Together, these two
proposals would unlock growth across a wider area and help improve transport
accessibility for people in the Camberwell and Old Kent Road areas"
"No
final decisions have been made and next year more detailed work will be carried
out before we undertake another public consultation. We will also continue to
work closely with the London Boroughs of Lewisham and Southwark, Network Rail
and other key stakeholders as we develop our plans."
Funding
options for the extension are being considered. There is potential to look at
similar funding mechanisms as that being used for the Northern line extension,
seeking contributions from new residential and commercial developments along
the proposed extension.
Subject
to funding and securing powers the extension could be completed by 2030.
TFL
have a webpage dedicated to the Bakerloo Line extension
project.
EU
FUNDING PROPOSALS FOR NEW LONDON OVERGROUND STATIONS
Improved
transport links to support the transformation of Old Oak Common moved a step
closer today, as Transport for London (TfL) secured €4m funding from the European Commission (EC) to progress
the development of options for new London Overground stations in the area.
The
funding was awarded from the EC's Connecting Europe Facility (CEF) within the
framework of the Trans-European Transport Network scheme and will be
match-funded by TfL, allowing the further development of options for potential
new stations at Old Oak Common Lane and Hythe Road.
Connectivity
between HS2, Crossrail and the London Overground is essential to the
transformation of Old Oak Common and the regeneration of Park Royal, one of the
Mayor of London's key Opportunity Areas, supporting 65,000 jobs and 25,500 new
homes. The new travel links could radically cut journey times to and from the
area and would allow access to both the Clapham Junction to Stratford, and
Richmond to Stratford, London Overground lines. The stations would also provide
an interchange with Crossrail and High Speed 2, helping minimise congestion at
Euston station and allowing further integration of these services into London's
transport network.
Richard
De Cani, TfL's Managing Director of Planning, said: "Old Oak and Park
Royal is one of the largest regeneration schemes in London for decades and will
support 65,000 new jobs and 25,500 new homes. Good transport links are vital to
the successful transformation of the area, and this funding will allow us to
develop proposals for London Overground connectivity in the area. These new
local links will connect Old Oak Common to two London Overground routes and
will enable High Speed 2 and Crossrail to interchange with the suburban rail
network, easing potential pressure on Euston."
Work
on the proposals for the new London Overground connections in Old Oak will
commence as part of wider development plans for Old Oak and Park Royal, led by
the Old Oak and Park Royal Development Corporation (OPDC), which was launched
by the Mayor of London in April to drive forward regeneration plans for the
area.
Sir
Edward Lister, Deputy Mayor for Planning and Chairman of the Old Oak and Park
Royal Development Corporation said: "HS2 and Crossrail represent a
once-in-a-generation opportunity to transform Old Oak and Park Royal into a
thriving new part of London with thousands of new homes and jobs. This funding
paves the way for us to progress the development of new stations that will help
to make Old Oak one of the best-connected parts of London and a key driver of
economic prosperity for decades to come."
The
Corporation has the support of Government, and works closely with the boroughs
of Brent, Ealing and Hammersmith & Fulham, to exercise their planning
powers across the entire site.
MAJOR
UPGRADE OF BANK TUBE STATION GETS THE GREEN LIGHT FOR WORK TO BEGIN
The
Mayor and Transport for London (TfL) have announced that work to dramatically
transform and improve Bank Tube station will begin in the new year after the
plans were given the go-ahead by Government.
The
£563m upgrade will increase the busy station's capacity by 40 per cent,
improving accessibility and reducing interchange times when it is completed in
2021. Now approved, the station becomes the latest in a series of major upgrades
taking place across the Capital.
Bank
is the third busiest station on the Tube network and is used by over 52 million
passengers per year, with demand having risen by 50 per cent over the last 10
years. Improving the station is critical to keep London working and growing and
is a key step in TfL's future plan to increase frequency on the Northern line.
This vital interchange
- at the heart of the City of London - will be modernised to include:
·
A
new railway tunnel and platform for the Northern line that will reduce
interchange times and create more space for passengers
·
Step-free
access to the Northern line and DLR platforms
·
More
direct routes, with two new moving walkways
·
Three
new lifts and 12 new escalators
·
A
new station entrance in Cannon Street
The
station will remain open to customers throughout the work. TfL will ensure the
majority of construction work takes place below ground to minimise construction
impact on the historically significant site, which is bordered by 31 listed
buildings.
Nick
Brown, Managing Director of London Underground, said: "Improving Bank
station is at the heart of our multi-billion pound investment programme to
improve and expand the Tube. This critical and ambitious station upgrade will
create a new southbound Northern line railway tunnel and platform to vastly
reduce interchange times. A new station entrance on Cannon Street will also be
constructed alongside a range of other major improvements to create more direct
routes, improving accessibility for the millions of Tube customers who use Bank
station each year."
The
redevelopment will complement current work to create a new entrance to the
Waterloo & City line. Just metres away from Walbrook Square, the new
entrance will offer two new lifts, four new escalators and a new ticket hall
when it opens in late 2017.
London's
population is set to grow from 8.6m today to around 10m by 2030 - an extra Tube
train full of people every three days. Redevelopment work to increase capacity
at key stations and make them step-free is underway at a number of stations,
including Tottenham Court Road, Victoria and Bond Street. Crossrail will
deliver 10 per cent additional capacity to London's rail network.
The
Department for Transport has given the Transport and Works Act Order that will
give permission to London Underground to upgrade the station.
In
my view, Bank Station is a kin to a big maze when it comes to navigating around
the station. The Northern Line platforms are small, hence the reason that
building a new Northern Line platform is a good idea to increase capacity to
the station. It’s still a long way off though until Bank Station increases the
capacity.
I'll round up this update with
some news from LOTS:
Saturday 19 December
1)
The first of the new batches forecast in last week’s news page started to
arrive during the past week. Thus far
there are ten of Arriva KT’s 31 new E40Ds (batch T301-T331) and four of
Stagecoach Selkent’s 21 new Volvo B5LHs (batch 13082-102) delivered. As well as those, 16 (of the 19) E400H-Citys
for Arriva route 78 are also delivered although only six are in service, while
all 23 of Metroline’s NRMs (batch LT641-663) for route 168 are now delivered
with some already in service.
2)
Unexpected arrivals are the first of ten new E20Ds for Universitybus. Five
(Nos.513-517) are for Hatfield and five (518-522) for Northampton; those at
Northampton entered service on route 21
on 18 Dec but the Hatfield buses are not
expected into service until January.
Also unexpected is a StreetLite WF (8.8m) demonstrator for London United
(SN65 OKM); this is in normal TfL red livery and Is due to be trialled from
Park Royal Garage, no doubt on route E11.
3)
The actual appearances of the ‘virtual electric’ buses on route 69 has been
very spasmodic, to say the least. In practice they are now stood down until
early January.
4)
A reminder of the Routemaster operation on Sullivan Buses’ route 306 Watford
–Borehamwood on Saturday 26Dec.
%2C_Regent_Street_Bus_Cavalcade_(05).jpg/1280px-London_United_bus_LT150_(LTZ_1150)%2C_Regent_Street_Bus_Cavalcade_(05).jpg)
Since the New
Routemaster rollout has broken past the 600 rollout mark, I saw the photo of
the banner from the side of the LT150 (Silver Routemaster) which said "We'll have 600 of these ultramodern
buses in operation by 2016." If TFL didn’t buy the extra 200 New
Routemaster buses, route 149 would have been the last route converted to New
Routemaster buses.
The 31 new Enviro 400
buses rolled out for Arriva Kent Thameside operation could be the last new
buses with the original Enviro 400 bodywork. A photo can be seen here from a Flickr user.
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Image attribution
"London United bus LT150 (LTZ 1150), Regent Street Bus Cavalcade (05)" by John Pannell from Watford, UK - 2014-Year-of-the-Bus-Cavalcade--DSCF1556. Licensed under CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:London_United_bus_LT150_(LTZ_1150),_Regent_Street_Bus_Cavalcade_(05).jpg#/media/File:London_United_bus_LT150_(LTZ_1150),_Regent_Street_Bus_Cavalcade_(05).jpg