Tom Anderson wrote:
On Tue, 23 Nov 2004, Dave Arquati wrote:


Tom Anderson wrote:


"It would allow trains serving the current Chiltern lines to run straight
into London and through to Essex."

Definitely wrong. The scheme used to "go" to Aylesbury but that branch
was dropped pretty soon after CLRL took the project on board a few years
ago.


That's what i thought. That's really quite a while for the BBC to have
caught up!

Well, it took them a *long* time to change the Southern stock photo
(although they did get to it in the end).

"The second route would link Herts and Beds with Clapham Junction."

Beds is probably wrong, although it's very much up in the air. Herts
could get Crossrail 2 services; it depends if they decide to run any up
the Lea Valley line.


I hadn't heard about this idea (until i looked at your site, obviously).
It's pretty obvious - Stratford, Lea Valley Line (more or less unused for
passengers at the moment), Tottenham Hale, some set of stations to the
north (hopefully Stansted). Is it being seriously considered? For some
value of 'seriously' appropriate to the entirely hypothetical Crossrail 2,
of course.

It would seem sensible for Crossrail 2 to take over the "one" services
from Stratford to Stansted and Hertford East starting next year, and
enhance them - especially given the desire to regenerate the Lea Valley.
A direct service from Stansted to the rest of Central London would also
be a bonus, if Stansted is to be expanded.

This is, of course, all entirely hypothetical. A route to Barnet and
Finchley via the closed Crouch End branch line from Finsbury Park has
even been proposed. They're just mulling over all the possible options
at the moment.

Clapham Junction would almost definitely get Crossrail 2.

Almost? If it doesn't, someone's getting their legs broken.

Quite. I only said "almost" because with these things (and with
politicians), you never know with 100% certainty that something is
definite until, for example, you see passengers get on a Crossrail 2
train at Clapham Junction and get successfully delivered to King's Cross...

Also, are they still going with this stupid tube gauge idea, or have they
seen sense?

Not sure about that. AIUI, the tube gauge route could include a useful
station at Piccadilly Circus which a mainline gauge route could not.
Then again, I don't think anyone's seriously proposing tube-gauge trains
to Stansted. It depends what branches they settle on and whether they
think Piccadilly Circus is a goal worth having for the sacrifice.


--
Dave Arquati
Imperial College, SW7
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London