asdf wrote:
On 13 Nov 2006 11:24:56 -0800, kenxwilshire wrote:

Why have Wimbledon and the surrounding communties been forgotten when
it comes to enhancing orbital rail services around London and to
Heathrow Airport? London's rail network is about to undergo it's
biggest expansion since Thameslink and the DLR were implemented almost
20 years ago.

However, none of the planned routes to enable passengers to circle
London or go direct to Heathrow from the south include Wimbledon. This
disenfranchises a very large catchment area. Also hear about SWT's new
franchise plans.

Not sure what they've got sour grapes about - there are, inevitably,
vast areas of London that won't be visited either by Orbirail or by
Airtrack. At least Wimbledon will have decent interchange into both
projects at Clapham Junction. They're also set to benefit from
Crossrail 2. (Or at least their grandchildren are...)

Indeed. In fact, the various orbital improvements of London Overground
serve over half of London's local authorities in a single project.

An additional branch for extended ELL services is not entirely off the
table - whilst 4tph from each of the four southern branches will combine
to give 16tph through the ELL core, there have been vague mutterings
about adding in the Wimbledon via Streatham branch with an additional
4tph at a (much) later date.

Come to think of it, it would also be possible to extend the Crystal
Palace branch to Wimbledon by restoring a curve between West Norwood and
Streatham (at least I assume there used to be one there by the profile
of the houses), although it would be a rather lengthy route to Canada
Water (definitely an orbital route though!).

Hell, why not extend it to Richmond via Kingston and have an even bigger
loop...

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London