London Banter - View Single Post - Work to start on DLR from Canning Town to Stratford International

Dave A · January 16th 07, 08:01 PM posted to uk.transport.london

wrote:
Seeing that TfL is due to take over the North London (When is that due to
happen?), have they ever thought about further extending the DLR further
west?

Methinks that it would be a boon for Hackney, which suffers from a lack of
any tube stations.

I can imagine the DLR going out to Highbury & Islington, as it would allow
connections to the Victoria Line as well as to the ELL at Dalston Kingsland.
And NLL would terminate at Highbury & Islington.

TfL's takeover of the North London Line and the rest of the Silverlink
Metro franchise begins in November this year, when it will be rebranded
as London Overground.

AFAIK no proposals exist to extend the DLR further west, although there
have been proposals to extend it northeast slightly from Stratford
International to Temple Mills.

Passenger traffic on the NLL between Stratford and Highbury & Islington
is presently good, and quite busy, with many of passengers making
connections at Highbury & Islington (for central London). Plans are in
the works for significant enhancements to the heavy rail service on the
NLL, initially by extending trains to four cars but later by doubling
service frequency from 4 to 8tph. Extended East London Line services
will interwork with these from west of Dalston beyond Highbury to
Caledonian Road & Barnsbury.

Conversion of the line to DLR would preclude this interworking and
prevent operation of through services from the ELR to the NLL, the key
link in the creation of the orbital railway route via Clapham Junction,
Willesden Junction, Highbury and Canada Water.

The NLL here is also used by freight, and once again conversion to DLR
would preclude this. Whilst the NLL southeast of Stratford is being
converted to DLR operation, passenger routings on that section of the
line are quite different to those on the densely populated and
heavily-used section through Hackney, where a higher proportion of
journeys run through to the west and where the DLR would not be able to
provide a particularly attractive alternative to the heavy rail service.

In the medium term, London Overground services will provide an
attractive service across Hackney, linking into the Underground at
Highbury, Stratford and Whitechapel, and providig access to parts of the
City via Shoreditch High Street station.

In the long (long, long) term, Crossrail 2 would provide Hackney with a
service equivalent to (if not superior to) the Tube by linking Hackney
itself and Dalston to King's Cross, Tottenham Court Road and Victoria.

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