John Rowland wrote:
"Aidan Stanger" wrote...

I couldn't disagree more. Firstly, although
Stratford's links with much of Central London
are good, there is no direct line to Kings Cross.

CTRL.

But there won't be a frequent service on that. It would still be good if
they'd done it right, but they put their Stratford station in an
inconvenient place as well. Do you think many passengers getting off the
train at Stratford will take the CTRL to Kings Cross?

Secondly, Hackney's links with Stratford are currently
inadequate - the trains are infrequent, short and overcrowded.

Oh come on. Are you seriously suggesting that the solution to that is to
build a tube line which duplicates an existing overground line?

No, I'm seriously suggesting that the best solution is to convert the
existing overground line into a Crossrail line.

The cheapest way to solve that problem is to lengthen the platforms and/or
increase frequency. Alternatively, build a line on a nearby unserved route

I don't see the point of building a new underground line on a route that
avoids the major traffic generators.

- that will significantly shorten journey times on that corridor, while
demand on this one will be reduced but not decimated.

It is already planned to truncate the NLL at Stratford. It is also
planned to link the ELL and NLL at Dalston. Therefore, why not let
Crossrail take over Dalston to Stratford and have all NLL trains use the
new link?

The problem with using the NLL route between Highbury
and Stratford is that it would be difficult to replicate it in
a tunnel thanks to the CTRL, and sharing tracks with
the NLL itself would be a performance liability

I have been told (not by a reliable source) that most or all of the
alignment is wide enough for 4 tracks. The only reason the CTRL was
underground was the extreme noise of fast trains.

The alignment W of Dalston is wide enough for 4 tracks. The alignment E
of Dalston is only wide enough for 2, but could be widened without
having to demolish any buildings (with the possible exception of one
industrial building near Stratford). If they convert that section of NLL
to a Crossrail line, they should take the opportunity to put in one or
two extra tracks to take the freight trains.