wrote:

Paul G wrote:

Transport for London (TfL) had been exploring ways to fund construction
of the Barking Reach route, but London Mayor Ken Livingstone now seems
to have secured the cash needed to accelerate the project.

You've got to hand it to the DLR bods, they're pretty good at getting
cash for all these extensions. The Woolwich Arsenal one is already
well under construction, with the eastbound platform at WA about to
shut for a few months to enable construction to take place.

I wonder if there would've been so much support for that extension if it
was known that shutting such an important platform for months was part
of the deal.

I know the DLR is cheaper to build than the tube, but surely something
like the Bakerloo to Camberwell could have been built for near to the
same price as three new DLR extensions (King George V, Woolwich
Arsenal, Barking)? The Bakerloo tunnels are already halfway down
Walworth Road, and the remaining distance to Camberwell Green can't be
much longer than the DLR river tunnel to Woolwich.

I thought extending the DLR to Woolwich was a waste of money (as a more
direct route is planned for the future which would practically empty
that section of DLR) but Bakerloo to Camberwell is worse! While I
support extending the Bakerloo, Lewisham is a far more appropriate
destination.

There's already a 4 track railway through Elephant & Castle which also
goes through Camberwell. They just need to reopen a station or two.

Further into the future, a tunnel could be constructed from around
Elephant via London Bridge to either Moorgate or somewhere between there
and Old Street, to link up with the GN Electrics. That would finally
solve the overcrowding problem on the Northern Line, as well as freeing
up paths on the Peckham and Thameslink lines.

I guess studies have been done about which extensions to the network
will offer more benefit to more people, etc. but it seems to me that
the DLR system is becoming ever more bitty and complex, possibly at the
expense of more coherent additions to the tube network.

'Tis not just the DLR. Every project seems to be considered in
isolation. To see what we could do with a bit of joined up thinking,
have a look at the full plan page of my website.

--
Aidan Stanger
http://www.bettercrossrail.co.uk