LONDON | Network Rail: Overground, Thameslink, Crossrail

[sarflonlad]

Crossrail - London's new hybrid Metro/Suburban rail line

Crossrail gets out of the sidings after two decades
Robert Mendick and Katharine Barney
15.05.09

http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standa...#StartComments

Work started today on a new railway under London that will transform travel across the capital.

Crossrail, the rail link that joins east and west London, is finally getting built after 20 years of wrangling and at a cost of at least £16 billion.

Gordon Brown today hailed the start of construction as a historic moment for the city. He said: “Many people said it would never be built, but today we are celebrating a defining moment for London, as Crossrail's construction gets under way.”

London Mayor Boris Johnson this morning pressed the button that drove the first concrete pile into place on a building site at Canary Wharf. It is the first stage in a massive building project — the largest in Europe — that will see two huge tunnels bored about 100 feet below London. If all goes to plan, the high-speed rail link, joining Maidenhead in Berkshire with Shenfield in Essex along 73 miles of track, should be completed by 2017.

It will see new stations the size of cathedrals built at Canary Wharf, Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel. The project, described as “epic” in scale, will employ as many as 14,000 people.





When completed, Crossrail will be capable of operating 24 trains an hour at peak, each travelling at up to 100mph. Mr Brown said: “Crossrail will not only mean faster journey times across the capital and beyond, it will also bring a massive economic boost to the city, creating thousands of jobs and adding at least £20 billion to our economy.”

Crossrail first received official backing as far back as 1989 when Margaret Thatcher's government published a study advocating an east-west service. Its then projected cost was £900 million.

But Crossrail's chances of ever being built appeared to have vanished when in 1994 the Conservative government scrapped it on cost grounds. It was periodically revived in the following decade but finally got the green light in October 2007, when — only days before he was expected to call a general election which he shied away from — Mr Brown officially gave it the go-ahead.

Mr Johnson said today: “The years of hesitation, irresolution and vacillation are over, the shovels have tasted earth and the construction of a railway that is crucial to the economic prosperity of this great city has begun.

“This will create and support thousands of jobs and relieve congestion. When the first of Crossrail's chariots glides smoothly along its lines it will change the face of transport for ever.”

The scheme, which also includes a section running through to Abbey Wood in south-east London and a spur line to Heathrow, will be funded by central government, Transport for London and the private sector.

But Baroness Valentine, chief executive of business group London First, said: “Crossrail will bring 72,000 people per hour at peak time to and from the capital's centre, linking Heathrow directly to Canary Wharf and the Thames Gateway to the City and the West End. It will add 10 per cent to London's rail capacity.

“Some may ask if we can afford it. It's the wrong question. Can we afford not to build Crossrail?”



Click for bigger image

[MelbourneCity]

Great News! Will benefit London immensely.
Will the line be built to British, or more generous Continental loading gauge?

[Republica]

Apparently the tunnels will be big enough to fit a double decker inside, but its highly unlikely that the overground lines will ever be upgraded to be able to hold double deckers, at least until the line operates at 100% capacity with the best possible overground signalling.

[Cosmin]

Finally! That's good news indeed. Can't wait to see the first construction updates on SSC.

[city_thing]

Makes me so proud of my home town

I'm just annoyed that Boris is taking all the credit for it. The cheeky git.

[Falubaz]

Finally! I didnt believe it will be built at all. Great news. But ... isnt it a bit too long for just pretty short underground section with only 8 stations? 8 YEARS!!!! ?

[Zenith]

It is far from short.

joining Maidenhead in Berkshire with Shenfield in Essex along 73 miles of track, should be completed by 2017.

It will incorporate some of the biggest and finest stations in the world.

It will see new stations the size of cathedrals built at Canary Wharf, Paddington, Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel. The project, described as “epic” in scale, will employ as many as 14,000 people.

London has perhaps the most extensive underground network of tunnels of any major city, including an existing tube network, this is some serious engineering. Also you try building something this complex under one of the worlds greatest cities, it's rather busy there you know. It isn't only about what goes on underground, but building overground as well.

[sarflonlad]

Originally Posted by Falubaz

Finally! I didnt believe it will be built at all. Great news. But ... isnt it a bit too long for just pretty short underground section with only 8 stations? 8 YEARS!!!! ?

Yeah. That's British Planning laws for you....

Of course you'll hear the city is full of underground tunnels etc. No doubt that has some effect - but the entire project has been delayed already by 20 years - that had nothing to do with tunnels!

[Falubaz]

Exactly hahahahaha

[rheintram]

Great news! Can't wait to see more renderings of the stations planned.

[Svartmetall]

Excellent stuff! I'm really glad to see that Crossrail is getting off the ground (along with the Manchester Metrolink extnesions too)!

Seems that governments worldwide are being pretty generous with infrastructure projects at the moment - Australia got a load approved too.

[city_thing]

Originally Posted by rheintram

Great news! Can't wait to see more renderings of the stations planned.

The renders for many stations are already available somewhere... they're quite flashy. I'll try to hunt them down later.

Property prices around Crossrail stations will sky-rocket.

[city_thing]

Here's a few pictures...

Canary Wharf



Whitechapel



Tottenham Court Road



Paddington



Bond st


Tunnel sizes


www.crossrail.co.uk has a lot more pictures etc.

[hoosier]

Great news!! How well connected with the rest of London's rail transit system will Crossrail be? Are there going to be interchange stations with major underground lines or intercity rail stations?

Also, is there a possibility that Crossrail could be linked in with future HSR lines?

[city_thing]

The answer's right in front of you

Originally Posted by sarflonlad

Crossrail - London's new hybrid Metro/Suburban rail line

There's a few mock-up maps available over the internet showing the level of connecting - time will tell how well Crossrail/Tube will work though.

Crossrail is shown as the thick purple line in this map

image hosted on flickr


And it's the dashed purple line in this one.



So I would say that it's going to connect up to existing transport nodes brilliantly. The tube stations it's connecting to are all very important interchanges in the heart of central London. Crossrail, without a doubt, will revolutionise travel in London. London has an enormous overground network as well, so it will be interesting to see how well Crossrail connects with it.

[jarbury]

Great news this has construction underway. 72,000 people per hour is amazing capacity - are the trains going to be huge or something?

[kegan]

Trains are planned to be up to 12 cars long and built to fit existing loading gauge on the GE and GW main lines (so no bigger than standard UK rolling stock).

12 cars trains at 24tph ...

[ajw373]

Originally Posted by sarflonlad

Yeah. That's British Planning laws for you....

Of course you'll hear the city is full of underground tunnels etc. No doubt that has some effect - but the entire project has been delayed already by 20 years - that had nothing to do with tunnels!

No the 20 year delay had a lot to do with the febile short sighted governments and the media that seem to have run this country since the end of WWII.

Even with Crossrail there were calls the other day to call it off due to the econimic crisis. Even the BBC news was questining the need for it at the moment and saying the money could be better spent on the tube. If anything that is all the more reason to push on. Use the money now to stimulate the building industry now and reap the benifits in 8 years time. The tube needs money too, but in many ways Cross rail should releive pressure on the tube, especially through the Westend.


PS Are the existing lines to Shenfield already electified at 25KV AC or are they 1.5KV DC? If 1.5KV DC are there plans to upgrade this to 25KV AC or use dual voltage EMUs?

[Gag Halfrunt]

From Wikipedia:

In the 1930s plans were made by the LNER to electrify the suburban lines from Liverpool Street to Shenfield at 1500 V DC and work was started on implementing this. However, the outbreak of the Second World War brought the project to a temporary halt and it was not until 1949 that the scheme was completed with electrification later being extended to Chelmsford in 1956 and finally to Norwich by 1986.

The British Railways 1955 Modernisation Plan called for overhead line systems in Great Britain to be standardised at 25 kV AC. However, due to low clearances under bridges the route was electrified at 6.25 kV AC. The section between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria was completed in November 1960. Extensive testing showed that smaller electrical clearances could be tolerated for the 25 kV system than originally thought necessary. As a result it was now possible to increase the voltage without having to either raise bridges or lower the tracks along the route to obtain larger clearances. The route between Liverpool Street and Southend Victoria was converted to 25 kV AC between 1976 and 1980.

[iampuking]

Originally Posted by kegan

Trains are planned to be up to 12 cars long and built to fit existing loading gauge on the GE and GW main lines (so no bigger than standard UK rolling stock).

12 cars trains at 24tph ...

240m trains by the way. Longer than the comparable RER trains which are 200m I believe. They're also nearly twice as long as the longest LU trains with are 130m, and of course they will be significantly wider.

What worries me is that the trains will have only 2 doors per car, and a transverse seating layout to please the suburban whiners who insist on having seats for the entire journey at the expence of a high frequency inner city service...