This Year in London Rail

This Year in London Rail

Written by Ryan Ma, Aeronautical Engineering; Jade Low, Civil Engineering

Despite prolonged delays due to management issues and of course the pandemic, 2021-22 has been an exciting one for railways in London with the completion of numerous projects. This article will provide an overview of selected major developments in the past year, and a brief look into the future of London railways.

Battersea Power Station Opening

Northern Line Battersea Extension Opening

We started the year with the opening of the Northern Line extension to Battersea on 20th September 2021, in support of housing developments and the redevelopment of the Grade II listed Battersea Power Station. Construction began in November 2015, with tunneling works complete by November 2017 and test trains running by July 2021, with minor delays to construction at the start of the pandemic. The opening was well-attended by officials and enthusiasts alike, with the first passenger train departing Battersea Power Station at 0528. The extension takes trains from the existing junction station at Kennington between the Northern Line Bank and Charing Cross branches, to newly built stations at Nine Elms and Battersea Power Station, utilising track part of the curious Kennington Loop where southbound trains from the Charing Cross branch reverse and return north, effectively calling twice at the same station! The tracks between Kennington and Battersea Power Station have also been joined through welds, eliminating the characteristic “clickety-clack” at track joints along the line and making the ride noticeably smoother and quieter than elsewhere.

Detailed London transport map (cartometro.com)

Being the newest stations on the Underground network since the opening of Heathrow Terminal 5 in 2008, the newly built stations incorporate modern design features such as airconditioning and step-free access from street to train, as well as the extensive use of glass and concrete with bright lighting throughout the stations, which point to the future of station architecture on the Underground. The spacious platforms, which rather dwarf the 1995 Stock trains serving the stations that have also been designed to accommodate platform screen doors in the future. While the escalators at Nine Elms take passengers straight to a small concourse at street level, passengers must pass through a spacious ticket hall below street level at Battersea Power Station station containing many unopened retail units, indicative of the potential for additional station exits and the scale of future development here. Overall, the Northern Line extension is a tourde-force of station engineering, featuring design elements likely to see extensive use in future projects. The extension currently terminates at Battersea Power Station, but an underground corridor to Clapham Junction has been safeguarded in anticipation of a potential further extension there, although this is unlikely to occur soon due to expectations of overcrowding at the busy station. Plans to split the Northern Line branches into 2 separate lines have also been put forward, but these too have been shelved indefinitely due to a lack of funding to rebuild Camden Town station to cope with the interchanging passenger flows there.

New Bank branch platform

Bank Station Northern Line Southbound Platform Rebuilding

Bank platform rebuilding map comparison (ianvisits.co.uk)

While travelling on the Underground this year, many of you may have noticed a curious dashed line between Kennington and Moorgate where the Northern Line Bank branch should be, indicating the closure of the branch. This has been due to station capacity enhancement works taking place at Bank from 15th January 2022, with the line reopening on time on 16th May, a welcome respite from the delays that have plagued many recent infrastructure projects. Part of this involved the filling in of the southbound Northern Line platform, which had suffered overcrowding from the intense passenger flows at Bank, along with the digging of a new southbound tunnel further away from the previous one and the construction of a new concourse area and platform. Works had in fact commenced well before the closure of the 122-year-old platform this year, with tunneling works having begun in May 2017 and doorways in tunnel walls leading to the worksite appearing in 2019. But it was only Battersea Power Station Platform this year that the final phase of the project involving the connection of the new tunnel to the running lines was completed, necessitating the closure of the Northern Line. This was not the first time that existing tunnels had been filled in in order to widen platforms, with similar schemes having taken place at Angel in 1992 and at Euston in 1968.

Bank platform rebuilding map comparison (ianvisits.co.uk)

In addition to the platform widening, the capacity upgrade project will also involve the construction of a new station exit on Cannon Street, as well as the installation of travellators, escalators and lifts scheduled for completion by the end of 2022. The upgrades will speed up journeys, facilitate interchanges between the 6 lines which serve the Bank-Monument station complex, and most importantly relieve congested corridors and platforms which have become hazardous during peak hours at the station.

South Kensington strike-through-ed from the map!

South Kensington Piccadilly Line Suspension

Closer to home, many Imperial students, the author included, have been personally inconvenienced by the Piccadilly Line platform closure at South Kensington station for most of this year since the resumption of in-person activities on campus, with trains running through the station without stopping and passengers having to change trains at Gloucester Road station nearby. This has been a result of escalator replacement works which took place between February 2021 and 1st June 2022, with the replacement of escalators originally installed in 1973 with new units which will be more reliable and energy efficient than their predecessors.

Elizabeth Line Rolling Stock seats

Normally, escalator replacement is carried out sequentially, with one escalator taken out of use at a time while passengers use alternate staircases and escalators to pass through the station, the station being able to function normally while work takes place. At South Kensington, however, this proved to be impractical chiefly because of the station design, as the deep level Piccadilly Line platforms are only accessible via the escalators and via the interchange staircase to the District and Circle Line sub-surface platforms. With the station and its sub-surface platforms already being extremely overcrowded (as students will surely know!) it was forecast that the narrow passageways and remaining escalators would not be able to handle the diverted traffic, and the decision was taken to close the Piccadilly Line platforms altogether, in spite of (or rather due to) the high footfall at the station with its proximity to South Kensington’s many museums. Moreover, the listed status of the station arcade and the station itself imposed severe access restrictions to the escalators during replacement works, causing the works to progress much more slowly than usual. The works were slated to be completed by Spring 2022, but were only completed in June, which rather stretches the definition of June. Nevertheless, the new escalators are expected to provide stalwart, reliable service for many years to come, and TfL also took the opportunity to deep-clean the platforms and corridors during the closure, providing a much needed refresh to the once again busy parts of the station.

Crossrail Opening

But among the many developments in London railways this year, none surpass the opening of Crossrail (or the Elizabeth Line) on 24th May 2022 in terms of significance and prestige. The history, construction, opening and effects of Crossrail merit their own articles, but this section will provide a brief overview of the demand for and effects of this historic project. The idea of having large cross-city trains built to national railway standards stopping only at select locations is not a new one, with schemes such as the RER in Paris, the S-Bahns of Berlin, as well as

the Thameslink programme running northsouth through central London, demonstrating the strategic utility of such projects. These larger lines divert longer distance or cross-city passengers away from older metro lines, which were originally built to handle only a fraction of the traffic seen today and are difficult to upgrade due to historic space and engineering constraints. In addition to relieving existing networks, cross-city trains also provide more convenient access to city centres by eliminating the need for multiple interchanges on existing metro networks from regional trains, alongside speeding up cross-city journeys. Finally, crosscity trains often also improve journey quality through more spacious trains and stations, as well as the provision of facilities such as stepfree access, air conditioning and toilets which can be difficult to implement on existing metro networks.

Having been delayed since September 2018 (for the duration of the author’s degree), the opening of the tunneled section of the line between Paddington and Abbey Wood marks an important milestone in the development of the capital’s transport infrastructure, fulfilling proposals for an East-West cross-city railway line which had first been conceived in 1941. The line provides swift access to the city centre for passengers from East and West London alongside Heathrow Airport, as well as connecting to the north-south Thameslink network at Farringdon where passengers may change onto trains to destinations such as Brighton, Luton and Cambridge within a stepfree environment, massively improving regional connectivity with journeys which previously would have involved the overcrowded Underground network, and relieving parallel lines to allow other projects such as the Central Line train refurbishment program to go ahead. Currently, only trains from Abbey Wood run through the core section between Paddington and Liverpool Street, with passengers having to change trains at Paddington and Liverpool Street for other destinations. However, once the project is (hopefully!) fully complete by May 2023, trains will run directly from the eastern termini of Shenfield and Abbey Wood to the western termini of Heathrow Airport and Reading to produce the full benefits of the scheme.

The trains themselves, which can carry around 1500 people were first introduced in 2017 on commuter services which the Elizabeth Line will take over, and feature walk-through carriages, air conditioning and information screens providing constant network status updates.

Liverpool Street Platform-Level

Meanwhile, the newly-built stations in the core section feature spacious, well-lit concourses and platforms with platform screen doors and full air-conditioning, a fresh respite from the hot summer weather of late! The wide hallways and tall escalator shafts, along with design elements such as concrete and glass mentioned above also dominate station architecture, giving the stations a rather grand, cathedral-like yet futuristic look uncharacteristic of other London railway stations. With the trains being over 200m long, Crossrail platforms span across adjacent Underground stations at Farringdon and Liverpool Street, with exits along the platform for multiple Underground stations! Existing surface stations served by Crossrail such as Ealing Broadway and Langley have also undergone extensive rebuilding and refurbishment programmes to ensure their capability to cope with heightened demand from existing diverted passengers alongside newly served areas such as Woolwich. Overall, the Crossrail (Elizabeth Line) project is a historic one which, despite its delays, is a showcase of modern railway engineering, and will create monumental benefits for London and the rest of the country, reshaping the geography of the city.

The Future

Overall, 2021-2022 has been a historic period for London’s railways, bringing the conclusion of many projects which will have an important impact on the city for many years to come. Unfortunately, due to the pandemic and Crossrail delays, TfL finances are currently relatively weak, resulting in the shelving of numerous projects requiring significant investment. However, there will still be schemes within the London area nearing completion which we can look forward to. Namely, the Overground extension to Barking Riverside is expected to open later this summer to serve the area undergoing regeneration. The New Tube for London, currently under development by Siemens to replace Piccadilly Line trains is also expected to enter service by 2025. Finally, ongoing rolling stock refurbishment programmes and station accessibility schemes will continue to upgrade London’s existing transport network to ensure the system remains fit for purpose to serve London’s constantly evolving cityscape and people. This article was written in collaboration between Ryan Ma and Jade Low on the Imperial College Rail and Transport Society committee. If you’re interested in finding out more about London transport and exploring the network together through tube challenges and depot visits, join us at one of our events next year!