New Central Line platform at Stratford Update

Here's some new images of the new platform 4a at Stratford for the Central Line. The platform is being build as part of the upgrade of Stratford station to handle the Olympic crowds and the extra traffic as the station is now one of the biggest interchanges outside Zone 1 in London.



The Jubilee Line building is in the background here looking towards Canary Wharf.



In the background here is the supports for the new bridge over the railway into Stratford City development and the Olympic Park.



You can see in this image the new station extension building in the background to this shot.

New Victoria Line Trains in Passenger Service at Last

As announced yesterday, the new 09TS (Tube Stock) trains for London Underground's Victoria Line made their first appearance late last night. The unit began its career on a 23:55 service from Seven Sisters to Brixton. This is likely to be a semi regular thing with three paths from next weeks timetable change so if your catching one of the last Victoria Line trains home keep an eye out for the unit.

Currently London Underground only have two of the 09TS units but only one (train 2) is equipped for passenger service. The first unit, train 1, is still half fitted with testing equipment. No further deliveries of 09TS are expected for the moment but a slow ramping up at Bombardier's Derby works is expected as the new fleet replaces the original Victoria Line trains dating from the 60's

The Victoria Line Upgrade or VLU is designed to give the Line its first real boost since it opened in stages from September 1968 to March 1969 with the Victoria to Brixton section opening in July 1971. The VLU will provide an 19% increase in capacity and 16% reduction in traveling times. This is achieve in part by faster running and extra space on the new fleet taking advantage of the slightly larger tunnels on the Victoria Line than other Tube lines. In peak currently LU runs 27tph (Trains Per Hour) on the Line and this will increase to 33tph once the upgrade is complete. A new signaling system is also being installed with the current one removed once all the current 67TS trains are withdrawn from service.

The VLU is supposed to be finished in early 2012 but all the overruns (including the fact the first new 09TS train is 8 months late going into passenger service) it is now the target to complete the upgrade just before the Olympics so the Line can handle the increase in traffic.

Click here for images of the first passenger run from Bowroaduk.

Blackfriars Shield

As part of the engineering work over the Easter period a shield was installed around the sub surface tracks of the District/Circle lines at Blackfriars was lifted into place. This shield is to protect the tracks and allow running as both the Underground and First Capital Connect stations during the 30 month rebuild that's costing £350m as part of getting ready for Key Output One (KO1) which should be in place in time for the 2012 Olympics. Once finished both parts of the Tube station will have escalators and lifts allowing step free access to the four Network Rail platforms and the two Underground ones.

For more images of the station as its being rebuild see here.

Thameslink Programme - Key Output Zero

Pictures are of FCC unit 377501 (the first of 23 Electrostars to be deliveried) departing platform four at Blackfriars. The unit was returning to Selhurst before going onto Derby the following day.

As the Thameslink programme is now under way the first major step of the programme is about to begin and is going to have massive affect on the customers using the Thameslink route and also SouthEastern's customers on the services that currently terimate in Blackfriars.

The Thameslink Programme was broken down into three output phases. The first, Key Output Zero hits on the 23rd March. This will see the bays at Blackfriars horded off and the station rebuilt while serving trains. Moorgate will lose its Thameslink branch and Barbican will lose mainline trains and become a London Underground station only. Sevenoaks services will be extended northways with all but 5 services going as far as Kentish Town with some peak working going even futher. The current SouthEastern trains to (AM peak) and from (PM peak) Blackfriars will be extended as far as Bedford.

To achieve this First Capital Connect (FCC) are gaining additional stock to run all these extra services. Now this is where the problems arise. Due to massive problems Bombarbier have had with some suppliers being out of business. This has also affected the London Overground 378s. Because of the fact that now building work has started and the Thameslink Programme can not be put back any futher, a train cascade is now taking place to ensure that FCC can cope with the demands of a Key Output Zero (KO0) timetable. FCC will now recieve eight 377/2 Electrostar (which are actually the same as the 377/5 FCC are waiting to be deliveried). This would mean that Southern are multiple units short. To this end they are getting some 375 Electrostars from SouthEastern, Dual Voltage 350/1s from London Midland and using some 442 EMUs to cover their services.

The bad news is this is now enough units to cover everything so the following services are going to be DC only Networkers services instead of going futher north. All will terimate at City Thameslink.

AM Peak
0740 Sevenoaks to (Kentish Town) City Thameslink
*8 car 319 now 6 car Networker (465 + 466)
0752 Sevenoaks to (Luton) City Thameslink
*8 car 319 now 8 car Networker (465 x2)

PM Peak
1650 (Luton) City Thameslink to Sevenoaks
* 8 car 319 now 8 car Networker (465 x2)
1808 (Kentish Town) City Thameslink to Sevenoaks
* 8 car 319 now 8 car Networker (465 + 466 x2)
1906 Sevenoaks to (Kentish Town) City Thameslink
* 8 car 319 now 8 car Networker (465 x2)

Ther is also an extra train that will start at Farringdon. This is because the unit will be formed of two 4 car 317 units that are AC only so are unable to work south of Farringdon. The units will run the following service

1816 Farringdon to Bedford
St Pancras International 1820, St Albans 1842, Harpenden 1848, Luton Airport Parkway 1854, Luton 1857, Harlington 1905 and arrive at Bedford 1920

The joint SouthEastern/FCC services will including the following as well as the Sevenoaks services. These will use 4 or 8 car 319 trains to achieve this

AM Peak
2 trains from Orpington via Catford
2 trains from Orpington via Herne Hill
2 trains from Bromley South via Catford
1 train from Beckenham Junction via Herne Hill
1 train from Kent House via Herne Hill

PM Peak
1 train to Orpington via Catford
2 trains to Beckenham Junction via Herne Hill

Long distance services will be as follows

AM Peak
0609 Bearstead to Bedford via Maidstone East
0623 Ashford International to Bedford via Maidstone East
0729 Rochester to bedford

PM Peak
1622 Bedford to Gillingham via Herne Hill
1646 Bedford to Bedford via Maidstone East
1700 Bedford to Gillingham via Herne Hill

So the Fleet for FCC Thameslink come KO0 will be as follows

317 x2 (borrowed from FCC Great Northern route)
319 x86 (the whole 319 fleet)
377/2 x8 (Borrowed from Southern)
377/5 x2 (with a futher 21 to be deliveried during 2009)

This leaves a total of 10 peak trains that are four car units which are as follows

AM Peak
0629 Luton to Sevenoaks
0816 Brighton to Bedford

PM Peak
1507 Brighton to Bedford
1534 Sevenoaks to Bedford
1537 Brighton to Bedford
1544 Luton to Sutton
1613 St Albans to Wimbledon
1711 London Bridge to Brighton
1740 Sutton to St Albans
1757 Wimbledon to Luton
1842 London Bridge to Brighton

Once all 23 377/5 Electrostars are deliveried all AM peak services will be of 8 car units and only six 4 car services in the PM peak. Although there is more than planned 4 car services the capacity remains silmar to the planned KO0 timetable.

Moorgate Closure

The end is coming for the short branch from Farringdon to Moorgate for First Capital Connect's Thameslink route. To make way for the new 12 car platforms at Farringdon the two station link will be cut off from the end of peak traffic on the 2oth March 2009.

Current passanger trains are as follows

Morning arrivals

0659 from Bedford
0723 from Luton
0735 from Luton
0743 from Bedford
0751 from Bedford
0755 from Luton
0819 from Luton
0823 from St Albans
0839 from Bedford
0847 from Bedford
0855 from Luton
0911 from Luton
0941 from St Albans

Evening Departures

1635 to Bedford
1710 to Bedford
1720 to St Albans
1724 to Bedford
1744 to Bedford
1804 to Luton
1816 to Bedford
1828 to Bedford
1840 to Bedford
1906 to Bedford

Come the morning of the 23rd March anyone wanting to get to Barbican and Moorgate will have to change at Frringdon for the Underground. As part of a deal any season ticket for two years after the closure is vaild to Moorgate on the Underground at "no extra cost". After this time I assume that you will need a Zone 1 travelcard to get to Moorgate from stations on the Thameslink route.

Goodbye Blackfriars

The first major thing to happen in the Thameslink programme has started. The closure of Blackfriars Tube station until late 2011 to rebuild a modern step free station providing greater interchange with First Capitial Connect's new 12 car station.

Customers must now use either Temple or Mansion House to get on the Circle or District Lines. Personally I prefer Temple as spring is coming a nice walk along the Thames is a great way to start the week!

Circle Line To Be Broken This Year?

I've recently heard that plans to spilt the Circle Line have been brought forward to December 2009. This has been reported by the Rail Professional February 2009 issue. They have said that London Underground have confirmed this . The plan to create a straighter Circle Line is not new as it had problems since it was first introduced as without ending at any point the line suffers from lateness as they can't recover a train. The issue with terimating trains from Notting Hill at Edgware Road means that both Circle Line and Edgware Road District Lines trains would terimate in the four platform station as well as Hammersmith & City and Circle Line trains to Kings Cross going through. This would mean the reduction of District trains which is proving very unpopluar. also chaging using narrow staircases and footbridge at Edgware Road in large numbers could be a safely hazard. The image above shows what the Circle Line would look like on the Tube map (along side the Northern Line spilt and Crossrail 2).

One good piece of news is London Underground will provide an fall back timetable allowing the change back to the current set up if its deemed unworkable with review dates after 3, 6 and 12 months after the change over. Extra staff at Edgware Road is expect as well.

Hopefully we'll have an offical statement from London Underground on this.

TLP Month

March 2009 might as well be called Thameslink Programme (TLP) month from all the changes happening with the staged introduction of Key Output Zero (KO0). This basically is when the Moorgate branch closes and trains from Sevenoaks are (re)added into the Thameslink network due to lack of terminating bays at Blackfriars come the end of the month. The key dates are different to the 'official' dates but I have used the actually changes rather than the basic timetable changes as weekend services as you know is non existence at the moment.

27th Febuary 2009

The final time you'll be able to use Blackfriars Tube station until late (IE nov/dec) 2011. This is due to Network Rail (NR) rebuilding the whole station to provide a proper interchange with the Thameslink station and will have step free access. Please not that although they say it closes on the 2nd Febuary there is engineering work that weekend meaning you can't access the station on the 28th Febuary/1st March.

20th March 2009

This is the final day of services into Moorgate from the north Thameslink route before closure to allow Farringdon's platforms to be extended over the branch's junction to cope with the 12 car trains coming from 2012. The final service should be the 1906 to Bedford calling at Farringdon, St Pancras International, St Albans, Harpenden, Luton, Leagrave and Bedford arriving at 2012.

23rd March 2009

Customer living on the Sevenoaks to Blackfriars via Catford line will come under the Thameslink/First Capital Network with all trains running through the Central London Core to at least as far as Kentish Town. The service will be run by 4 car 319s and in the peaks will be extended to as far as Bedford. The current services from Beckenham Junction, Gillingham, Rochester and Ashford International into Blackfrairs will also be a joint effort with First Capital Connect and SouthEastern. The trains are due to be run by dual voltage 377/5 and are planned to be 8 units if enough 377/5's are delivered for this date.

As you can see the next month sees a lot of changes to both First Capital Connect services as well as SouthEastern services from late March. This is all part of providing more seats for customers using these services. There is still a danger that these keys dates are not meet. As of writing we are a 4 weeks away from the latest date and yet we have only had two 377/5's delivered with the first 377501 expected to be in service this week according to the latest dates. The second unit 377504 was delivered last week and has under gone some testing, neither have been on the Thameslink Core as of yet. Something that will have to change very soon. Work on the bridge at Farringdon is also behind but Network rail is stepping up efforts there and beginning to make real effort to meet the deadline. If enough 377's and the bridge at Farringdon isn't ready in time then the whole programme could slip. There is only a few months 'spare' in the time scale before the Olympics hit in 2012. Hopefully FCC, DfT, SouthEastern, NR and Bombardier will have all the problems solved or minimised by the time KO0 kicks in.

2009 Transport Events

London Overground 378 Derby
Originally uploaded by kpmarek

Well as we start 2009 I though it would be good to look at the transport events we will see during the year.

January
*The first one will be the DLR's Woolwich Arsenal extension which open on the 10th
*The first 377/5 for FCC will be deliveried and tested

Febuary
*The first 377/5 begins passanger runs late this month

March
*Blackfriars Tube station closes for 35 months for complete rebuilding
*All things being well the Moorgate branch of Thameslink along with the bay platforms at Blackfriars will close to allow rebuilding at Farringdon and Blackfriars on the 22nd

April
*DLR re-open Tower Gateway

December
*SouthEastern begin services using the 395's on HS1 speeding up services from Kent into central London

Other events without dates
*New Overground platforms are finished and opened
*378 fleet for the Overground comes into service
* First 09TS on the Victoria Line comes into passenger service
*PAYG Oyster on all rail services before the years end

There are also alot of things that could seriously affect our travelling lifes during 2009. The Thameslink programme along with the Tube upgrade are making weekend travel more difficult in the short term as is works around Stratford for the Olmypics. The next few years see large part of the networks affect but once we get through to late 2011 we will have six months of things being quiet before the chaos that being the focus of the world will bring before we start down the major works road. If everything hold to course then come 2018 (mostly expect the Bakerloo Line) we will see serious improvements in travelling around London with the Tube upgrade finished and new trains on most of the lines (Circle, District, Met, Hammersmith & City and Piccadilly), Completed London Overground works with longer trains, finished Thameslink with much improved links across the South East and a new fleet of trains, Crossrail open, High Speed travels to Kent and many open access operators to North France and finally another DLR extension opened. Its a long road of basically a decade but when they're finished London will be transformed. Just in time for HS2, Crossrail 2 and many other planned rail links to start?

New Central Line platform at Stratford

Stratford (Central)
Originally uploaded by MackenzieBlu

Work on the new platform is progressing well with this view on saturday. The new plaform will make it easier for the crowds from the Olympic park to get into Central london via the Tube that much quicker with dual sided platform.

Other images here

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackenzieblu/2951583351/

Hammersmith & City

18/10/2008
Originally uploaded by MackenzieBlu

Well not Shepherd's Bush Market has been renamed and Wood Lane opened at last its time for the Hammersmith & City Line to change its line diagram.

This picture is the new diagram I spotted today. problem is there's two errors with it. (Should we be surprised?)

First Wood Lane is a step free station (, yes Im aware that the lifts currently don't work as evidenced by the amount of lift engineers around on friday. But the system map shoulds it as step free so the line diagram should do.) Second is the fact that the Central Line diagram shows White City as 250m interchange with Wood Lane so why doesn't Wood Lane do the same back then?

Or maybe we are going to get another verison of the map soon then once the lifts are fixed?

New Tube Map

02/10/2008
Originally uploaded by MackenzieBlu

Well there is a new Tube map for October 2008 with the following changes

*WLL redirected around shepherd's Bush

*Interchange between White City (Central) & Wood Lane (H&C) of 250m

*Shepherd's Bush (Central) and Overground of 100m

*Blackfriars red text "Undgerground station closed March 2009 until late 2011"

*Local Bus service shown (381/N381) from Bermondsey, calling at Rotherhithe, Canada Water and terimating (on the map) at Surrey Quays

Not sure about this one

*ELW is one straight line from Shoreditch to Wapping with red text around Shoreditch "Limited service. Check pubilcity for information"

For more images from a Central London verison of the map follow this link

http://www.flickr.com/photos/mackenzieblu/sets/72157607666312962/

Circle Line Party

09032008612.jpg
Originally uploaded by MackenzieBlu

Seems what could have been a way for people to get to know each other in friendly sprit has been wrecked by the idiots again. What's worse is that several Underground workers have been hurt which is never acceptable.

Seems the run up to the party the local free rags decided to announce the party including one well know paper running it a a headline. Bet that didn't help.

Hopefully now the booze ban will help keep the staff across the transport network safer as most sensible people leave the booze at home and enjoy their nights out. Well we can live in hope.

Stratford Station - Update

Mini update on Stratford station works. The posters on the Jubilee concourse have been removed and show the foundation for the new Central line platform. One thing that comes to mind is how wide the space for the new platform is going to be. The concrete stairs over the NLL platforms has been destoryed with the top part now being under the steel of the new platform. Outside the old railway engine has gone on his holidays for a few years as they ramp up major work on the station.

Just to remind people the works include a new northern ticket hall, new gateline on the east side of the Jubilee concourse linking to the new footbridge into the shopping center. This is as well as a new Central line west bound platform (Central London) and the re-opening of the 1940's station entrance to provide better access. The new NLL platforms will also be build to the north of the station as well.