Clive's UndergrounD Line Guides

"It's your kingdom."
"Was," Pluto reminded her. "I sold out to an Anglo-French consortium, remember? They were going to try and link it up with the Paris metro. Bloody silly idea if you ask me, but ..."

- Ye Gods!
Tom Holt

Future proposals

[Last modified: 2020-09-23]

Introduction

This page attempts to describe future proposals for the lines covered by these pages. Predicting the future is always a risky business, especially in such a politically-charged area as London's transport. It is often hard to distinguish rumour from fact, speculation from serious proposal. But the projects described here all have a "fighting chance" of becoming reality (where projects are definitely going ahead, they get a brief mention here with full details on that line's page). A few abandoned proposals are also included where they are both significant and met the "fighting chance" test at some point in the past.

In late 2008 a number of projects were cancelled until further notice because of funding shortfalls - these are labelled ‡ to show their status, with the the detailed description left unchanged.

This page is divided into four separate topics:

• Changes to existing lines
• New rail lines
• New tram lines
• RTonRT

Changes to existing lines

Subsurface lines

Circle Line

There are no known plans to extend or change this line.

District Line

If the Chelsea-Hackney Line is ever built, it might use part of the Wimbledon branch. Proposals vary as to whether the District would withdraw from the section south of the new junction (variously proposed as East Putney or Parsons Green), or whether the line would be shared.

If a proposal for the Piccadilly Line goes ahead, the District will lose the Ealing Broadway branch. Trains running to Ealing Common depot will come out of service at Turnham Green but, to maintain service intervals, be checked for overriding passengers at the (then closed) westbound platform at Chiswick Park.

East London Line

There are proposals to extend the Crystal Palace branch via Balham to Clapham Junction.

Hammersmith & City Line

There are no known plans to extend or change this line.

Metropolitan Line

There are currently three separate proposals that affect the Metropolitan.

Photo [471kb] and info

First is the Croxley Link (a plan that apparently dates from around 1920). This involves diverting the Watford branch at Croxley on to a new viaduct over road, river, and canal, and thence on to the NR Croxley Green branch to Watford High Street and Watford Junction (see the Bakerloo Line). The existing Watford station will close completely, though the line will be retained for train storage. Preparation work began in 2015 but construction proper has not yet started; financial issues mean that the project was effectively abandoned in January 2018, though there are still attempts to reinstate it and Hertfordshire County Council have renamed it the "western Watford Sustainable Corridor".

key to notation

Northbound is up the page and southbound is downwards.

110973		79=47	[T=TT=4T =6ns=ns=^ =b]			{Watford Junction}
113960		78=08	[CP#]			{Watford High Street}
111958		77.84				[Watford High Street Junction]
103954		76.71	[ns=]			(Watford Stadium)
101954		76.58	[OP#]			{{Watford Vicarage Road}}
098956		76.21	[OP#]			(Watford West)
091958		75.48	[OP#]			{{Cassiobridge}}
090958		75.35				[start of new alignment]
084959		74.73				[end of new alignment]
079954		74.10	[OP]			Croxley

Secondly, Chiltern Railways are proposing rebuilding West Hampstead station as a major interchange, including platforms on the Metropolitan. At this stage it is unclear whether or not Finchley Road would become a Jubilee Line only station.

Finally, proposals for the Jubilee Line (described below) would mean that Northwick Park and Preston Road would no longer be served, and possibly that the Uxbridge branch would be lost.

At one time Crossrail was being planned to take over some or all of the route from Moor Park to Amersham (en route to Aylesbury) and Chesham. There was also a proposal to exchange the eastern termini of the Metropolitan and Hammersmith & City Lines, with the former running to Barking. Both of these have now been abandoned.

Tube lines

Bakerloo Line

The former Croxley Green branch may become part of the Metropolitan Line - see above.

Transport for London plans to restore the service to Watford Junction, removing London Overground trains from the line north of Queen's Park (there is no firm date for this change).

LU are proposing to extend the line from Elephant & Castle to Lewisham (380759). There would be three intermediate stations, two on the Old Kent Road at 336784 and 349774 and the third at New Cross Gate (361770). The line would continue to reversing and stabling sidings at approximately 380752 and would be in tunnel throughout. If approved, construction would start in 2023 and the line would open in 2029. An alternative route that reached New Cross Gate via Camberwell and Peckham Rye was not chosen. Though there are no specific plans for extension beyond Lewisham at a later date, the route chosen would allow the line to surface and take over the NR line to Hayes, including a branch to Beckenham Junction. The latter could also be extended to Bromley town centre.

The Canary Wharf Group, who own much of the eponymous financial district, have proposed extended the line from Elephant & Castle to Charlton via Surrey Quays and Canary Wharf.

If HS2 includes a station at Old Oak Common, the Bakerloo could be made to serve it, either by diverting it somewhere between Queen's Park and Willesden Junction, or by adding a branch starting on that section.

Central Line

There are proposals for a new station at Park Royal (location 190825) to provide interchange with the Piccadilly Line.

If the Chelsea-Hackney Line is ever built, it might take over one of the eastern arms, leaving the Central with the other. The 2001 proposals saw the Central running only to Hainault via Newbury Park, but the 1994 suggestions were the reverse, with the Central Line retaining both Epping and Hainault via Woodford, while Chelsea-Hackney ran to Hainault via Newbury Park.

Jubilee Line

There are proposals for a future branch from North Greenwich to London City Airport or to Thamesmead, and provisions have been made at the east end of the former to allow such an extension to be built without disrupting service.

Because the time taken to reverse trains at Willesden Green or Wembley Park would obstruct an increased peak service, while the Stanmore branch is already over-served, there is a proposal for the Jubilee to take over the local tracks of the Metropolitan Line between Wembley Park and Harrow-on-the-Hill, meaning the line would have two branches at that end. If this is done, the changes required mean it would probably start in 2018. There is also the possibility of taking over the Uxbridge branch of the Metropolitan.

Northern Line

The Battersea branch may be extended to Clapham Junction.

Part of the Northern Heights proposals came back to life for a while. One set of proposals for the Chelsea-Hackney Line suggested connecting it to a reinstated line from Finsbury Park to East Finchley, with trains then continuing on to High Barnet (it's not clear how the Mill Hill East branch would have be treated). This proposal has since been dropped.

There have been suggestions to split the line into two, one taking trains from Morden via Bank to one of the northern branches and the other from Kennington via Charing Cross to the other northern branch. However, this will not be practical without major reconstruction at platform level at Camden Town, in order to cope with the increased number of interchanging passengers.

Piccadilly Line

As part of the plans to increase the frequency of trains on the line, which requires the ability to turn round trains more easily at the eastern end, it is proposed to add another platform on the eastern side of Cockfosters and another on the west side of Oakwood (using an existing siding), plus an extra track and flyover to avoid conflicts. There are also proposals to build platforms on the Central Line at Park Royal station (apparently this will be 200m from the Piccadilly Line platforms because the Railway Inspectorate will not allow the latter to be moved).

The next new rolling stock for this line is likely to be driverless, meaning that platform edge doors will be fitted at most or all stations (possibly except between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge). In order to segregate the service, the District Line branch to Ealing Broadway would be transferred to the Piccadilly Line, with Chiswick Park station being closed and new platforms opened nearby on the Richmond branch; the District tracks from Turnham Green to Acton Town would only be used for access to Ealing Common depot.

Victoria Line

There was a proposal to extend the depot branch to Northumberland Park to serve the Picketts Lock area for an athletics championship in 2005 or Olympic games at some later date. However, since the plans for a stadium were abandoned, this is effectively dead.

The track arrangement at Brixton is one of the bottlenecks in operating the line and there was a proposal to extend it in a large single-track loop to a new station at Herne Hill (location 319744). However, this idea was abandoned when analysis showed that the line would not be able to cope with the resulting traffic as well as requiring two more trains.

Waterloo & City Line

There are no known plans to extend or change this line.

Other lines

Croydon Tramlink

For some reason Tramlink has attracted the attention of planners, and there are a number of proposals. The ones seen as most likely at the moment are:

• ‡ A fourth eastern branch from Harrington Road to Crystal Palace Bus Station (location 338709). This would run alongside the same National Rail line as the Beckenham Junction branch as far as Anerley Road, then on one of three routes to the corner of Crystal Palace Park (338707), and finally through the park to the bus station. There would be intermediate stations at Penge Road (344689), Anerley Road (341702), and somewhere in the vicinity of Crystal Palace station (340705). The three options are:
  1. along Anerley Road and Anerley Hill to 338707, then turning into the park;
  2. continuing alongside the railway line to the station, then along Ledrington Road and into the park at about 339707;
  3. along Anerley Road to 340704, then a dogleg into Ledrington Road and as with the previous option.
  Tramlink stated in March 2015 that there was no business case for an extension to Crystal Palace.
• Extending the Beckenham Junction branch to Bromley. This would require extensive street running.
• A branch from Morden Road to South Wimbledon (258700); the primary purpose of this would be to increase capacity on the Wimbledon branch while retaining the single-track entry into Wimbledon itself (which imposes a 15tph limit).
• A branch from Morden Road to Sutton. The main route from this runs from Morden Road station to Sutton:

  Morden Road and then Morden Hall Road
  Morden	259686
  Central Road	262682
  St.Helier Avenue
  Cartmel Gardens	262676
  St.Helier Avenue	261671
  Rose Hill Roundabout	260667
  Rose Hill
  Rose Hill Park	259657
  Rose Hill and Angel Hill
  Angel Hill	258652
  Angel Hill and High Street
  Sutton High Street North	257648
  One way loop: Marshall's Road and Throwley Way
  Throwley Way	259644
  One way loop: Throwley Way, Chalk Pit Road, and Sutton Court Road
  Sutton Rail Station	261639
  One way loop: Grove Road, Sutton Park Road, Cheam Road, St.Nicholas Way
  St.Nicholas Way	258642
  One way loop: St.Nicholas Way and Crown Road
  Sutton High Street North	257648

  Variations include:
  • A diversion from Rose Hill Roundabout along Wrythe Lane to a stop in the grounds of St.Helier Hospital as 264662, then along the edge of Rosehill Park East to meet Rose Hill at 260663.
  • After Sutton rail station, run along the pedestrianised High Street, then Greenford Road into St.Nicholas Way at 257645. The St.Nicholas Way stop would be omitted; presumably there would be one or more stops along the High Stret, but none are described.
  • A direct route from Morden Road station along Morden Road to South Wimbledon station at 258700.
  • An indirect route from Morden Road station to South Wimbledon station. This would leave the existing lie around 256694, then run through Nursery Road playing fields and/or the Abbey recreation ground to meet the former Merton Park to Tooting railway line at around 256697. It would then run east along this, with a station (no name given) at 257697, to meet Morden Road at 258697, from where it would turn north to South Wimbledon.
  By 2019 this had been altered into a choice of three options (stations are not listed for any of these). Option 1 is basically the route described above, including the extension to South Wimbledon station. However, the first 500 metres of Rose Hill would be omitted, replaced by a diversion along Reigate Avenue for about 300 metres and then across Rosehill Recreation Ground. Option 2 differs only at the north end: it would start at Colliers Wood station then follow Christchurch Road, Church Road, and Belgrave Walk to the eponymous station. It then cuts across to Morden Road which it follows to meet option 1 at the north end of St.Heliers Road. Finally option 3 would take over the NR route from Wimbledon to Sutton as far as just before West Sutton station, before diverting to follow the line of Bushey Lane to meet the Sutton loop at the junction of Crown Road and St.Nicholas Way.
• A new track along Dingwall Road to allow trams from the eastern direction to turn round more easily. There are three options being consulted on, all involving a single track:
  1. (currently preferred) northbound along Dingwall Road to 326659, then west along Landsdowne Road, with a stop at 325659, to turn south into the present town centre loop just north of Wellesley Road stop, at 324658 (total length about 500m);
  2. northbound along Dingwall Road to 326661, then west along Sydenham Road, with a stop at 325660, to turn south into the present town centre loop at 324660 (total length about 800m);
  3. reverse the present town centre loop from the Wellesley Road divergence to Landsdowne Road, where there would be a new junction at 324658, then along Landsdowne Road, with a stop at 325659 (but slightly west of that in the first option), to 326659, then south along Dingwall Road (total length about 500m). In this option all trams would use the new line and the present Wellesley Road stop would only be used by trams from the east turning round via the new loop.
  A former proposal to run along Dingwall Road and then Bedford Park to West Croydon has been abandoned.
• Adding facilities to allow trams from the west to turn before reaching West Croydon. This means either reversing sidings at Reeves Corner station, or a loop between the two sides of the central section, starting between Reeves Corner and Centrale and ending in the vicinity of Church Street station; this loop might have a new station on it, perhaps on Frith Road around 321656.

Other proposals that have been made, in no particular order, are:

• A new branch southwards from the central loop to South Croydon (location 234644), Purley (312616), and possibly Coulsdon (297594), mostly running on-street along the Brighton Road. Southbound trams would leave the loop at Wellesley Road Junction and northbound ones would re-enter it at one end of Crown Hill. Tramlink stated in March 2015 that there was no business case for an extension to this area.
• A new branch northwards from the central loop just west of West Croydon to Thornton Heath Pond (location 312678), Norbury station (306697), Streatham station (300713), and possibly Brixton station (311755). This would also be on-street, along the London Road (A235 and A23).
• A new route from Tooting Broadway station on the Northern Line (location 274714) to Sutton NR station (261638), via Tooting NR station (279705) and Mitcham tram stop.
• Extension of the Wimbledon branch in a long loop back to Mitcham Junction, serving Haydons Road (location 260711), Colliers Wood (Northern Line, 268704), Tandem Works (268697), Lavender Avenue (272695), and Mitcham Fair Green (280688). The route would follow the rail line to Haydons Road, then cross-country to Colliers Wood, along roads to Mitcham Fair Green, then once again alongside a rail line.
• A loop west of the existing line between Therapia Lane and Wandle Park to serve the development area around Commerce Way and Valley Park.
• A takeover of the existing National Rail line from Wimbledon to Sutton (location 261638), which would extend the Tooting Broadway to Sutton route.
• Extension of the New Addington Branch, initially to Vulcan Way (location 390621) and in the longer term to Biggin Hill airport (414612).
• A triangular junction at Arena tram stop to allow service from Elmers End to the proposed Crystal Palace branch.
• A possible new station at Wandle Way (278677).
• An extension of the Wimbledon branch to Tooting by taking over an existing NR line.
• A branch from Mitcham Junction to Tooting.

Docklands Light Railway

The DLR has already had five extensions. The latest, to Stratford International, may be further extended to Temple Mills (384852) at a later date.

‡ The most likely sixth extension would take the Beckton branch to the Barking Reach area and Dagenham Dock NR station (location 490830). It would be 5.5km long (or possibly longer, depending on the choice of routes to cross the River Roding), starting just east of Gallions Reach and with intermediate stations at Beckton Riverside (445813), Creekmouth (464818), Barking Riverside (471822), and Dagenham Vale (477827); the last of these is called "Gorresbrook" in some versions. It would open in early 2016.

As of 2016 two proposals are being considered: a river crossing (either bridge or tunnel) from Gallions Reach to Thamesmead and possibly Abbey Wood and an extension from Beckton to Barking.

Tower Gateway station might be moved west about 200m to bring it closer to Tower Hill station. This would require bridging Minories and reconstructing part of Guildhall University.

There are proposals to extend the Bank branch to Victoria via City Thameslink, Aldwych, and Charing Cross (using the abandoned Jubilee Line tunnels and platforms). The Mayor's 2011 London Plan omits Aldwych and adds Green Park to this, but also offers an alternative destination of St.Pancras, via City Thameslink, Holborn, and Euston.

The 2010 Mayor's Transport Strategy suggests an extension from Lewisham to Hayes over the existing NR line, with a branch to Beckenham Junction, and another from Stratford via Leytonstone to Walthamstow Central. The 2011 London Plan replaces this with an extension from Lewisham to Forest Hill via two unlocated stations (the first not named and the second given the curious name of "Medusa") and Catford. Neither of these appear in the 2014 Infrastructure plan; instead the only proposal is that Tower Gateway would be closed, replaced by a station at Tower Hill (with interchange to the existing station) on the Bank branch.

In October 2016 plans were announced to build a new branch from Gallions Reach to the north side of Thamesmead. In 2020 these plans were gaining support, though extension to Abbey Wood was viewed as challenging for limited benefit.

Finally, the City Airport branch could gain a station some time in the future at Thames Wharf (around location 399804).

New rail lines

Crossrail

Crossrail is a new line across the centre of London, designed to relieve the burden on the Circle and Central Lines. The new section will run in 6m (19'8") diameter tubes (large enough to accommodate full-size trains), but at both ends it would emerge and run along existing NR lines. It be run by Transport for London (like LU and London Overground services).

Photo [336kb] and info

Construction started in 2009 with the line originally planned to open in December 2018 (but see below). Descriptions are partly based on the latest information on the Crossrail web site and on the Crossrail Act.

The central section runs in tube. At the east end it splits into two routes, one to Stratford and one to Abbey Wood via Canary Wharf. Four of the stations have two separate entrances feeding the platforms from opposite ends. Stations on the central section will have platform screen doors. Distances are approximate and taken from an arbitrary zero point.

key to notation

Westbound is up the page and eastbound is downwards.

						[Portobello Junction]
257815		10.50				[Royal Oak portal]
265813		11.4	[IP#]			{{Paddington}}
285810						west entrance
285810		13.8	[CP#]			{{Bond Street}}
288810						east entrance
295813						west entrance
297813		14.9	[CP#]			{{Tottenham Court Road}}
298813						east entrance
316818						west entrance
317818		17.1	[CP#]			{{Farringdon}}
319818						east entrance
327816						west entrance
328817		18.3	[CP#]			{{Liverpool Street}}
331816						east entrance
346819		20.4	[CP#]			{{Whitechapel}}
357815		21.37				[Stepney Green Junction]
378836		24.65				[Pudding Mill Lane portal]
						[Pudding Mill Lane Junction]
382839		25.05				[junction with main line]
385844						{Stratford}
357815		21.37				[Stepney Green Junction]
376804		23.9	[IP#]			{{Canary Wharf (3)}}
404808		26.73				[Victoria Dock portal]
407809		27.0				{Custom House}
422802						[diverge from NLL alignment]
428799		29.48				[North Woolwich portal]
438797?		39.5?				{{Woolwich}}
451788		32.38				[Plumstead portal]
473790		34.7	[u=dW=E#]			{Abbey Wood}
483791		35.69				[end of new line]

The line will be electrified at 25kV AC (like many National Rail lines, including those it connects to at each end) and will be operated by a new fleet of class 345 9-car EMUs (but see below), though the stations will be long enough to take 12-car trains. Trains will not run on any existing third-rail National Rail lines and so will not need to be dual-voltage.

At the west end the line will connect to the National Rail lines out of Paddington, where it will serve two routes: one to Heathrow Airport (all trains will serve the airport station at Terminals 2 & 3; some trains will terminate at Terminal 4 and others at Terminal 5), stopping intermediately only at Ealing Broadway and Hayes & Harlington, and the other running along the main line to Reading (this line has been electrified from Airport Junction, where the Heathrow branch diverges). There will be a depot west of Heathrow at Old Oak Common.

Four other possibilities have now been rejected:

• Six-tracking the line from Paddington to Airport Junction and electrifying from Maidenhead to Reading (Maidenhead was the originally planned western terminus). Some trains would have run to Heathrow Airport and others to Reading. However, since that option was rejected electrification to Reading was carried out as part of electrification of the NR lines to Newbury, Bristol, and Swansea, and major changes at Reading have made it practical to terminate the service there.
• A new tunnel - or a surface line through Old Oak Depot - to meet the Metropolitan Line around Neasden, where it would have taken over the present Chiltern Trains route to Aylesbury. It would have used the fast lines from Harrow-on-the-Hill northwards and taken over all services from Rickmansworth northwards (including Chesham), leaving the Metropolitan to serve only Uxbridge and Watford. There would also have been new platforms to allow trains to serve Wembley Park and Northwood.
• A new tunnel to Willesden Junction, where it would have taken over the present "New Lines" services to Watford Junction; the Bakerloo Line would have been cut back to Willesden and a new depot would have been required to replace Stonebridge Park. An alternative approach would have been to use existing and disused tracks to allow Crossrail to connect to the New Lines at Wembley Central and the Bakerloo to terminate in disused platforms there; this would have eliminated the need for a new Bakerloo depot.
• A new 5.3km tunnel to Gunnersbury, from a portal (at location 231822) west of a new Canal Way Junction (235822) to a portal beside Chiswick Common (around 206787), via an intermediate station at Turnham Green. It would then use the National Rail lines through Kew Gardens, Richmond (where some terminate), Twickenham, Strawberry Hill, Teddington, and Hampton Wick to terminate at Kingston. An underpass would be built at Richmond to link the westbound North London Line to the Kingston Loop. District Line service would be withdrawn on the Richmond branch. An alternative route for the first part of the branch would have started with a grade separated junction and new 1.5km viaduct from the Old Oak area to Acton Central, after which it would take over the NR North London Line to Richmond; North London Line service would be diverted to Hounslow.

The second and third options would have required converting the relevant lines to overhead electrification, replacing the third and fourth rails where present. Because they run relatively near to each other, it is unlikely that both would have be built.

There are proposals to add a link to the slow lines on the West Coast Main Line via a link from Old Oak Common to Willesden Junction, either using existing surface tracks or in a new tunnel. At this stage studies are ongoing but no commitment has been made.

At the east end the Stratford branch emerges at Pudding Mill Lane station on the DLR (the station being relocated to the south), after which trains will call at all stations from Stratford to Shenfield.

After surfacing, the Canary Wharf branch will run on the surface (and through the Connaught Tunnel under the East India Docks) on the former alignment of the North London Line, which was closed when the DLR was extended from Canning Town to Stratford, before descending into a new tunnel under the river and then between the tracks of the existing line to Abbey Wood. Previous plans to continue to Dartford, Swanscombe, and then on a new connection to a station at Ebbsfleet (around 615735) on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, have been abandoned; so too has an alternative route emerging south of the river at 394795 and then continuing to meet the existing line further west, at Charlton station (471809). However, extension to Gravesend some time after 2019 has been recommended by a Network Rail study.

The proposed peak schedule sees 24tph each way through the central section. At the east end, 12 would go to Shenfield and 12 to Abbey Wood. At the west end, 10 would initially terminate at Paddington (by reversing in sidings on the surface west of the station) but changing to a new station at Old Oak Common in 2026 when HS2 opens. Of the remaining 14, 4 would terminate at Heathrow Terminal 4, 2 at Heathrow Terminal 5, 2 at West Drayton, 2 at Maidenhead (both on the line to Reading), and 4 at Reading. Since trains will run on an even interval schedule on all branches, all Heathrow trains will run to Abbey Wood in the peak while the Reading line will serve Shenfield. There will also be a 4tph service between Liverpool Street and Shenfield (peak-only). If a link is built to the West Coast Main Line, 8 or more of the Paddington terminators would use that instead.

The off-peak service is currently planned at 20tph. At the east end, 10 would go to Shenfield and 10 to Abbey Wood. At the west end, 10 would terminate at Paddington, 4 at Heathrow Terminal 4, 2 at Heathrow Terminal 5, 2 at Maidenhead, and 2 at Reading.

Trains will stop at all stations on the east side and in the central tunnel, but there will be some non-stopping on the west side.

The new line will initially use a Communications Based Train Control signalling system, while by the time of opening the line to Heathrow and Maidenhead will be using ETCS.

The Crossrail service (and new trains) initially ran on the existing surface tracks between Liverpool Street and Shenfield from May 2017 and between Paddington and Heathrow Terminals 1, 2, & 3 from May 2018, both under the name "TfL Rail". The next stage in opening will be to start a service through the tunnels between Paddington and Abbey Wood, at which point the name will become the "Elizabeth Line"; keeping this separate from the two surface routes will avoid initial compatibility issues with the signalling. This was originally planned for December 2018 but on 2018-08-31 it was announced that this would be delayed by around a year and the latest statements are that it will open between October 2020 and March 2021 but with Bond Street station shut. The third and final stages will be to divert the two surface sections into the tunnels: first the Shenfield service (originally planned for May 2019) and then at a later date the western extension to Reading and Heathrow (originally planned for December 2019). At some point (originally planned for April 2020) the line will officially become part of LU.

Trains serving Liverpool Street will be limited to 7 cars, and some of the class 345 trains will be reduced to this length temporarily. They will be made up to full length once the platforms there have been extended.

There are proposals to extend the Abbey Wood branch to Ebbsfleet; this could be on dedicated tracks or using the existing ones (which would need to be converted to dual electrification).

Chelsea-Hackney Line

The idea of a tube line from the City to the Hackney area appeared as long ago as 1901 but, as part of the "Morgan Tube", it was abandoned in 1906 following political manoeuvring by the Yerkes group. In the next 70 years the concept evolved into a "Chelsea-Hackney tube" connecting the Putney and Chelsea area in the southwest to the relatively poorly served Hackney area in the northeast; the idea of linking the District and Central Lines was first introduced in 1974.

Proposed routes varied over the years, but in 1991 a tube route was formally safeguarded (against any other developments that would make it harder to build):

The route also took over the District Line from Wimbledon to Parsons Green and the Central Line from Leytonstone to Epping ^[1]. District trains would terminate at Parsons Green while Central Line trains would all run to Woodford via Hainault. Although the safeguarded route remains unchanged, publications have sometimes shown variations. A version of the official line diagram appeared with this route on in 1994; this omitted Essex Road and showed Chelsea-Hackney running from Leytonstone to Hainault via Newbury Park, leaving the Central Line with both Epping and Hainault via Woodford. Since then, Sloane Square has sometimes been omitted from descriptions.

In 1995 a new concept - the Express Metro - appeared. This would save costs by increased use of existing lines and by omitting some of the stations, though it would be built to accommodate main-line trains. With three options in the southwest (only one of which would be used) and two branches in the northeast, it looked like this:

All stations from Wimbledon to East Putney 244748 Putney Bridge 245759 Parsons Green 250766 Wandsworth Town 259751 Clapham Junction 271756 Battersea 287770 Chelsea Harbour 264766 Kings Road 272781 Victoria 288791 Tottenham Court Road 298813 King's Cross St. Pancras 302829 Highbury & Islington 315847 Dalston Kingsland 335850 Hackney Central 349849
Leytonstone 392874 then all stations to Epping		Stratford 385843 West Ham 391829 Canning Town 394814 Custom House 407809 Silvertown 420801 Woolwich Arsenal 438788

Once again the District and Central Lines would be cut back to accommodate the new line (though there are suggestions that the former would continue to share the route), but this time the line also takes over the NR North London Line from just east of Highbury and Islington as far as Silvertown, with North Woolwich station at the east end and the intermediate stations of Homerton and Hackney Wick all closing. As the East London Line has also taken over part of the North London Line, the latter would presumably be cut back to run only between Richmond and Willesden Junction.

In 2001 a third version of the proposal was published, this time in the form of main-line tunnels connecting the main lines in the Wimbledon area to both the Central Line and the NR East Coast Main Line. This version has far fewer stations:

These proposals allowed for the route to be either a "Metro" line or an "Express" one, with greatly differing routes beyond the tunnels.

In the southwest the "Metro" would serve the Kingston, Hounslow, Shepperton, Hampton Court, Chessington South, and Epson Down branches, while the "Express" would serve Southampton, Portsmouth, Alton, and Heathrow airport via a new line from Feltham.

The northeast, with two separate branches, is more interesting. In both cases the eastern arm would once again take over part of the Central Line, both to Epping and - this time - to Hainault via Woodford. The Central would be left with only Leytonstone to Hainault via Newbury Park; to avoid a bottleneck between Leyton and Leytonstone there would need to be new tracks, and the chosen split leads to some interesting track layout issues. The western arm involves a climb from Drayton Park to the main lines at Finsbury Park, after which the two versions diverge widely.

The "Metro" proposal involves reinstating part of the Northern Heights proposals. The line from Finsbury Park to East Finchley would be reinstated, after which trains from High Barnet would run this way instead of on the Northern Line (it is not clear what would happen to Mill Hill East). The "Express" proposal, on the other hand, takes over some of the WAGN services to Cambridge and Peterborough.

This proposal also appears on the Crossrail web site under the name Crossrail line 2. This might also involve restoring the Piccadilly Circus station. However, it looks unlikely to open before 2016.

The 2010 Mayor's Transport Strategy has a reference to a tube between Putney Bridge and Snaresbrook, presumably with services running between Wimbledon and Epping.

In 2011 the Mayor's office was referring to this line, again under the name Crossrail 2, and in 2013 a report issued by "London First", supported by senior people on both sides of the political divide, echoed this with minor changes.

There were two options, both on an alignment similar to the 1991 proposals. Option A was for an automatic metro:

Option B was for regional services, connecting to National Rail lines at both ends, plus a branch at the northern end.

The route is described as "necessary" by 2031.

A further consultation was launched jointly by TfL and Network Rail in 2014. This referred to option B as the preferred one and proposed some changes and alternatives.

Following the consultation, the King's Road station and the alternative via Dalston Junction were chosen. A report by the National Infrastructure Commission in 2016 supported this route and rejected the suggestion of having three branches. Nevertheless, the report mentions the possibility of a branch from Hackney via Stratford or West Ham to Barking in tunnel, before emerging near Dagenham Dock to run to Grays on the existing NR line; if chosen, this would presumably replace one of the two routes shown above.

If the line goes ahead, powers to build it would probably be granted in the early 2020s with service starting in the 2030s.

^[1] All references to Epping up to 1994 should be taken to include the section from there to Ongar.

^[2] Possible future station.

^[3] Proposed depot location.

West London Orbital

West London Orbital is a proposal for a new line around the western suburbs on London. It is specifically designed to connect a number of radial routes, including Crossrail, so as to improve journey opportunities both between the areas that they serve and from there to Docklands.

The line would run entirely in tunnel and, like the Docklands Light Railway, would use small automated trains.

There are two proposed routes, both running from Brent Cross to Surbiton. The locations in this table are of the existing stations that would be served; it is anticipated that the West London Orbital stations would normally be directly underneath them.

The inner route (via Ealing Broadway) would be 25km long and have an end-to-end running time of 28 minutes, while the outer route (via Hounslow) would be 31km long and have an end-to-end running time of 36 minutes.

Park Royal Transit

Park Royal Transit is a proposal for a rapid-transit system around a redeveloped Old Oak Common and Park Royal area. The public documents include two maps, both with two routes but showing different sets of stations:

All the indicated locations are approximate. Stations do not have formal names but are my descriptions.

The Old Oak Central location is proposed as a Crossrail and mainline station as well.

There is also the possibility of extension beyond beyond Park Royal to Wembley Central.

New tram lines

The success of Croydon Tramlink, as well as new trams in other cities, has sparked new interest in tram lines in London. At present there are two serious proposals and two more speculative ones.

Uxbridge Road

The Uxbridge Road tramway would extend for about 22km from Shepherd's Bush Green to Uxbridge. It would 41 tram stops and for most of its length would run along the Uxbridge Road (A4020), though at the Uxbridge end it would follow the original, now pedestrianized, High Street and not the present-day road. If built, construction would start in 2009 and the line would open in 2013. However, current indications are that the plans are likely to be abandoned following the approval of Crossrail.

The following list of stations and locations comes from a 2004 public consultation. Locations marked ± are estimated from landmarks on small-scale maps; those marked § are even rougher estimates. SPN and SPS indicate a single platform on the north and south sides of the line respectively.

‡ Cross River

Cross River Tram is a tramway running north-south through the very centre of London. Operation would start in 2016. There will be a single central section with two branches at each end. At this point there are a number of possible route variations being consulted on; station locations are not given in the current consultation, but are either copied from previous documents or estimated where the route deviates from that suggested previously. The † symbol indicates that there is a terminal loop. Alternative routes are shown with and ; note that each alternative applies only to the next common station (thus there are three sets of alternatives - and 8 possibilities in total - for the branch to Brixton).

Camden Town station † 287840 Mornington Crescent station 292833		King's Cross station 302831 British Library / St. Pancras station 299831 St. Pancras hospital 296835 Mornington Crescent station 292833
Euston 297826 Tavistock Square 299822 Russell Square 301820 Holborn station 305815 Aldwych 306809 South Bank 308803 Waterloo 311799
St George's Circus 315794 Elephant & Castle North 319791 Elephant & Castle Interchange 319788 Kennington station 316178 Lambeth North station 311794 Imperial War Museum 312791 Kennington Cross 312783 Oval station 311775 Albert Square 308770 Stockwell station 305764 Stockwell Green 307761 Vassall Road 311770 Slade Gardens 311763 Brixton Academy 310757 Brixton station 310755 Brixton town centre † 309750 Brixton Popes Road 312755		St George's Circus 315794 Elephant & Castle North 319791 Elephant & Castle Interchange 319788 Elephant & Castle South 321788 Catesby Street 328786 East Street 329784 Albany Road 332780 Burgess Park 333778 Chandlers Way 334776 Kelly Avenue 337770 Burgess Park 330777 Rainbow Street 330772 Commercial Way 335770 Melon Road 340768 Peckham Arch 341766 Peckham Library 343768 Peckham Bus Station 344766

City Tram

City Tram is a proposal for a tram line from Battersea to Hackney, crossing the Thames over London Bridge. Intermediate stations would be at Vauxhall, Elephant & Castle, Borough, Bishopsgate, and Shoreditch, and there is the possibility of an extension to Stratford.

‡ Oxford Street

In 2006 the Mayor of London proposed a tram line running along Oxford Street between Marble Arch and Tottenham Court Road stations, a distance of about 1.8km. No further details have been published so far, but there would probably be 5 or 6 intermediate stations.

RTonRT

Introduction

Rapid Transit on Rubber Tyres (RTonRT) is the term for the latest proposals for routes requiring more capacity or better facilities than can be provided by buses, but that do not yet justify tram or rail lines.

The key features of RTonRT are:

• 18m (59') articulated trolleybuses
• fixed stops with shelters, shown individually on maps
• ticket sales made off-vehicle, including from machines at each stop
• a mix of on-street running, dedicated lanes, and separate alignments
• traffic pre-emption measures
• easy conversion to tramway at a later date.

The use of trolleybuses means that street work is limited to putting up overhead wires but, with this exception, the idea is to provide as much as possible of the "tram experience" at lower cost. Conversion to tramway, when traffic justifies it, would then mean laying rails and replacing the double wire overhead with single. In order to provide a predictable "swept path" in pedestrian areas, electronic guidance using a buried cable is being suggested; this might apply only in such areas or might cover the entire system.

Two proposals are currently being considered, but with no specific start date. There are also suggestions that they could be linked by a ‡ road bridge across the Thames from near Gallions Canal to Gallions Reach, which would imply that compatible vechicles would be necessary.

All locations in these descriptions are approximate.

‡ Greenwich Waterfront Transit

This is a single line from Greenwich to Abbey Wood via North Greenwich and Woolwich, 16km in length. The original plans were based around a "reference alignment" with a fair amount of off-street running. For this scheme, trams would have a slightly better cost-benefit ratio than trolleybuses, but neither were very attractive financially. Therefore a "reduced cost alignment" was also laid out. This omits the section west of North Greenwich (this section is now described as a "potential further phase") and deviates from the reference alignment in three places, in each case following existing roads rather than dedicated right of way. No details of stops have been published for these deviations, and therefore the following table gives indicative locations rather than definite sites (note also that the names apply only to the reference alignment).

‡ East London Transit

This is a network of three lines in East London, north of the river and centred on the Barking-Romford axis. The system would total about 53km. Unnamed stops have been determined from a small-scale map of the proposals.

Proposed frequencies in each direction are as follows.

More recently descriptions of the proposals show a smaller network. Phase 1 involves line 1 running from just north of Ilford Station to Dagenham Dock station via Barking station, with line 2 branching off in the Barking Reach area to a temporary terminus. At a later date line 2 would be extended via the proposed Barking Riverside and Dagenham Vale DLR stations to meet line 1 at 482826; an intermediate link would allow some line 1 services to also serve Dagenham Vale. Another future phase would involve a separate line 3 running from Barking to Gallions Reach (and thence over the bridge to link with the Greenwich Waterfront Transit).

At present conventional buses badged as "East London Transit" operate over the length of route 1 (except that they start at Ilford Station).

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