The last year to date has seen three long-awaited transport projects open for public revenue services, which we refer to as the Northern Line extension to Kennington to Battersea Power Station via Nine Elms last September, the Elizabeth Line between Paddington and Abbey Wood on the 22nd May finally most recently the extension of the Gospel Oak to Barking line on the London Overground from to Barking Riverside on the 18th July.
Aside from the late running works at Bond Street and software updates required to enable through running on the Elizabeth Line, there are no currently any new large London-centric infrastructure projects in the pipeline. However, this is not to say that there are no other improvements being made to the existing infrastructure that will open to passenger services.
Bond Street
The second station that is due to serve Oxford Street has been beset by over-running construction works dating all the way back to 2014 with the building of the train running tunnels. The station has seen significant cost increases, with it rising from its original cost estimate of £111m to around £660m, almost £550m more than its original budget. This was followed by Crossrail Ltd’s (the company building the line that will is operating as the Elizabeth Line), parting of ways with the main contractor Costain Skanska JV (CSJV) in June 2020 with the contractor paid £19m to close out the contract. At that time it was around 18 months behind the other similar stations.
However recent updates suggest that trains that currently run non-stop between Paddington and Tottenham Court Road, will begin calling at Bond Street before running for services from Reading, Heathrow Airport, and Shenfield before the 6th of November. Bond Street pre-pandemic was used by around 255,000 passengers per day / 37-39 million per year and is expected to provide significant congestion relief to the Central and Jubilee Lines. The interesting aspect of Bond Street is the proximity of its eastern entrance at Hanover Square to the entrance of Oxford Street, which may form an out-of-station interchange (OSI), particularly with the Victoria Line.
Brent Cross West
Detailed plans for a new railway station on the Midland Main Line were approved by the London Borough of Barnet in May 2020, for a five-platform station situated between Cricklewood to the south and Hendon to the north to primarily but not exclusively to serve the 7,500 new home and 3 million square foot of office space development Brent Cross Town. It is intended to be served exclusively by Thameslink services between St Albans and Sutton, with an estimated five million passengers expected to use the station by the early 2030s, with step-free access from platform to street level delivered from its expected opening to passengers in December.
The new railway station also provides safer segregated connections across the railway line currently, pedestrians and cyclists have to traverse the myriad of narrow crossings over and under Edgware Road, North Circular, and M1. The new station also includes an agreement to provide passive provision for the planned West London Orbital (WLO) line, which would provide additional cross-London services, and potential links to the HS2 line to Birmingham, Manchester as well as the East Midlands.b
Surrey Canal Road
Proposals for a London Overground station in South Bermondsey immediately adjacent to Millwall Football Club “The Den”, first arose in 2001 following a campaign by local people. It was announced in February 2009 that the line extension would be built but the funding for the station would not be available. Lewisham Council agreed in principle in 2010 to provide the missing funding to complete the station. Transport for London is committed to building the foundations for the station building and platforms to enable construction should the funding be found. It was later announced in September 2010, that the Department for Transport refused to provide the £7 million for the building of the station as it would not provide good value for money.
The extension of the East London Line to connect up with the South London Line, currently means that the future site of the station at Surrey Canal Road is safeguarded for a station to be built out at some point. Things have taken a considerable step forward with the approval of a master plan for a residential lead district called New Bermondsey, which was approved by the London Borough of Lewisham in December 2021. The first phase which was granted detailed planning permission alongside the outline masterplan stipulates that works for the new station that are set to be named after the New Bermondsey development will have had to commence by 2024 as a pre-requisite, to enable subsequent phases to be built.
Old Oak Common
Of the four new up-and-coming railway stations for Greater London this is by far the biggest in terms of size and expected passengers once operational, but will also be the last to be completed. The 14-platform station will be where HS2 connects with the Elizabeth Line in addition to long-distance Great Western intercity services that terminate at London Paddington. The station when it opens at some yet-to-be-confirmed point between 2029 and 2033 will initially be the southern terminus of HS2, to allow for Euston to undergo a more encompassing overhaul. The station was designed by architects WilkinsonEyre and engineers WSP.
The station is unusual at least for the United Kingdom, as it will bring the largest underground station by the number of platforms alongside another series of platforms for more comparatively local and regional services. The railway station, when completed hopefully by the end of the decade, will serve the Old Oak Park Royal redevelopment program, which aims to deliver create 25,500 new homes and 65,000 jobs the scheme which staddles 650 hectares makes it by size one of the largest redevelopment projects within Europe.
The station is not without its critics including, in particular, the lack of connection to the London Overground and Bakerloo Line via Willesden Junction.
Lug your heavy bags down a couple of escalators along 600m of corridor and then change trains at an wet suburban station somewhere in north west London. That is not an opition.
Philip Hammond, Chancellor of the Exchequer 2016 to 2019, in an interview to EstatesGazette in 2018.
