Re: Lords Cricket Ground disused tunnel

On Thu, 17 Apr 2008, Peter Masson wrote:

> Is the medium term plan still to extend the ELLX to Queens Park via 
> Primrose Hill, so that they would serve south Hampstead, extend the 
> Bakerloo Line to Watford Junction, and to withdraw the DC service out of 
> Euston?

The medium-term plan is still, i believe, to extirpate the Euston service, 
run the Bakerloo all the way to Watford Junction, and then run the *NLL* 
to Queen's Park.

Running the ELLX (XELL?) to Queen's Park is rather harder. If you consult 
this highly technical track diagram:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/twic/2115244713/

You'll see that between Dalston and Highbury & Islington, the NLL-ELLX 
route is four track, but paired by destination, with the ELL tracks to the 
south of the NLL. Tracks continue to the west of H&I only from the NLL. 
That means that, even with crossovers in the right places, trains could 
only run from the ELL to the west by making a conflicting movement over 
the eastbound NLL track, which, given the frequencies involved, is 
basically a no-no. And i'm not even sure there are crossovers in the right 
place.

The upshot of this is that the ELL will run only to H&I, which will leave 
the ELL and NLL as completely segregated services, maximising their 
reliability and potential frequency. Short of throwing in a flyover at 
Dalston, there's not really any way to deliver a practical railway other 
than this.

tom

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mimeotraditionalists