Transportation Planning Casebook/Crossrail 2 in London

Summary

Crossrail 2, formerly referred to as the Chelsea-Hackney Line, is an addition to the London underground tube system that would connect the South Western Main Line and the West Anglia Main Line effectively connecting the North and South of London ends of London with a direct route through London. It was initially proposed in 1970 but was turned down for financial reasons. Despite this it has been proposed in various forms since then and there is currently a safeguarded route that was released in 2008.

The capital's rapid population growth, which is forecast to approach 10 million by 2031, is likely to put the network under increasing strain so new routes are desperately needed. Transport committee chairman Valerie Shawcross said: "London needs a transport network that can cope with the millions of extra passengers that will travel on our Tube and trains in future. "The cost-effective investment needed to construct Crossrail 2 will herald sustainable rewards, potentially boosting London's economy by up to [pounds sterling]49 billion, not to mention much needed relief to passengers suffering on some of the UK's most-crowded services. "Crossrail 2's construction should be the catalyst to realise London's Olympics regeneration dream."

Mayor Boris Johnson said: "This consultation reveals that there's a very clear stamp of approval for Crossrail 2 from Londoners and from business. The key question now is not whether Crossrail 2 should happen, but how quickly can we get it built." TfL's managing director of planning, Michele Dix, said: "Crossrail 2 is vital if we are to support the predicted 10 million people that are expected to be living in London by 2031." David Leam, director of infrastructure for London First, said: "Crossrail 2 has cross-party support and backing from Londoners and business. The Mayor now needs to mobilise that support to transform Crossrail 2 from concept to project by May 2015."

Additional Readings

• Chelsea-Hackney Line: first on the agenda
• Crossrail 2: Summary of Option Development
• London: on the move with Crossrail 2
• Major step forward for Crossrail 2

Annotated List of Actors

• London Underground

The London Underground (also known as the Tube or simply the Underground) is a public transit system serving a large part of Greater London region and parts of the home counties of Buckinghamshire, Hertfordshire and Essex. The network is considered the oldest rapid transit system. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2013/14 carried 1.265 billion passengers, making the Underground the world's 11th busiest metro system. The system serves 270 stations and has 402 kilometres (250 mi) of track.[5] Within London, the Underground mostly serves parts other than the South: less than 10% of Tube stations lie to the south bank of the River Thames. The construction of Crossrail 2 could potentially relieve much pressure of congestion in many lines of the London Underground.

• National Rail

There is a ring of 18 railway stations served by the National Rail network in central London. Most are terminal stations, although a few are through-stations, including those with a combination of terminal and through platforms. Each of these stations are part of a notional "common location" to which tickets from stations outside that group are issued. The station group is rendered on tickets as London Terminals.

• Transport for London (TfL)

Transport for London (TfL) is a local government body responsible for most aspects of the transport system in Greater London area in England, formerly named "London Transport" (LT). Its role is to implement the transport strategy and to manage transport services across London. TfL has been working on implementing the design into London to improve the city's public transit efficiency. Crossrail 2 is being developed jointly by TfL and Network Rail.

• Residents & Commuters

By making the commuting between central London and Suburban areas much easier, Crossrail 2 could potentially transport up to 90,000 people in the morning peak, and relieve congestion across the existing rail network including at Waterloo by diverting services into a new tunnel under London. It would also unlock large areas of outer London and beyond, including the Upper Lea Valley, for sustainable new homes, supporting up to 200,000 new homes along the route. So in the future, the residents in London might see more settlements along the line of Crossrail 2. With better transit system, more people who work in downtown London could choose to live in the suburban areas.

However, some property owners are concerned that crossrail 2 might raise the property value along the line. The rising property value might lead to higher property tax or even forcing people who cannot afford the higher rent or tax to move away from the ling of Crossrail 2.

• Business Owners/Private Developers

For business owners and private developers, the construction of crossrail 2 would open a much larger market area for them. With more people being attracted to the area, more business and development would appear along the ling of crossrail 2, which would then boom the local economy and generate more employment opportunities.

Timeline of Events

1863

The tube system was first opened under the influence of Parliament member Charles Pearson. Originally, he wished for there to be a central underground station that could be used to commute into the city form outside the city. This plan was rejected and in it's stead the Metropolitan line was built to connect Northwest London to the center to the city . Since then numerous lines have been added to the London underground.

1904

The idea of a rail connecting Southwest London to Northeast was originally proposed to parliament. However, political maneuvering by Charles Yankes, a opposing railway designer, terminated the idea before it could reach fruition.

1970s

The plan was revived under the name of The Chelsea-Hackney Line by London Transport's London Rail study. It was originally intended to be built after the completion of the Central and Victoria Lines but was shut down due to financial reasons. This route would have gone from Parsons Green in the Wimbledon district and gone as far as Leytonstone where it would take over a branch of the central line. It was planned to serve the following stations:

Parsons Green, Fulham Broadway, Chelsea, Sloane Square, Victoria, Millbank, Waterloo, Aldwych (takeover the former Piccadilly line shuttle to Holborn), Holborn, Farringdon, Old Street, Shoreditch Church, Dalston Junction, Hackney Downs / Hackney Central, Hackney Wick, Leyton, Leytonstone

1989

A route was safeguarded that would service both King's cross and King's Road (from Chelsea to Fulham) and as such was suggested to go by the name of the King's Line. In the end it was decided that planned extensions of the Jubilee Line took priority. This route, like the 1970s version, would have started in Parsons Green and gone through Leytonstone. It then would have gone to Ebbing. Additionally, i was planned to serve a different set of stations:

Parsons Green, Chelsea, Sloane Square, Victoria, Piccadilly Circus, Tottenham Court Road, King's Cross St. Pancras, Angel, Essex Road, Dalston Junction, Hackney Central, Homerton, Leytonstone

1995

An alternate plan known as the Express Metro was proposed that would utilize more existing track and have fewer stops that was kept under consideration but never given the go ahead. This route was planned to go from East Putney to Victoria via the District line at which point it would branch off into a new line that served Tottenham Court Road, King's Cross St. Pancras, Highbury & Islington, Dalston Kingsland, Hackney Central. Once it reached Hackney Central it would split into to branches, one to Leytonstone and the other to Epping

2000s

Starting in 2000 plans were considered between the Express Metro, Crossrail, and the Chelsea-Hackney Line (Crossrail 2). Possibilities for combining pieces of the two crossrail lines were considered but in the end the first Crossrail Line was given priority in 2007. At this time Crossrail took over the plans for the Chelsea-Hackney line and officially renamed it to Crossrail 2.

Crossrail 1 is a similar project that is under construction and set to open in 2018. It will serve as a direct route from East to West London as well as some areas outside of the city. Its total length will be 73 miles, 26 of which will be newly dug tunnels.

2008

A route was safeguarded for the current plan of where Crossrail 2 is intended to go. The current route will connect the South Western Main Line and the West Anglia Main Line. Construction is planned to begin sometime after Crossrail 1 is completed

Overview of current and future plans

• 2014-2016 Further development, option testing, analysis
• 2015 Safeguarding updated
• Late 2015 Detailed route public consultation
• 2016-2019 Single preferred option is finalised
• 2017-2030 Submit powers application
• 2020-2030 Construct and test Crossrail 2
• By 2030 Crossrail 2 opens to the public

Maps of Locations

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Policy Issues

Planning

The Mayor of London's aviation advisor Daniel Moylan has been appointed by Boris Johnson to oversee the second Crossrail scheme in London. Moylan, whose current responsibilities include making the case for a new hub airport in east London, will work with Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor for Transport and with Michèle Dix, Managing Director of Planning at TFL, to lead the preparation for the huge rail project. TFL has recently completed a second consultation on Crossrail 2 to inform the revised safeguarding for the route. The organisation is also completing a range of studies which have examined the development potential along the route, funding and financing options and engineering and operational constraints. As part of his extended role Moylan will be looking at the business case for the scheme which will allow the Mayor to campaign for funding from the government. The Mayor's office aims to secure the necessary planning powers and procure the design team and contractors by 2019, with the goal of building the scheme by 2029.

Funding

The proposed cost suggested by developers to complete such huge project is 20 billion British Pound. The cost would be shared equally by fares, private developers and a public sector grant similar to Crossrail 1. The Chancellor announced money to help develop Crossrail 2, Mayor Johnson said the ambitious rail scheme could attract investment from the wealthy in Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. He also said he would hammer down the 20 billion Pounds cost, while suggesting that a council tax increase to pay for it was off the table.

Mayor Johnson charmed an audience of investors, some of whom are pouring money into the Battersea Power Station development, while critics in London claimed ordinary people were being priced out of the market. Mayor replied that without foreign investment there may not be enough money to meet London's infrastructure needs. Crossrail 2, would cost PS20 billion for the Metro route and up to PS27 billion for a broader regional route.He further added the treasury will cover half of the Crossrail 2 cost. There is also the uplift in property values around the rail road, which will help to fund the project. one way to help pay for it would be to maintain the Olympic surcharge added to Londoners' council tax bills. But documents suggest the Olympic surcharge is expiring, making it politically tough to maintain it for anything else.

Design

Weston Williamson has been selected to work on design development for Crossrail 2 following a competitive tendering process.The transport specialist is so far the only architect recruited by Transport for London to work on the £27.5 billion railway line. Connecting North East and South West London, Crossrail 2 will feature 13 new underground stations and two new overground stations along its 36 km route.Weston Williamson will work with Arcadis Hyder on the planning, design and locations of the new train stations.The firm will also work with Aecom on townscape and urban design for the gargantuan scheme which is being jointly developed by TfL and Network Rail.

Crossrail 2 consultants

Engineering/technical aspects

• Arcadis Hyder (in partnership with Weston Williamson, Vinci Construction, Interfleet and First Class Partnerships and Dr Sauer & Partners)

Srategic modelling, route development; planning, appraisal and evaluation

• CH2M Hill / Atkins (CAST)

Environment and sustainability

• Mott MacDonald, Temple Group, ERM and WSP (MTEW)

Town planning, economic development, socio-economic and urban design

• Aecom, Weston Williamson, AHR and Turkington Martin

Environmental Impacts

The areas have been specified for safeguarding and these routes passes in the tunnel beneath several hundred meters to the west of Hackney Downs and about 1.5 km west of Walthamstow Marshes. the scheme proposals are currently being reviewed to determine how the central tunneled part of Crossrail 2 links in with the existing rail network and how this may need to be upgraded to accommodate the additional Crossrail 2 services.

Crossrail 2 will implement exacting standards for environment protection to minimize the risk of impact to valuable environment features, such as Walthamstow Marshes which lies on the West Anglia Route. An Environment Assessment Report setting out these protective measures together will be published when the application for powers is made. This is expected between 2017 and 2020.

The policy for traveling with bicycle on Crossrail 2 is too early to define, though these are likely to be similar to that proposed for Crossrail 1, i.e. peak time weekday restrictions for non folding bikes. Secure cycle parking facilities will be provided at stations. The Crossrail 2 team will be considering opportunities to improve connections between the stations and the local cycle network.

Similar Projects

Crossrail 2 is a huge project. It needs time to manage the problems and cover mistakes in the below mentioned works. It may hold a lot of similarities with Crossrail 1, from East to West connection and RER A in the outskirts of Paris, connecting it with the city from North-South and East-West.

Crossrail 1 in London

There are another four years to go before Crossrail 1 opens, but consultation is advancing quickly on Crossrail 2. London is ready for more fast cross-town links.

Since the conclusion of the second World War, London’s Underground network has grown very slowly: The Victoria Line was added in 1968 and the Jubilee Line extended in 1979, but that’s about it. In some ways, that made sense: London region’s population peaked in 1951 at 8.1 million and declined precipitously until the 1980s. It only recouped it losses in 2011. But the region is now growing quickly, adding an estimated 100,000 or more people a year, reaching a projected 9.7 million 20 years from now. The number of commuters entering the city is expected to grow by 36% by 2031.

That growth has put incredible strain on the city’s transit network, with ridership growing by 40% in fifteen years. Through direct government grants, the support of the pseudo-public Network Rail, and the commitment of Transport for London, the local transit organizing body, the city has two major relief valves under construction. The Thameslink Programme, which will open for service in 2018, will improve the existing north-south rail link through the city by allowing for trains every two to three minutes; the Crossrail 1 project, also opening in 2018, will create a new, 21-km northwest-to-southeast subway corridor that is expected to increase overall transit capacity by 10% while significantly reducing east-west travel across the city center.

Crossrail is a 118-kilometre (73-mile) railway line under construction in London and its environs. It is expected to begin full operation in 2019 with a new east-west route across Greater London. Work began in 2009 on the central section of the line—a new tunnel through central London—and connections to existing lines that will become part of Crossrail after several decades of proposals. It is one of Europe's largest railway and infrastructure construction projects.

One of the major problems or similarities both project have is acquiring of land for stations or above ground work. Crossrail 1 was accused of bullying residents whose property lay on the route into selling up for less than the market value.

Like Crossrail 1, Crossrail 2 is expected to increase the transit capacity of central London by 10%, possible thanks to 10-car trains running every two minutes, allowing 45,000 passengers per hour per direction. Capacity increase will be needed by the early 2030s if the project is not implemented. Major sections of the Victoria, Piccadilly, Northern, and District Lines are all expected to be crowded at more than four passengers per square meter at rush hour, enough to make much of London Underground a truly inhospitable environment.

Those projects, which cost more than £21 billion ($36 billion) between them, will allow the system to accommodate new growth, but they won’t resolve London’s most significant transit bottleneck, the Victoria Line, which carries far more riders per mile than any other Underground Line. That’s where Crossrail 2 comes in.

RER A Paris

Major construction work on London’s Crossrail project is expected to start in 2010. Running east-west across London, the scheme is identical in concept to the Réseau Express Régional routes in Paris, bringing passengers in from the suburbs to the heart of the city and continuing out to the other side. The most directly comparable route is RER Line A, one of five cross-city lines that make up the current RER network in Paris. Line A also runs on an east-west alignment, this being one of several common features that make comparison with the published design for Crossrail instructive.

Before discussing Line A in detail, it is helpful to recap on the RER concept, which is a response to the demands of an already congested, ever-growing city. Rather than stopping at main line termini and discharging commuters into already congested stations, trains head underground as they approach the city centre, remaining there until they re-surface on the opposite side, where they continue to the outer suburbs. RER lines absorb many passengers who might otherwise board congested metro lines, which can then more readily accommodate shorter city journeys without high volumes of commuters loading and unloading at each main line terminus.

Line A is the most heavily used RER line, accounting for more than 25% of all passengers in the Paris metropolitan area and carrying over a million passengers on most weekdays. The line was intended to offer relief to four metro lines: Line 1 between Nation and Etoile, Line 6 between Denfert-Rochereau and Etoile, Line 4 between Dernfert-Rochereau and Châtelet, and Line 9 between Havre-Caumartin and Nation. These routes have since been joined by the driverless Line 14, which has absorbed more of the traffic moving east-west through central Paris.

A northeastern branch of Line A was progressively constructed to Noisy le Grand in 1977 and Torcy in 1980. Finally, in 1989, Line A was opened to SNCF trains offering services from the new northwestern development area at Cergy and from Poissy. The line had hitherto been exclusively operated by RATP, but it was now in use by both operators. RATP remained in charge of the operations control centre and the all-important central tunnel section.

Similarities

Line A measures 107 km from end to end, which compares with Crossrail 1 and maybe Crossrail 2. It includes 25 km of tunnel. Both routes have seven inner city stations, and there are 46 stations on A. Line A tunnels are generally single-track bores with a diameter of 6·4 m.

Train operations will also have similar service objectives. Line A in Paris now carries more than 60 000 passengers per hour in the morning peak on each track, similar to the forecast figure for central London. Platform widths are also expected to be similar, at around 6 m.

The maximum speed of Line A rolling stock is 120 km/h, with an average commercial speed in the city centre of 49 km/h. Maximum station dwell time in the centre is 50 sec. This and other design targets have been achieved through careful matching of the rolling stock and signalling. Sacem is able to achieve 2 min headways between trains, allowing operators to provide a consistent level of service at 27 trains an hour. Without Sacem, the interval between trains would be 2½ min. Crossrail has similar aspirations, with automatic train operation an option under consideration for the central tunnel section.

Thameslink

Thameslink is a 68-station main-line route in the British railway system running 225 km (140 mi) north to south through London from Bedford to Brighton, serving both London Gatwick Airport and London Luton Airport, with a suburban loop serving Sutton, Mitcham and Wimbledon and a suburban line via Catford and Bromley South to Sevenoaks. It opened as a through service in 1988 and by 1998 was severely overcrowded, carrying more than 28,000 passengers in the morning peak. Almost all the services are currently operated by Thameslink.

The Thameslink Programme is a major £5.5 billion scheme to extend the service to a further 100 stations and to greatly increase capacity on the central London section to accommodate more frequent and longer trains, scheduled for completion in 2018.

Crossrail 2 is a major rail network connecting to other lines spread across London. This line would create better connections across the South East and the whole country, with a new Euston St Pancras station providing direct access to the new High Speed 2 line, Thameslink and Eurostar services.

Narrative of the Case

As the most populous city in both England and Britain, London has about 8.63 million population base on the estimation of the Greater London Authority, which took about 12.5% of the population in the United Kingdom. London is also the engine of the country’s economy, which requires it to have advanced and adequate transportation system to support its population and economy growth. Because a fair amount of residents in London don’t own their personal vehicles, half of the people who work in London take public transit to work. Rail is the dominant mode for commuting throughout this period, even more so in recent years, reaching 79% of the total in 2010. As a part of commuting, these trips are not optional to the travelers. With the projected job growth in London reaching 700,000 over the next 20 years, the city needs its public transportation system to support the commuters and accommodate the employment growth.

London’s rail and underground systems are very congested during peak hours on weekdays, which largely increases the traveling time per ride. With the high population and employment growth, these transit networks need to upgrade its capacity significantly to meet the needs for commuting. After Crossrail come into use, the congestion in along the rail and underground will be highly relieved, but it is still not sufficient for the rapid growing need of commuting. It is obvious that improving the capacity for public transit is required for London’s transportation system.

There were several proposals being considered other than Crossrail 2. These proposals include longer trains on some major train lines; extending Crossrail 1 to the south and west and extending the northern line of underground and DLR. The problem with these possible plans is that they are either too expensive or not effective enough.Extending existed train lines will be extra complex and costly, while incorporating longer trains have been done in different rails in the city and is not effective enough to meet the future need for transit. After weighing the costs and benefits, Crossrail 2 was proved to be a proposal that has the best cost performances and could meet London’s public transportation needs in future decades.

Alignments

The Crossrail 2 alignment through the West End offers considerable alleviation to the congestion on sections of the Tube that are projected to suffer intense crowding in the future, which include the Victoria and Piccadilly lines as well as key interchanges with National Rail such as King’s Cross and London Victoria. Crossrail 2 scheme through the central section would also offer scope for interchange with Crossrail 1, Thameslink and HS1, thus offering improved connectivity to international air and rail links.

The government of London is considering building a high-speed rail system which ends at Euston, which is going to attract many travellers to that area. And Crossrail 2 would highly relieve the crowding pressure in this area. According to Network Rail’s London and South East RUS’s note, Crossrail 2 “has the potential to provide significant additional dispersal capacity from the High Speed Rail network at London Euston, as well as at London St Pancras International. This would significantly alleviate severe crowding on the Victoria line at Euston Underground station, so further consideration of including a Euston stop in any Crossrail line 2 scheme is recommended.”

The north-east section of the route also has strong potential to relieve crowding, especially on the Victoria and Piccadilly lines. Through intersecting at Tottenham Hale and/or Seven Sisters, Crossrail 2 is able to significantly reduce crowding levels, through offering a fast, high-capacity alternative, from north-east London into the West End and beyond, which also helps reduce National Rail crowding, given the high levels of demand on the Tube from Great Northern and West Anglia services. Crossrail 2 could also increase the level of connectivity to support economic development in the Upper Lee Valley area, potentially stimulating more regeneration potential than enhancing existing rail links in the area could otherwise provide. A Crossrail 2 link could help drive regeneration in these areas in the same way that the extension of the Tube into the north-west drove London’s expansion in the 1930s and the extension of the Jubilee line eastwards spurred regeneration of the Docklands and east London from the 1980s.

Route Options

Transport for London and Network rail will consider the consultation findings and recommend to the Mayor whether or not to go ahead with the line.

Option A

The route of option A starts from Alexandra Palace to Clapham Junction. This is the major body of the proposal of Crossrail 2. It will largely relieve the congestion pressure of Underground and other transit stations in Westminster, Southwark and central London. The main advantage of option A is it cost less, since it has less railroads to build. As a self-contained line, it will also be relatively easy to operate. Nevertheless, there are also shortcomings of this option. The benefits this option could offer is less than expected, which would not meet the need for public transportations. The design of option A would also add more burden to some already congested stations such Clapham Junction, which handles very heavy load of commuters and travelers at peak time. If option A was build, these stations would have to upgrade their infrastructures to cope with the rising number of passengers.

File:Option A+.PNG

Crossrail 2 option A+

Option A+

After the route of option A being proposed, Transport for London has worked to expand the services provided by option A, which lead to the design of option A+. Option A+ extend the line to Wimbledon. This extension would largely alleviate the congestion pressure of Clapham Junction by distributing passengers to the line to the south between Clapham Junction and Wimbledon. The benefits provided by the advanced route of option A, a.k.a. option A+, include relieving the congestion pressure for Victoria, Piccadilly, and Northern lines, improving connectivity for Chelsea and Hackney, and connecting Crossrail 1, HS1, HS2 and Thameslink by interchanges. After weighing strengths and weaknesses, the Transport for London has decided to take forward Option A+ as an important alternative proposal.

Option B

The route of Option B has more lines serving suburban areas around London, which offers enormous potential to relieve congestion on key south-west commuter routes into London Waterloo, London Victoria and Clapham Junction. As we can see from the map, option B offers several branch lines to the suburban areas in the North and the South. The additional lines could offer a great increase in the transport capacity.

There will be about 35% to 40% increase of high peak trains serving Waterloo and spreading the congestion pressure. The transporting in suburban areas near Kingston, Epsom, Chessington and Hampton will also be improved in journey time and choice of destinations. This construction would also bring support to the economic development in the Upper Lee Valley.

The analysis clearly shows that Crossrail 2 is beneficial to the development of London. As for the Option A+ spends less money but also bring less benefits. Compared with other options, option B is the best value for budget. TfL believes that option B is the option that would best meet the transportation demand of future London. As a result, option B is the priority of TfL and could form the basis of a new safeguard route.

Concerns

1. Crossrail 2 serving areas with already good connections or duplicating existing lines

The proposed alignment could largely relieve existing London Underground and National Rail services pressure. Serving areas that already have good levels of connectivity will maximize the connectivity benefits of the scheme through interchange with London Underground services.

2. Concerns about the cost of the scheme and the use of public resources

London's large population growth poses great pressure on the city's transportation system. Large investment is required to improve the capacity of transit infrastructure. The financial case for the project builds on the November 2014 PWC funding and financing feasibility study, which demonstrated that over half of the overall cost of the project could be met through London sources.

3. The possible gentrification and rising house prices in areas directly served by Crossrail 2

Crossrail 2 could unlock up to 200,000 more homes. Affordable housing is also a requirement for new developments. The building of crossrail 2 could potentially stimulate more housing development along the line. The local planning authorities will also work with the city government to make sure that sufficient affordable housing will be provided.

Discussion Questions

What kind of change would Crossrail 2 bring to the land use types of the regions along the line?

Which city in the U.S./other parts of the world do you think could also introduce some project like the crossrail 2 to improve their transit system?