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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Local blogger, @technicalslip, today suggested an extension to the Victoria Line to service the NE of the borough and elsewhere. Nice idea, but perhaps an economic crisis or two away from being realised.

Full post on the Technical Slip blog.

Tags for Forum Posts: public transport, vitoria line

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Thanks for linking to this Hugh. I didn't really give any reasoning in the blog post but it should be fairly obvious - much improved capacity for White Hart Lane on match days, better links to C. London/West End for North Tottenham/Edmonton, Whipps Cross area, a link between E/NE London (Central Line) and N/NE London (Victoria Line).

Trains which currently stop at Seven Sisters and turn around could carry on to Edmonton and do so there.

The Northbound extension wouldn't in my view be too tricky/expensive. I'm just going over some docs that David Lammy's office sent me about the (failed) business case for an extension only as far as Northumberland Park from 2003 but that was  rejected on the basis that only a few people would use it from there. If it went to Angel Road (alongside the railway) then cut-and-cover to Edmonton Green along the edge of the cemeteries it wouldn't cost much at all (esp. compared with the 2-stop Nine Elms/Battersea extension the govt. are approving).

Anyway, while there's supposedly appetite for infrastructure investment out there I thought I'd get some more of my daydreams out there (Stephen and I have already been enthusing about trams...). The social case may be stronger than the purely economic one but then there is the football crowd issue too.

And in case you're feeling left out of my mental meanderings, ladder, I think my next sketch will be to integrate the Moorgate-Potters Bar section of the railway into the tube network... 

All ears!

The above extensions were both part of the original post WW2 proposals for what later became the Victoria Line.. as well of course, an extension from Brixton via Streatham to Croydon.. LT and now TfL has always insisted that the line couldn't cope with any more stations or the increase in passengers that would bring.. although many of those travelling to Brixton or Seven Sisters do already travel on to those destinations, but by other means..

@WB  - not sure you should bother .. The depth of The Bank of England's vaults makes it virtually impossible to extend the line South from Moorgate. There have been many proposals in the past to join the Waterloo & City Line up with what was the Northern City Line but all failed due to that..

OT: A school friend of mine who lived in Stroud Green was on the ill-fated Northern City Line train on 28th Feb. 1975 but luckily she survived.. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moorgate_tube_crash

Now they've only got one single gold bar to put in their vaults, maybe they'd be open to some gentle persuasion!

Yes, some of the capacity arguments are quite compelling, but on the other hand, I think you're right. Many get off at Victoria to go on to those places and the line is generally less busy south of there. You could have a through line to Croydon and a loop via Herne Hill, allowing half the trains to turn straight round and the rest to go through further south. And a loop turnaround (or a four platform terminus further south) would allow more trains per hour as I understand it...

As always, there's never enough cash around to build 'unnecessary' Underground extensions..In fact, the Victoria Line was built in a time when cash was short and therefore the opportunity to build the tunnels to a 'sub-surface' size wasn't persued .. causing many of the loading problems seen today. There was actually no real physical need to build it at 'tube' size, apart from financial restrictions, as it was a completely new line.. In fact, the tunnels of the former Northern City Railway, now used by the Victoria Line at Finsbury Park have always had 'main-line' dimensions and can accomodate larger trains.

If the Herne Hill loop were built it could be counter balanced by a Northern extension to Edmonton, although that routeing (via NP) is 'necessarily' a bit 'back-doorish' but feesable and wouldn't need extra paths South of Seven Sisters. It does, however have operational problems as all Underground trains have A & B ends and with a loop working, some trains would end up being the wrong way around and turning operations would be needed.

The possibility of a Vic - Central Line connection also comes up regularly, but with the faster journey time, I fear it would divert many passengers (especially those wanting to travel North of Woodford) onto the Victoria Line. 

In my opinion, a cheaper North> East London link could be provided by slightly repositioning one of the platform banks at Leytonstone (Central Line) and providing interchange with Leytonstone High Road (Overground) .. This would afford many new fast cross-town links and would certainly increase usuage of the GOBLIN service. I always dreamed of this all the years I lived at Woodford Green and wanted to travel by public transport to North London.

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