East London Line
The
East London Line is a line of the
London Underground, coloured orange on the
Tube map. It runs north to south in the
East End and
Docklands areas of
London. Its history is connected with those of six other railway companies since its opening in 1865. It runs under the
Thames through the
Thames Tunnel, built by
Marc Brunel and opened in
1843 as a pedestrian tunnel, and is the oldest part of the Underground's infrastructure.
:
see also East London Railway for early details of the LineThe ELR was opened in 1869, at the time the most easterly crossing of the
River Thames. It was jointly owned by six railway companies, and after the
1923 Grouping passenger services of the
Metropolitan Railway and goods trains of the
London and North Eastern Railway worked the line. When the railway came under the
London Passenger Transport Board in 1933 it was operated as a branch of the
Metropolitan Line, known as the "East London Branch" and later as the "Metropolitan Line - East London Section".
Underground services ran from the East London Railway's southern termini at the two
New Cross stations (SER & LBSCR - the LBSCR station was later renamed
New Cross Gate) to
South Kensington via
Edgware Road. The service was diverted to
Hammersmith, providing the core of today's
Hammersmith & City Line, but through services from the East London Railway ceased in 1941. The line was left as an isolated appendage on the edge of the Underground network. Its only passenger interchange to the Underground was at Whitechapel, with interchanges to
British Rail trains at the two New Cross stations.
On tube maps it was the same purple colour as the Metropolitan but was distinguished by a centred white stripe. In the 1980s it was renamed as a line in its own right, and in the early 1990s the colour used was changed to the present orange.
The opening of the
Docklands Light Railway provided a new connection for the East London Line at
Shadwell (although the tube and DLR stations are 50 m apart and the interchange is via the street), and in 1999 a new station,
Canada Water, was opened to connect with the
Jubilee Line Extension. The line has two distinctions: it is the second-shortest line (the
Waterloo and City line is the shortest), with an end-to-end journey time of only 12 minutes; and it is the only line not to enter
Travelcard Zone 1.
As of 2003, the line is maintained by the
Metronet consortium under a
Public-Private Partnership.
|
A train of A stock stands at Surrey Quays. |
The line uses
Metropolitan Line A60 and A62 sub-surface rolling stock. Trains on the East London Line used to be operated with guards as well as a driver; the decision to withdraw the guards prompted an unsuccessful strike on the line in May 1985. The current rolling stock, built in the early 1960s, was upgraded in 1994 with improved suspension, lighting, heating and ventilation. The rolling stock is regularly interchanged with that used on the main
Metropolitan Line and usually carries both East London and Metropolitan Line maps.
Only five trains operate on the line, each one consisting of four cars. This makes them some of the shortest trains on the network, necessitated by the line's short platforms. The small number of trains makes the East London Line particularly sensitive to disruption caused by vandalism or train faults, as the withdrawal of a single train amounts to a 20% cut in capacity. By contrast, the Metropolitan Line would have to lose nine trains to suffer the same capacity cut.
Light maintenance and stabling are provided at a small depot near
New Cross. For heavier work trains are sent to the main
Metropolitan Line depot at
Neasden.
New rolling stock
As part of the upgrade of the East London Line, new rolling stock will enter service to replace the A Stock (which will be 50 years old by the time Phase 1 is complete in 2010). There are four bids for the supply of rolling stock -
Siemens,
Bombardier and
Hitachi are all offering new build, while
Porterbrook is proposing reconditioned stock cascaded from the
National Rail network modified for use on the ELL.
|
Geographically accurate map of the East London Line. Note that Whitechapel to Shoreditch has now closed. |
In order from north to south*
Shoreditch - opened
31 March 1913. Closed permanently
9 June 2006.
*
Whitechapel - ELL platforms opened
31 March 1913*
Shadwell - opened
1 October 1884*
Wapping - opened
1 October 1884*
Rotherhithe - opened
1 October 1884*
Canada Water - opened
17 September 1999*
Surrey Quays - opened as Deptford Road
1 October 1884*
line splits**
New Cross Gate - opened as New Cross
1 October 1884**
New Cross - opened
1 October 1884Shoreditch is currently being served by a rail-replacement bus from Whitechapel cascaded from solo buses from
Travel London.
Extensions of the East London Line have been discussed for many years, with the intention of expanding the line from a small stub in the network to a major transport artery. In 1998, London Transport announced that it was seeking private funds to realise plans that had been discussed for some years to extend the line into south London, sharing track and stations with the main line network (as already happens on parts of the
Bakerloo Line,
District Line and
Metropolitan Line).
In 1999, proposals emerged for the East London Line and other sub-surface Underground lines to be transferred to
Railtrack (now
Network Rail), responsible for maintaining the national rail network. This would have seen the line being integrated with the London suburban commuter network. Because of an inability to extend the platforms at the existing
Wapping and
Rotherhithe stations and make them fully compliant with current rail safety regulations, it was thought that they would be closed, but on
18 August 2004 Ken Livingstone,
Mayor of London, announced that both stations will remain open, at least when Phase 1 of the project opens in 2010.
After the Government gave the go-ahead on
9 October 2001, the construction of the northern extension was due to begin in December 2001. However, it was held up when it came to light that the
Grade I listed 17th century Braithwaite arches in the former
Bishopsgate Goods Yard were to be demolished as part of the project. Campaigners launched legal action against London Underground in an effort to prevent the demolition, but the project finally received legal clearance in the
Court of Appeal on
7 July 2003. It is now anticipated that the northerly extension should open in 2010 (at least to
Dalston), in time for the
2012 Summer Olympics being held in London, a timescale confirmed by the project team in January 2006. As part of the work for the extension, the line will be closed for 18 months in winter 2007/spring 2008. [
1]
 |
East London Line Extension plans, highlighting the phased delivery plans. |
This triple extension project is the first London Underground project to be funded through a
Private Finance Initiative scheme, though the recent
Jubilee Line Extension project was funded through a similar
Public-Private Partnership scheme. The project will cost some
£600 million and is projected to yield £10 billion in economic regeneration. It is still not entirely certain whether it will be completed, as the
Treasury has not yet confirmed the full funding.
On
12 October 2004 the Mayor of London formally confirmed that phase one of the East London Line Project would be delivered as part of the Capital Investment programme. A month later, on
16 November, he announced that control of the project had formally passed from the
Strategic Rail Authority to
Transport for London, so that the project may be initiated and funded from TfL's five-year investment programme. The planned service is described as a "metro-style (National Rail) train service"[
2], although at present the plan is that the line will retain the familiar Underground roundel but with TfL Rail branding, in approximately the same colour as the East London Line currently appears on tube maps.
Apart from the Braithwaite arches, the route of the northern extension was uncontroversial, as it was essentially confined to reusing the disused viaduct to the former
Broad Street station. By contrast, the southerly route underwent many changes. The initial 1999 proposal listed four options, all starting south of Surrey Quays:
* through Dulwich and Tooting to Wimbledon;
* through Dulwich to Croydon, with a spur from Sydenham to Crystal Palace
(chosen);
* through Denmark Hill to Clapham Junction;
* through Sydenham and Anerley to Croydon.
Northern extension
As a part of phase 1 of the extension project, the line is to be extended northwards from Whitechapel, with new stations created at
Shoreditch High Street,
Hoxton,
Haggerston and
Dalston Junction. In phase 2, the line will be extended to run parallel to the
North London Line, going through
Canonbury and terminating at
Highbury & Islington, for interchange with the
Victoria Line,
North London Line and
Northern City Line. The northern extension will require only about 4
km of new railway to be constructed, as existing but disused trackbeds (principally the Broad Street viaduct) will be used for most of the distance.
Shoreditch closed permanently in June 2006, and joined the list of
closed London Underground stations. The new tracks will diverge before the current Shoreditch station, traverse the former site of the Bishopsgate Goods Yard, before running north along the Broad Street Viaduct. A
new Shoreditch station will be located near to Shoreditch High Street. Statutory planning powers for the extension were granted in January 1997.
Early in the project's life mention was made of the possibility of further extending the line from
Highbury & Islington, to
Finsbury Park to the north, and
Willesden Junction to the west, by way of
Camden Road,
Primrose Hill and
Queen's Park, following the above-ground
Network Rail North London Line tracks. This was known as the Mayor's
Orbirail project. These ideas are not in the present project. The project's web site states that Finsbury Park is omitted because of operational complexity and says that the Willesden Junction branch could be considered as a separate project in the future.
Western extension
As a part of phase 2 of the extension project, a 2.5
km link is planned to connect the line south of
Surrey Quays to the overground Network Rail
South London Line to
Clapham Junction, by way of
Queens Road Peckham,
Peckham Rye,
Denmark Hill,
Clapham High Street and
Wandsworth Road. A new station at Surrey Canal Road would also be built. Initially, it was planned to run this line via East Dulwich to Wimbledon, but this plan has been shelved, probably permanently.
Southern extension
In phase 1, the line will also be extended with a flyover link at
New Cross Gate to the Network Rail
Brighton Line, through
Brockley,
Honor Oak Park,
Forest Hill,
Sydenham,
Penge West,
Crystal Palace (by way of a branch),
Anerley,
Norwood Junction and terminating at
West Croydon. Beyond the construction of a train servicing facility and flyover at New Cross Gate, little work will be needed to achieve this. Both of these plans were approved in October 2001.
There was some campaigning for this extension to go further to
Sutton, but estimates indicated that passenger usage would be so great that the line would be unable to take much traffic north of
West Croydon and this option was not adopted.
*
East London Line - London Underground website
*
Clive's Underground Line Guides: East London Line*
Thames foot tunnels*
East London Line Project (official home page)
*
East London Line extensions map*
Transport Briefing Updates on East and North London Line developments
*
East London Line addon for the
train simulator BVEVarious sources have been used in the creation of this article, including the external links above,
email conversations with the ELL Project Team and
emails from the ELL Project Team update newsletter.
