DLR to Highgate and beyond.

[mrjrt]

In my previous ramblings I've suggested various ways of utilising the disused northern heights line for various services, but a new thought occurred to me last night. Some people have suggested as a compromise a light rail service over the line instead of a traditional heavy-rail tube or metro service.

Understandably, most people on this forum, (myself included) would prefer tube services as a matter of course, however, would DLR services provide equal or greater service capacity? TfL's pages state that the capacity of a DLR carriage is ~250, a similar number to the figure they give for tube carriages. The trains may be shorter, but allegedly they're also far more frequent.

I started my line of thought by considering what was said when I proposed linking the Northern City line to the Waterloo and City line by extending from Moorgate. I was told that the alignment of the W&C at Bank was pretty awful (east facing), and in fact the DLR platforms actually pointed near enough north.

That got me thinking, I've read a lot about the DLR being overwhelmed with passengers, though seemingly it always manages to cope. What I considered was extending a tube service through along the DLR route from Moorgate to West India Quays, taking over 2 of the four tracks from the Poplar junction south (or with another bridge, Canary Wharf). The DLR would still retain all of its other services aside from it's western ones as none of its other lines need to be altered. Finsbury Park to Canary Wharf sounds like a good opportunity to me, possibly reinstating the line to Highgate for depot facilities. Maintaining Tower Gateway would require additional viaduct along quite a long stretch of the line form the docks, so I doubt that would be feasible.

So that was the plan. Then it occurred to me that perhaps they wouldn't really like to do that expensive rebuild required for tube-gauge trains, so perhaps the opposite would be more feasible, DLR extended north to Highgate, as the mainline tunnels should be easily large enough.

Which leads me back to where I started this ramble. Light rail over the heights. Thoughts?

[Deleted]

mrjrt said:

In my previous ramblings I've suggested various ways of utilising the disused northern heights line for various services, but a new thought occurred to me last night. Some people have suggested as a compromise a light rail service over the line instead of a traditional heavy-rail tube or metro service.

Understandably, most people on this forum, (myself included) would prefer tube services as a matter of course, however, would DLR services provide equal or greater service capacity? TfL's pages state that the capacity of a DLR carriage is ~250, a similar number to the figure they give for tube carriages. The trains may be shorter, but allegedly they're also far more frequent.

There is also the fact that DLR trains can manage a much larger number of stops in a given distance, compared to Underground or heavy rail services. Given the lack of enthusiasm that local residents have over the development of the corridor, a DLR-style light rail service would be a good compromise.

mrjrt said:

I started my line of thought by considering what was said when I proposed linking the Northern City line to the Waterloo and City line by extending from Moorgate. I was told that the alignment of the W&C at Bank was pretty awful (east facing), and in fact the DLR platforms actually pointed near enough north.

The reversing siding points north; AFAIK that was the only area where vaults did not get in the way of the TBM.

mrjrt said:

That got me thinking, I've read a lot about the DLR being overwhelmed with passengers, though seemingly it always manages to cope. What I considered was extending a tube service through along the DLR route from Moorgate to West India Quays, taking over 2 of the four tracks from the Poplar junction south (or with another bridge, Canary Wharf). The DLR would still retain all of its other services aside from it's western ones as none of its other lines need to be altered. Finsbury Park to Canary Wharf sounds like a good opportunity to me, possibly reinstating the line to Highgate for depot facilities. Maintaining Tower Gateway would require additional viaduct along quite a long stretch of the line form the docks, so I doubt that would be feasible.

There is also the fact that an expensive flying junction would be needed at Royal Mint Street, in order to allow Tower Gateway to be served without a flat crossing of the down DLR from Bank. There is also the fact that taking over the GN&CR for DLR services would not be possible until and unless the Gasworks Chord is constructed, thus unifying the FCC routes into a single network and fulfilling Thameslink 2000.

It seems to me though that taking over DLR tracks and segregating them from the DLR network would be a very bad idea; if this was to work at all, it would be far better to terminate the trains from Highgate at Canary Wharf, and run then no further into the network. Doing so establishes the useful cross-London link, decreases conflicting movements and increases capacity in and out of Bank station.

The primary disadvantage is that the DLR system would get even larger, possibly making it unwieldy. Many would question the utility of running light-rail trains on such a route, and some would say that the DLR is already Too Big.

mrjrt said:

So that was the plan. Then it occurred to me that perhaps they wouldn't really like to do that expensive rebuild required for tube-gauge trains, so perhaps the opposite would be more feasible, DLR extended north to Highgate, as the mainline tunnels should be easily large enough.

They are not much smaller than current DLR tunnels, but they may not fulfill modern evacuation standards.

mrjrt said:

Which leads me back to where I started this ramble. Light rail over the heights. Thoughts?

The original route from Finsbury Park to Highgate had only two stations: Crouch End and Stroud Green. Building more stations and making the route more accessible to the locals might make them more likely to accept its construction.

Once Thameslink 2000 is finished and the GN&CR is no longer required to make the ECML usable, perhaps running the DLR though it might be worth investigating.

[mandgc]

"DLR to the Northern Heights"

Isn't it fun to dream up these wonderful extensions ! ( Provided you don't have to find the money for them. ) :-)

[mrjrt]

Why, of course it is

[Tubeboy]

Two stumbling blocks might be the high car ownership along the northern heights route, as well as the numerous bus routes. Also lets not forget the money might be better spent on other projects eg new staff uniforms, more plasma screens in t/ops mess rooms etc!

[mrjrt]

Just you wait. I forsee in the mid-term-future the congestion zone expanding. Ken and his successors might see a northern CC extension as just the remedy for high car usage in that region...an equivalent increase to the western expansion would see Highgate and Camden fall into the clutches of the zone quite easily.