Crossrail 2 - will it mean fewer Earlsfield trains?

This blog has covered Crossrail 2 a number of times over recent years. However eagle-eyed reader Ian has picked up an issue that could have huge consequences for Earlsfield commuters. The current consultation closes this Friday, so have a read of Ian's post below and make sure you submit your comments, however short, to the consultation by the end of the week.

Ian writes:

"Crossrail 2 starts in 2030 and while this seems a long way away under the current proposals did you know that Earlsfield would have a reduced rail service after CR2 opens?

According to Network Rail the current peak service of 17-18 trains per hour would be reduced by about 35%:

"On current assumptions this would leave 10, possibly 12 trains per hour serving Earlsfield at peak times; i.e a train every 5-6 minutes on average". 

(email from Chris Curtis, Head of Crossrail 2, Network Rail)

Trains from Shepperton, Chessington, Hampton Court and Epsom would no longer stop at Earlsfield but would instead divert from Wimbledon via the new Balham Crossrail station.

Earlsfield is not officially included in the current CR2 consultation (and the reduced rail service is not mentioned) but the consultation website is open to comments from all.

According to Network Rail the reduced Earlsfield services would be less crowded because:

• Waterloo is not the final choice of destination for most commuters
• Over half of commuters using services running through this station would choose to use CR2 to other destination stations instead.

The current public consultation for CR2 ends on Friday 8th January 2016.

Have your say: https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossrail2/october2015/consultation/"

See maps of the proposed route: http://crossrail2.co.uk/consultation/.

Two days left to have your say on Crossrail 2 and Wandsworth Common

Dan Watkins has done a comprehensive roundup of what the current Crossrail 2 proposals mean for the local area. He says:

"By way of a summary, the route enters Tooting on the Longley Road end of Tooting High Street, travels north close to the high street up to Hebdon Road, veers west a little underneath Springfield Hospital and directly underneath the Burntwood Lane/Trinity Road junction, before passing under Wandsworth Common all the way up to the Spencer Park Rd / A3 junction.

It is entirely underground through our area, but there are 4 areas of surface interest (‘ASIs’) where access shafts will be built to help with construction, ventilation etc. It was clear from the public meeting that these are the main areas of controversy for our area, with residents wishing to minimise disruption and loss of green space.

The 4 ASIs are:

•          Just behind Tooting Broadway station (on the south side)
•          Next to Tooting Market, on Totterdown Street
•          On Trinity Fields (on the Burntwood Lane / Trinity Road junction)
•          Next to Skylark Café in Wandsworth Common. "

Draft route of Crossrail 2

The consultation is on "safeguarding" the relevant land above and below ground - ensuring that any planning applications will be able to accommodate the planned development. It is open until midnight on Wednesday 28th January.

Local group 'Save Wandsworth Common' has concerns about the impact on Wandsworth Common and Trinity Fields. They have set up a website where you can submit an email objection to the scheme. Remember though that this consultation is about how the sites are reflected in planning. Consultation about exactly where infrastructure is placed will follow later in the year.

TfL rules out Earlsfield link for Crossrail 2

Last summer TfL consulted on their plans for Crossrail 2, a new transport connection planned to run between southwest and northeast London. My blog post of the time asked what the impact might be on Earlsfield.

Tfl has now published a summary (PDF) of the consultation responses and their answers to the questions raised. Apparently others were also interested in Earlsfield, however TfL's response to suggestions that the scheme serve Earlsfield is fairly clear:

So it seems Tooting wins this round... Earlsfielders will just have to wait till South West Trains can run longer, 10-carriage trains into Waterloo.

Northern line to come to Clapham Junction?

Photo by Andrew Skudder on Flickr

That's the latest on the Northern Line extension according to this week's Wandsworth Guardian. They quote Wandsworth and Merton London Assembly member Richard Tracey, who apparently said a connection to Clapham Junction is a matter of "when not if".

Any link to Clapham Junction would take place after the completion of the Kennington-Nine Elms-Battersea Power Station extension. Work on the spur is due to start in January 2015, completing in approximately 2020.

The proposed Clapham Junction extension is included in the Crossrail 2 consultation, currently open for public comment.

Crossrail 2: what does it mean for Earlsfield?

Transport for London and Network Rail have opened a new consultation on Crossrail 2 - a rail connection that would run between southwest and northeast London.

There are two routes being proposed: the 'metro route' and the 'regional route'. At the core of both options is an underground route running from Wimbledon to Alexandra Palace via central London. Predictions are that this would be a DLR-style service, taking around thirty minutes from Wimbledon to Alexandra Palace.

TfL map of the metro route and regional scheme

The proposed regional scheme (in purple and white lines above) would extend outwards from Wimbledon and Angel. In the southwest, trains would run on South West Trains lines, and possibly replace some services to and from Waterloo. It is estimated that the service could be operational by the early 2030s at a cost of up to £19.7 billion (for the regional option).

So what does this mean for Earlsfield?  

 

At the moment, Earlsfield isn't mentioned directly in the consultation. But we could infer that more trains starting and finishing at Wimbledon would mean fewer trains through Earlsfield. At the same time, Earlsfield residents could benefit from better transport links into central London on the metro line from Wimbledon and Tooting Broadway.

The statistics and projections available focus predominantly on population estimates and overcrowding rather than tackling wider questions of local economic impact, for example. If you were putting in a response, what do you think the effect would be on Earlsfield? Would being close to Crossrail 2 give the neighbourhood a boost, or would we be left behind by a revitalised Tooting?

How to respond

 

The consultation runs from 14 May to 2 August 2013. You can respond online at the TfL consultation site.