Network Rail; "Planning for the future of railways in London, the South East and beyond"

"The London and South East market study just published represents a new style of research designed to look 10 to 30 years into the future, looking at the wider role rail travel plays in Britain’s economic life."

Link to web site

"Currently, more than 70 per cent of all rail journeys in England and Wales take place in London and the South East. Open to consultation from 25 April 2013, the final version of the study will help form the basis of where the region’s rail travel will go, in the 2019 – 2024 period and beyond.

"Richard Eccles, director of network strategy and planning, said:

"This is part of our new approach to planning, which looks at the role that rail plays in the economic life of Britain.

What we need to decide is how the network should develop to achieve economic growth, help reduce carbon emissions from transport and improve quality of life for people.

This approach allows greater freedom of thought, and is not constrained by current service patterns or cost and deliverability, though of course we will look at these issues in subsequent planning stages."

HS2 Ltd recommends tunnel under Ealing and Northolt - "Tunnel would be quicker to build and less disruptive"

23 April 2013

"Britain’s high speed rail network could be tunnelled under Ealing and Northolt, in a move that would be 15 months quicker to build and minimise disruption to residents and traffic in north-west London.

"HS2 Ltd will recommend that High Speed Two (HS2) be tunnelled between Old Oak Common and Northolt after HS2 Ltd investigated this suggestion from local residents and Ealing Council. A study has recommended a tunnel as the best option for this specific section of the route because a surface route would have caused more disruption to traffic, cost as much or more than a tunnel, and would have taken longer to build.

"HS2 Ltd commissioned a study to look at the possibility of building a tunnel, rather than a route on the surface. This was suggested by residents in Ealing and Northolt, along with Ealing Council and the Mayor of London. Following the results of the study, HS2 Ltd is now recommending – and the Secretary of State for Transport is minded to take the option forward – a 9km bored tunnel between North Acton (near Old Oak Common) and Northolt.

"If adopted, this would mean the proposed route for HS2 would be in continuous bored twin tunnels from Old Oak Common to West Ruislip – making it the longest tunnel on the route at 14km. This would make the tunnel longer than any of the tunnels currently being built under London for Crossrail.

HS2 Ltd Community and Stakeholder Manager for London, Peter Fry, said:

“The recommendation to build a tunnel through Ealing and Northolt shows what can be achieved by working with local people, and that we value their input and suggestions.

“The study we commissioned found that for this specific section of the line, the cost of tunnel would be comparable with a route on the surface, without the need to replace bridges and divert associated utilities.

“The proposed tunnel will be included as the preferred option in the draft Environmental Statement for the first phase of HS2, so the community and stakeholders will have the opportunity to respond to this proposal as part of the consultation in coming months.”

"The original route of HS2 through north west London, as announced in January 2012, proposed following the little used, existing railway line along the Northolt corridor.

"However, a comprehensive study has been completed looking at the effects of building a 9km tunnel through Ealing and Northolt compared with using the existing rail alignment next to the Central Line - taking into account bridge replacements needed for a surface route compared to the infrastructure required to accompany a tunnel, such as shafts. 

"It found, following more detailed work undertaken by HS2 Ltd, the surface option involved greater design complexity, including replacing both spans of the Hanger Lane gyratory. A tunnel would also be an estimated 15 months quicker to build than a surface route.

"The proposed tunnel under Ealing and Northolt will be consulted on as alongside the draft Environmental Statement, due to be published in coming months.

"If the route is tunnelled, vent shafts would be needed between North Acton and Northolt; their proposed locations will be consulted on alongside the draft Environmental Statement."

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Listen to BBC interview on LonelyBoo.

"New images show Crossrail’s 'London tunnelling marathon' making good progress"

Link to Crossrail web site

"The new Crossrail route includes a 26-mile (42km) section of tunnels beneath London. Five huge tunnelling machines are now in operation in west, east and south-east London, with over 5½ miles (9km) of tunnels now built.

"Tunnelling is also well underway beneath central London station sites using Sprayed Concrete Lining ‘mining’ techniques to create a further 7.5 miles (12km) of platform tunnels and cross passages."

BBC: "HS2 scraps Euston station rebuild plans"

Link to web site
or here for larger image

"Plans to demolish and rebuild the UK's sixth busiest railway station for the HS2 high-speed project have been dropped.

"Euston station in London will now be developed by improving the existing station. Eleven new platforms for high-speed trains will be built around the current platforms.

"The £16.3bn London to Birmingham section of the rail project is aimed to be running by 2026. The updated proposals were announced by the HS2 company, responsible for developing and promoting the first phase of the project."

Boris's "Legacy planners play it safe and snub science." (Now, where's there another site?)

Link to Evening Standard

"Pictured is Wellcome Trust’s planned new home for 7000 scientists on the Olympic Park. The £14 billion charity had Fred Pilbrow, then of PLP Architects, draw up plans to rebuild the 900-foot-long tin shed, turning it into what was to be the London Life Sciences Centre.

"Wellcome made the bid to take over and manage the entire Olympic Park and athlete’s village, and turn the whole place into a huge science park. This was thought to be a particularly silly idea by the Olympic Park Legacy Company."

Camden New Journal: "New 'cheapskate' HS2 Euston Station: years of disruption, but what benefits?"

Link to web site

"A RADICALLY scaled-back version of the HS2 railway station planned for Euston was presented to councillors in a 'private meeting' at the Town Hall last night (Wednesday).

"The new set of proposals will be sent for government ministers to digest in the next few weeks.

"The New Journal revealed last month how the government-funded HS2 Ltd was changing direction over its massive demolition plan after realising the £33billion project was running late and already around 30 per cent over budget."

LB of Hammersmith & Fulham: "Old Oak Common: Opportunity Area Planning Framework"

"In January 2012 the Government announced its decision to proceed with proposals for High Speed 2 rail service, connecting London to Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds via a new 250mph rail line.

The proposals include a station at Old Oak Common in the north of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham, which may be known as Park Royal City International.

As well as providing a connection to High Speed 2, the station will be connected to Crossrail and the Great Western Main Line.

This will make Park Royal City one of the nations best connected locations, under 40 minutes from Birmingham, 1¼ hours from Manchester, 2¼ hours from Paris and 10 minutes from Heathrow and the West End.

As a consequence, the station, in attracting both international and domestic passengers, is anticipated to be one of the UK’s top 5 stations in terms of usage.

In recognition of the areas potential for regeneration off the back of the High Speed 2 proposals, the Greater London Authority has designated the area as an Opportunity Area, which identifies the area as having substantial capacity for new homes and jobs.

Hammersmith and Fulham, along with the Greater London Authority, Transport for London, Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea and London Boroughs of Brent and Ealing have started to produce an Opportunity Area Planning Framework for the area, which will provide planning guidance for the future development of the area.

The Opportunity Areas core development area stretches from North Acton to the west, to Wormwood Scrubs to the south, to Kensal Gasworks to the east and to Willesden Junction to the north.

Early work on this planning framework has shown that with a coordinated approach to the design of Park Royal City International station, the area has the potential to accommodate 19,000 homes and 100,000 jobs, phased over a 30 year period, unlocking over £50 billion of gross value added to the UK economy.

This would make Park Royal City London’s biggest Opportunity Area in terms of its capacity for development and potential regeneration benefits.

The council plans to consult on this emerging framework later in the year, which will be made available to view and comment on."

"... As part of this work, consideration is being given to future delivery vehicles for regeneration of the area and a 'Mayoral Development Corporation' is one option under consideration.

The Opportunity Area Planning Framework has been circulated to a small number of parties, to fact-check the information included within it, before a public consultation."
 

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