London's Rail Plans: Past, Present and Future

1933: Edgware, Highgate & Morden line to Borehamwood East.

In October 1933, Alan daly, chartered surveyor and estate agent, met Frank Pick to propose running a line from Edgware to Bullbaiters Farm in Borehamwood.

Daly wanted to provide transport to the Elstree studios, and was acting as a representative of the owners of property on the suggested route through the Moat Mount Estate to Borehamwood.

Daly suggested that he and his partners would assist financially with the cost of the line, estimated at about £500,000 (£36 million in today’s money).

The first part of the route would run from Edgware to the following stations;

Moat Mount

Borehamwood East

The proposal was rejected by Frank Pick of London Transport Passenger Board on the 16h July 1936 due to the following reasons;

Electrifcation of existing main line through Borehamwood.

Tube traffic through Edgware was limited due by the small capacity of the line.

A depot was required at Aldenham north of Edgware.

The question of the future expansion of London.

2021: Central line extension to Harlow.

Harlow council has lobbied Transport for London to extend the Central line from Epping to Harlow.

The council has also suggested that TfL extend their fare zones to cover the Harlow area should the extension be considered. Other suggestions include quadruple tracking to Stansted Airport station and Crossrail 2 to go to Harlow.

Harlow council has not drawn up specific plans and there are no known proposed intermediate stations between Epping and Harlow. TfL haven't made any proposals as yet but are in discussion with the council.

The draft Town Plan was discussed at the Cabinet Policy Development Working Group meeting on Thursday 5 August 2021 and will go to the next Cabinet meeting in September 2021.

2006: The Royal Docks Heritage Railway.

The Royal Docks Heritage Railway endorsed in 2006 by Newham London Borough Council, was proposed to open during 2007, taking over the North Woolwich Old Station Museum and the closed section of the North London Line between Custom House and North Woolwich railway stations. Rather than concentrating on the Great Eastern Railway, it would have shown the heritage of local and suburban National Rail lines in London and the south east.

The idea was to re-double the track between stations and run heritage train services and training trains. At closure, North London Line services used only one track, but the second track was in place for much of the route. The line might have been Britain's first mainline electric preserved railway. The 1980s station building was to be the public entrance to the museum site. The official website includes details of the visions for the museum plus pictures of the line, taken from a special train run the day after the last public service ran.

The Royal Docks Heritage Railway was associated with a separate training organisation called RailSchool. The British Rail Class 50 diesel locomotive No. 50033 Glorious was to be lent to RailSchool by Swindon Steam Railway Museum.

List of Slstations:

Custom House
Connaught Halt
Silvertown
Albert Road Halt
North Woolwich

Later approval of the Crossrail project, re-using the Connaught tunnel and most of the proposed heritage railway route, effectively made the scheme redundant.

The Royal Docks Heritage Railway and Railschool were both dissolved in 2010.

1999: East London line to Finsbury Park and Wimbledon.

In 1999, the East London Line group, the stakeholder group of which the London Borough of Hackney Council was a member, became the independent custodian of the vision to merge various railway lines in London with the assistance of London Underground Limited and Railtrack.

This vision had preceded the formation of Transport for London under the Greater London Authority in 2000.
The consultations were proposed for the East London line to be extended northwards to Finsbury Park and southwards to Wimbledon using a combination of existing rail lines, new stations and the reopening of former stations such as Primrose Hill which closed in 1992.

The list of stations on the proposed extension for clarity purposes.

Finsbury Park
Highbury & Islington
Canonbury
Dalton
Hagerstown
Horton
Bishopsgate
Whitechapel
Shadwell
Wapping
Rotherhithe
Canada Water
Surrey Quays
New Cross

New Cross Gate
Brockley
Honor Oak Park
Forest Hill
Sydenham
Penge West
Crystal Palace

Anerley
Norwood Junction
West Croydon

Deptford West Bridge
Queen's Road Peckham
Peckham Rye
East Dulwich
West Dulwich
Tulse Hill
Streatham
Tooting
Haydons Road
Wimbledon

Willesden Junction
Kensal Green
Queen's Park
Kilburn High Road
South Hampstead
Primrose Hill
Camden Road
Caledonian Road & Barnsbury
Highbury & Islington

The proposals were important at the time to promote the business case of the involved areas. The investment was £150 million which would have supported £1.5 billions worth of regeneration.

Following the permanent closure of Shoreditch station, the East London Line closed in 2007 and reopened in 2010 as part of the London Overground.

Wimbledon could have been served by the Underground, Overground, Wombling free.....

1982: Docklands Tramway to Mile End.

Before the Docklands Light Railway opened in 1987, early plans were drawn up for the lines to be a driver operated tram service similar to today's trams in Croydon.

Two lines were planned, one running near Fenchirch Street to Cubitt Town via Poplar using a former railway track. The other from Poplar to Mile End via Burdett Road.

The decision was what to do when the line reached the Bow Road – should it carry on along a narrow single track towards Stratford, or turn west towards Mile End running along a road?

Another factor in favour of the automatic trains was that it would be something that could be developed by British firms, and exported. This was still a time when the government was expected to lay down trade developments rather than letting private companies decide how to invest.
It was early 1983 that a decision was taken – to replace the Mile End option in favour of the Stratford link. It was in fact the London Docklands Development Corporation that was strongly opposed to the Mile End option, and in this they were supported by the Greater London Council, although for different reasons.

Driverless automation was considered state of the art technology whilst trams were outmoded. London had abolished the tramway network thirty years earlier and the tram option was viewed as taking a step back.

The London Docklands Development Corporation weren’t keen on the tram option due to the use of overhead wires for power supplies throughout the network, and this was seen as visually undesirable.

A public display advertisement dating from 1982.

Close up of proposed route map including the abandoned tram option to Mile End.

2018: Metroisation of South London rail network.

Transport for London (TfL) proposed a document on south London rail devolution in response to a Government request. The proposal for TfL to take over all South London rail services from their current franchises. This will include lines running from the following termini; Victoria, Waterloo, London Bridge, Cannon Street and the Thameslink service.

The metroisation of the south London rail network plans to;

• Increase frequency from two trains per hour to six trains per hour.

• New interchanges at junctions connecting with lines to ensure convenient commuting for passengers.

• Trains to stop at all stations, and step-free platform access at all stations.

The most significant would be an enhanced station at Streatham Common, with new platforms on the high-level tracks from Streatham to Sutton. This would provide the key interchange necessary to allow people to move across south London. Additional turnbacks would be needed at Belmont (for a healthcare campus), Wallington, Cheam and West Croydon, with two additional platforms likely at East Croydon through other planned work.

2017: West London Orbital.

The West London Orbital is a proposed extension to the London Overground railway system in London, UK. The extension would make use of a combination of existing freight and passenger lines including the Dudding Hill Line, North London Line and Hounslow Loop. The route is estimated to cost no less than £264 million would run for approximately 11 miles (17 km) from West Hampstead and Hendon at the northern end to Hounslow at southwestern end.

The proposed route:

Hendon
Brent Cross West/Thameslink

Cricklewood
West Hampstead

Neasden
Harlesden
Old Oak Common Victoria Road
Acton Central
South Acton
Kew Bridge
Brentford
Syon Lane
Isleworth
Hounslow

In April 2019, £320 million of funding was approved for a new Brent Cross West railway station, that would also serve the potential new service.

In June 2019, Transport for London published the Strategic Outline Business Case for the scheme and concluded that there was a strong case for the scheme as it had a medium to high benefit-cost ratio.

TfL found that for 8 trains per hour in the core the BCR was between 1.4 to 1.8 and for 4 trains per hour it would be 1.7 to 2.0. As the scheme was found to have a strong business case, TfL stated that it intended to proceed to the next stage which will look at how the scheme can be funded.
A more detailed business case is expected to be developed in the near future.

1897: Baker Street & Waterloo Railway and New Cross & Waterloo Railway.

On 26 November 1897, details of a bill proposed for the 1898 parliamentary session were published by the New Cross and Waterloo Railway (NC&WR), an independent company promoted by James Heath MP, which planned two separate sections of tube line that would connect directly to the Baker Street & Waterloo Railway (BS&WR), extending the line south-east from Waterloo and east from around Marylebone Road.

The proposed route and stations.

Marylebone Euston
Baker Street Hampstead Road

Oxford Circus
Piccadilly Circus
Trafalgar Square
Embankment
Waterloo
St. George's Circus
Elephant & Castle
New Kent Road
Bermondsey New Road
Mina Road
Bowles Road
Commercial Road
Old Kent Road

The southern of the NC&WR's two extensions was planned to connect with the BS&WR tunnels under Belvedere Road to the west of Waterloo station and head east under the mainline station to its own station under Sandell Street adjacent to Waterloo East station. The route was then planned to run under Waterloo Road, St George's Circus and London Road to Elephant and Castle. The route then followed New Kent Road and Old Kent Road as far as the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's Old Kent Road station (closed in 1917).

Intermediate stations were to be constructed at St George's Circus, Elephant and Castle (where the NC&WR station would interchange with the C&SLR's station below ground and link to the London, Chatham and Dover Railway's station above ground), in New Kent Road at Munton Road, at the junction of New Kent Road and Old Kent Road, and on Old Kent Road at the junctions with Mina Road, Bowles Road and Commercial Road (now Commercial Way).

A power station was planned on the south side of Old Kent Road where it crossed the Grand Surrey Canal (now filled-in) at the junction with St James's Road. This would have provided a delivery route for fuel and a source of water.

Tunnels were also planned to connect the BS&WR's proposed depot at Waterloo to the NC&WR's route enabling trains to enter and exit in two directions.

The NC&WR's other planned extension was to branch from the BS&WR's curve under Park Crescent. It was then to curve eastwards under Regent's Park and then run under Longford Street and Drummond Street to end at a station on the west side of Seymour Street (now Eversholt Street) under Euston station. An intermediate station was planned for the junction of Drummond Street and Hampstead Road.

The bill was deposited in Parliament, but no progress was made in the 1898 session and it disappeared afterwards, although the BS&WR presented a modified version of the Euston branch in a bill for the 1899 session.

Route diagram showing the rejected route proposed in 1898 running from Marylebone at top left to Old Kent Road at bottom right. A short branch leaves the main route and curves to the right to end at Euston.

2013: Piccadilly line extension to Slough.

Slough Borough Council lobbied Transport for London to extend the Piccadilly line from Heathrow Terminal 5 to Slough.

There were two options to the extension proposal; a direct route to Slough with no intermediate stops and another with stops at Sunnymeads and Datchet bypassing Windsor & Eton Central and Windsor & Eton Riverside.

The direct route would be entirely in tunnel with 8.8 km of new line with multiple ventilation shafts. The estimated journey time of 6 minutes and the projected cost of £1.1 billion.

The intermediate route would be constructed as part tunnel and part new and existing rail, using the line at Sunnymeads and Datchet with a 4km tunnel and 2.5km track, and 7.5km of existing track for upgrading. The estimated journey time of 9 minutes and the projected cost of £710 million.

So far TfL have not prioritised this extension as part of their future development programme.

2007: Victoria line station to Northumberland Park.

In 2007 Haringey Council supported proposals for platforms for the Victoria line to be built at Northumberland Park. These would be to the east of the main line platforms between the main line and the Northumberland Park Depot.

The depot at Northumberland Park, the service and storage area for trains, is the only part of the Victoria line above ground. Trains access the depot via a branch line in a tunnel to the north of Seven Sisters.

The proposal was supported by the former Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone. It is claimed that this would aid regeneration of the area, and that better transport links would have to be part of plans to increase capacity at White Hart Lane.

Haringey Council announced in its 2012 A Plan for Tottenham report that there was "potential for a Victoria Line extension to Northumberland Park".

Tottenham Hotspur F.C. and its supporters have campaigned for a surface station next to Northumberland Park Station, adjacent to the depot to improve the stadium's transport links, which are essential for the club to redevelop its ground and increase capacity. The plans require co-operation with the local council and Network Rail to minimise disruption.

1946: Route 12B - Finchley Central - Clapham Junction tube line.

In 1946, the London Railway Plan Committee devised a report to the Ministry of War Transport detailing several tube and main line railway schemes in London.

One of these was a line provisionally codenamed 12B which would have taken the following route.

Finchley Central
Golders Green
Finchley Road
West End Lane (West Hampstead)
South Hampstead/Swiss Cottage
St. John's Wood
Baker Street
Marble Arch
Knightsbridge
Sloane Square
Clapham Junction

The cost for the priority works were estimated for the line was £2,640,000.
This was a fraction of the sum of all the proposed schemes which totalled to £50 million not with standing the cost of land, property, traction equipment, rolling stock and signalling, plus a further £10M for other ancillary works, giving a total estimated cost of £110 Million.

The estimated date of construction would not be less than 30 years; however, it wasn't to be as in the following year, London Transport published their report. In the year after that, the British Transport Commission was formed which led to the nationalisation and formation of British Railways.

Some of the schemes from the 1946 report were merged with the 1947 report; although most such as the proposed route 12B were never fulfilled.

2011: Central line extension to Uxbridge.

In 2011, the London Borough of Hillingdon has proposed that the Central line be extended from West Ruislip to Uxbridge via Ickenham, claiming this would cut traffic on the A40 in the area.

The Central line crosses over the Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines' shared Uxbridge branch near West Ruislip depot, and a single track linking the two routes was laid in 1973.

The London Borough of Hillingdon has lobbied TfL to divert some or all Central trains along this to Uxbridge, as West Ruislip station is located in a quiet suburb and Uxbridge is a much more densely populated regional centre. TfL has stated that the link will be impossible until the Metropolitan line's signalling is upgraded in 2017.

Since then, plans for the branch have not yet materialised.