VICTORY - East London Line Phase 2 gets the green light
We've just had it confirmed that the Mayor of London and the Secretary of State for Transport have reach an agreement on the funding of phase 2b of the East London Line linking Clapham Junction to the existing line at Surrey Quays via Queens Road Packham.The work will start as soon as they finish phase 1 (mid 2010) and the service is expected to be up and running in May 2012.
It's still not clear whether or not the new station at Surrey Canal Road will happen or not.
I'm absolutely overjoyed. After years of campaigning and lobbying and so many false start it's finally really happening! Well done to everyone who's fought so hard for this - especially Val Shawcross who's kept up the pressure on Boris Johnson month after month and not let him forget about South London.
Roll on May 2012!
Update 11.02am
Lovely new map from TfL, hat tip to London Reconnections who also have a much more detailed article including more on Surrey Canal Road Station.
Update 12.49pm
I've just done a radio interview for the London College of Communications Broadcast News. Journalist and LCC student Jason Bourne tells me to "Check out the bulletins just after each hour at 2pm, 3pm, 4pm and at 5pm where we'll be doing our 15-min programme which is likely to contain a longer piece including clips from Boris, yourself and people likely to use the new line."
posted by Fiona on Thursday, February 12, 2009
4 comments
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4 Comments:
well done Fiona and many thanks to you and Val and Caroline for refusing to let this be sidelined. Does this mean that Surrey Canal Road station is going to be built or are TfL still stalling?
My gut feeling on the whole thing is that Surrey Canal Road was (and remains) a sticking point, but that both parties to the negotiations realised that if they didn't come to some kind of arrangement NOW then there were going to be some serious consequences for BOTH sides.
The Department for Transport (DfT) are trying to sort out the mess of railway contracts and operators in South London, and are relying on the ELLX2 to help them do that.
Firstly, they see it as a way to help mitigate commuter disruption while they're working on the Thameslink improvements and secondly it'll give them an opportunity to rethink the Southern Franchise by getting London Overground to take over a lot of the Suburban stuff that is currently on Southern's plate.
The second part of that should actually prove excellent for South Londoners because, as most North Londoners will tell you (myself included - I'm a Hackney kid), they've been doing wonderful work up here sorting out the North London Line and turning it into the pseudo-tube line it needs to be.
From TfL's perspective, they need ELLX2 to continue their aforementioned Overground projects, as well as further their plans for a proper "London Orbital." It also alleviates pressure on the DLR and allows them to properly begin working on a decent South London strategy.
For both parties, all of the above is time-critical as they've already started work on several of the elements mentioned above. Throw in the Olympics and you can see why getting started urgently was so crucial.
So basically what I think (and this is very much only my opinion - hence why its not on the London Reconnections post!) is that both parties have temporarily agreed to disagree on Surrey Canal Road - postponing the decision until a later date by running a "Value For Money" exercise on it.
That doesn't mean it'll definitely get the go ahead, but it doesn't mean it's been cancelled either. Frankly both the DfT and TfL want the station, its just that neither of them wants (or, which is fair enough, can afford in the current financial climate) to be the one left holding the bill.
I'm doing some digging at the moment to try and find out when the VFMA is scheduled to be concluded and who, should it result in a recommendation that the station be completed, will be left footing the bill. If I find anything out, I'll make sure to do an updated comment here.
Whoop! Whoop!
well done
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