STAR and Tottenham Hale updates

Red is a Greater Anglia refurbished train, navy carries the old National Express branding and presumably is awaiting refurbishment

Not quite correct. Network Rail have had people on site in various places for months. For example all the trees were cut down beside the Ferry Lane estate months ago. Last week I noticed that site huts and a welfare van (toilets etc) had appeared. Some other clearance work has also been ongoing for a while. Network Rail have to start moving signalling cabinets and cable troughts that will be in the way of the track bed.

The basic funding structure was in place a while ago and monies were released to Network Rail to allow them to proceed with advance works as above and to support the progression of the GRIP work.

The massive "fly in the ointment" was the issue over train service levels for STAR and the way in which DfT set out an "add on" to the Greater Anglia franchise spec which did not guarantee a regular 4 tph service. This is a pre-requisite for the delivery of housing at Meridian Water and it has to be there by a given date in 2018. Enfield Council took the DfT to court over the franchise tph issue and lost. Quite what has happened since is not in the public domain but every month that passes without a resolution makes it harder for the 2018 STAR service deadline to be met and that imperils the housing deal and then the whole thing unravels because the private sector funding isn't there. We can't be very far away from the point at which it all becomes impossible to deliver. The Mayoral sub committee that was handling this project disappeared from view due to purdah so there are no meeting notes for the last few months. The fact that the new Mayor has not appointed any of his team of Deputy Mayors nor set out his preferred governance structure nor a transition path from old to new doesn't help matters. Restructuring all this stuff and making sure you don't lose knowledge or momentum are crucially important.

As for the track layout then it is simply a single track added alongside the existing 2 track railway with space left for a 4th track to be added later. The one aspect that is unclear is what the layout at T Hale will be - will there be an extra 2 tracks there with 2 new platform faces so STAR trains can pass? The fact that the LU station rebuild hasn't started on site suggests to me that someone, somewhere is still working out what the NR platform layout will be or amended planning permission is going to be needed. Oh and don't forget Crossrail2 that could cause another rebuild at some point!

AIUI yes it would. That would allow the separate STAR shuttles to not get in the way of the WAML services. My only query is whether there are two STAR tracks at T Hale. I believe the Ferry Lane bridge is a constraint but it may be possible to have a junction under there to give 2 tracks in the station area itself. If the new platforms are built to 8 car length then they might end up slightly further north than the existing ones so trains don't foul the platform edges if there were to be a junction (1 track to 2 tracks) under Ferry Lane bridge (my speculation here not a reference to any outline track layout).

Check out the 'Disused Stations' web site

Enfield Council have lost their appeal against the decision that the DfT acted rationally in not ensuring 4 tph would serve the new Meridian Water service.

(info courtesy of London Reconnections blog)

Appeal Judgement

I wonder where this leaves things?

The station was well used on my train towards Stratford just now! People getting on and off and on the northbound platform to Tottenham Hale. Makes you wonder what the people did before the station opened! I believe Angel a Road and Northumberland Park would both see more passengers if there was a regular service

Nobody disputes that - but making everyone from the likes of Harlow, Cambridge and Stansted suffer for the sake of a small part of London is not acceptable either.

In many ways the WAML through the Lea valley is a textbook example of why a frequent stopping service is incompatible with a double track railway also serving areas well beyond London (e.g. why routing say, Arun Valley services via Sutton, Epsom & Dorking is not a good idea).

Everybody realises that the key to improving local service provision in the Lea Valley are new dedicated tracks for local stoppers - until that happens (and ALL stoppers are removed from the tracks used for longer distance services) you will never be able to achieve the step change in service political bodies and residents of the area are calling for.

Stratford is a major transport hub and destination in its own right. And has links to Docklands. So it's hardly "a small part of Londom".

It is indeed 'off piste' / 'off topic' to discuss the Arun valley here and that was not my intention as such - but within the London area the fundamental issue is the same as the Lea Valley, namely the route via Dorking has only 2 tracks and very few passing places once it gets busy. In the case of the line through Sutton Epsom and Dorking however its long distance trains that lose out - getting stuck behind the frequent all station stoppers with no way of getting past them while in the Lea valley its the reverse way round (stoppers cannot be run frequently as they hold up long distance stuff). Diversion onto a 4 track railway with dedicated 'slow' (all station stoppers) and 'fast' (long distance) services for both the Lea Valley and Arun Valley services is thus beneficial for both sets of travellers as it allows more trains to run. Simples as a Meerecat would say.

[Note the real problem with the BML, and potentially the Lea valley if the designers are not careful, is conflicts at the remaining flat junctions or a lack of platforms at stations where all services call. As E Croydon shows, both these factors actually prevent quadruple track main lines (with service group separation) from achieving their full potential].

The Lea Valley Line situation is worsened by joining the Chingford line (4TPH)at Clapton Junction for the 2-track section through the Clapton tunnels, which it would be impossible to quadruple, and by the flat junctions at Stratford if you choose that way. You also can't divert 2 Chingfords via Stratford as the link was removed in 1967; although powers to re-lay it were obtained in 1982, nothing was ever done....

ST, you would not think so! But I have seen absurd costs quoted for the work.........

That line has a history. The GER built it on the quick, on the cheap, without Parliamentary authority, to open the Walthamstow branch in April 1870. Its closure was to avoid disturbing the LV resignalling. Very shortsighted.....and now tens of millions to reopen it!

The cost was estimated in 2009 as £25 million. Pretty absurd for half a mile of [probably] single line.

Looks like a final funding package has been put together for STAR. TfL are to take over the sponsorship of the project from the GLA. NR remain responsible for design, delivery and technical assurance activities. Completion scheduled for Dec 2018. From a new paper to the TfL Finance and Policy Cttee.

content.tfl.gov.uk/fpc-160727-item11-star-p1.pdf

I've modified the thread title to better reflect current news and that Lea Bridge has now been finished