Post by mrjrt on Apr 16, 2006 15:40:32 GMT
In my previous ramblings I've suggested various ways of utilising the disused northern heights line for various services, but a new thought occurred to me last night. Some people have suggested as a compromise a light rail service over the line instead of a traditional heavy-rail tube or metro service.
Understandably, most people on this forum, (myself included) would prefer tube services as a matter of course, however, would DLR services provide equal or greater service capacity? TfL's pages state that the capacity of a DLR carriage is ~250, a similar number to the figure they give for tube carriages. The trains may be shorter, but allegedly they're also far more frequent.
I started my line of thought by considering what was said when I proposed linking the Northern City line to the Waterloo and City line by extending from Moorgate. I was told that the alignment of the W&C at Bank was pretty awful (east facing), and in fact the DLR platforms actually pointed near enough north.
That got me thinking, I've read a lot about the DLR being overwhelmed with passengers, though seemingly it always manages to cope. What I considered was extending a tube service through along the DLR route from Moorgate to West India Quays, taking over 2 of the four tracks from the Poplar junction south (or with another bridge, Canary Wharf). The DLR would still retain all of its other services aside from it's western ones as none of its other lines need to be altered. Finsbury Park to Canary Wharf sounds like a good opportunity to me, possibly reinstating the line to Highgate for depot facilities. Maintaining Tower Gateway would require additional viaduct along quite a long stretch of the line form the docks, so I doubt that would be feasible.
So that was the plan. Then it occurred to me that perhaps they wouldn't really like to do that expensive rebuild required for tube-gauge trains, so perhaps the opposite would be more feasible, DLR extended north to Highgate, as the mainline tunnels should be easily large enough.
Which leads me back to where I started this ramble. Light rail over the heights. Thoughts?
Understandably, most people on this forum, (myself included) would prefer tube services as a matter of course, however, would DLR services provide equal or greater service capacity? TfL's pages state that the capacity of a DLR carriage is ~250, a similar number to the figure they give for tube carriages. The trains may be shorter, but allegedly they're also far more frequent.
I started my line of thought by considering what was said when I proposed linking the Northern City line to the Waterloo and City line by extending from Moorgate. I was told that the alignment of the W&C at Bank was pretty awful (east facing), and in fact the DLR platforms actually pointed near enough north.
That got me thinking, I've read a lot about the DLR being overwhelmed with passengers, though seemingly it always manages to cope. What I considered was extending a tube service through along the DLR route from Moorgate to West India Quays, taking over 2 of the four tracks from the Poplar junction south (or with another bridge, Canary Wharf). The DLR would still retain all of its other services aside from it's western ones as none of its other lines need to be altered. Finsbury Park to Canary Wharf sounds like a good opportunity to me, possibly reinstating the line to Highgate for depot facilities. Maintaining Tower Gateway would require additional viaduct along quite a long stretch of the line form the docks, so I doubt that would be feasible.
So that was the plan. Then it occurred to me that perhaps they wouldn't really like to do that expensive rebuild required for tube-gauge trains, so perhaps the opposite would be more feasible, DLR extended north to Highgate, as the mainline tunnels should be easily large enough.
Which leads me back to where I started this ramble. Light rail over the heights. Thoughts?