Extending the line

Forget the W&C, connect the GNC to Canon Street with a route west of the nightmare at Bank and the BoE. For the price of 3/4 mile of tunnel you get a second Thameslink. Add a station somewhere in the middle (and link it by escalators to Bank if you must) if you're feeling flush. Neat.

And you'd be limited to six car trains unless you rebuild the 5 NC stations. Cannon Street currently handles 12 car trains, so you'd have to at least double the frequency of trains from wherever you're coming from to compensate.

(I'd suggest connecting it to Elephant would be a better idea, because Blackfriars has very limited capacity and the network south of there is all 8 car, and the current plan is to send these trains through the otherwise [in future] 12-car Thameslink as there's nowhere else for them to go. It'll also get rid of the flat junction where via Elephant and via London Bridge Thameslink services merge)

Hi all first proper post, a bit long I know.

It's a route built under central London with a lot of potential. Imagine building a route through Waterloo, Blackfriars and Bank if it didn't already exist. Just think of the costs and practical problems.

Its tube-size but I'm sure I read somewhere it was built partly to mainline tunnel size but the money ran out leaving it something like top-half mainline-size tunnels, bottom-half tube size.

At the bank end diverge north of Mansion house and west of Bank, continue eastward (instead of north-east to the current short platforms) then above the Northern and DLR the lines and instead of crossing the Central curve northwards to the south and east of it. New W&C long platforms could be placed somewhere between Mansion house and east of Bank avoiding existing lines and the Bank staton complex on the straight or gentle curve of the new route (no need to rise in gradiant to Bank either). The line would then go on to Liverpool Street where it would remain in tunnel under the GE lines out of Liverpool Street surfacing in the Shoreditch station area (with the GE lines being widened from here to Bethnal Green NR station). The line would preferably surface on the north side of the line and take over the Chingford and Enfield Town services sharing the lines with express suburban services to Hertford East and Stansted.

The line currently turns to the west then through a sharp curve facing east into Waterloo. A southern extension could diverge to the south of the line as it goes in a westerly direction north of Waterloo without rising to a new platforms under Waterloo which could hold longer platforms and head south west serving the LSW corridor, though it might have to it come out of tunnel at Vauxhall or Battersea if it doesn’t surface at Waterloo. If in tunnel, it could serve the Battersea Park development instead of the Northern Line. Alternatively the line could head West across the Thames and go through Victoria to join the NR routes, or further west through Chelsea.

Inbetween, Blackfriars is the only new station needed but you could have a South Bank station somewhere along Stamford Street, probably between Broadwall and Hatfields. The Blackfriars station would be on the straight section north-east of the NR/D&C station where long platforms can be accommodated.

A route from the west/southwest (via Clapham/Vauxhall, Clapham/Victoria or Chelsea/Victoria) through Waterloo, Blackfriars, Bank, Liverpool Street and Northeast/East (Bethnal Green to Hackney and Chingford/Enfield Town or possibly Leyton/Epping) is a cheap Chelney line alternative.

The W&C is busy mainly in one direction morning peak times as passengers join at Waterloo from the LSW lines for the City and go in the opposite direction evening peak. A northern extension to Liverpool Street would pick up journeys from the GE lines (and Central) to the City without overloading existing Waterloo to city patronage. SW/W extension would bring in passengers who would likely be using the service from waterloo anyway. Sure it will be another crowded central London tube line in both directions like the Victoria, Piccadilly and Northern, but isn’t that what we already have in one direction along the W&C?