Battersea and Kennington linked by the Northern line

I've not commented much recently on the ongoing plans by the developers of Battersea Power Station to extend the tube from Kennington to a new stop named Nine Elms and through to Battersea itself although I remarked on the initial consultation.

There was a post back in July highlighting the fact that there would be tunnelling under South Lambeth from over at the Albert Square and St Stephen's Association blog. They've also pasted a very helpful tube map of what the extension would look like if it were built.

However, various blogs have been picking up the matter, and things have hotted up because the developers of the power station have submitted informal plans for the Battersea site itself. It's worth noting that that means nothing as yet since transport has not been mentioned in their plans. There have also been plenty of plans submitted by various developers that have had to be abandoned. Yet, some of the people over at London Connections became excited in July when it appeared that feasability studies had been completed and various parties were happy with the route. They even mention the fact that London Underground are looking into funding the line to continue on to Clapham Junction, so the northern line would head off West eg. Kennington > Nine Elms > Battersea > Clapham Junction. Boris Johnson is also understood to be supportive, and methods for raising funds by selling government bonds have been suggested.

So, what makes me raise the issue? I received a query by email about a week ago from somebody who said:

"I've just been talking to my local councillor and he says that there are plans to extend the Waterloo and City line through the Black Prince Road area to Vauxhall and Battersea as part of redeveloping Battersea Power Station... But he says that the developer wants to use the Northern line instead so that they don't have to go through working class areas, cos they only want rich guys turning up at their buildings. Is this true?"

I've no idea which councillor the article refers to, but this tale sounds like the conflation of several ideas. As far as I can tell, there has never been a plan to extend the Waterloo and City line (although this would be preferable as it would mean that the northern line and the Bakerloo line could be taken into the areas of South East London that are much more in need of the transport eg. Peckham, Lewisham). It strikes me as highly unlikely that the Black Prince Road area would be included, simply due to the money that it takes to build the stops. The Nine Elms stop, one presumes, is being built entirely for the US Embassy at Nine Elms and (hopefully) they'll be asked to fork out the cash. The Battersea stop would be included in the costs for the new development at Batterse. However, if you take a look at the London Connections comment section on the above article, you'll see that there's a fair amount of discussion about alternative routes, and there are various suggestions that it would be better to use the Waterloo and City line... Unfortunately, I've not heard any official discourse on the matter at all so we'll presume that if it goes ahead, it will fork from the Northern line and some of us are rather sceptical that the plan will go anywhere...

Bakerloo line extension to Camberwell

Further to my post yesterday about the possible death of Crossrail, the Camberwell Online Blog has Tweeted about an article in Transport Briefing which once again raises the possibility of extending the Bakerloo line to Camberwell (a no brainer, since the station in Camberwell already exists) and also to Lewisham (which would be very exciting). Also, it mentions the idea of extending the DLR from Lewisham to Hayes. That's a new one to me, but would also be a great development.

Just one question... From whence cometh the money?

Cross River Tram

We seem to have heard very little of the Cross River Tram since Ken Livingstone's departure. It has come up at several Mayoral question times with Boris, but he has been rather non-commital on the matter. London Connections blog appear to think that a decision will be due in July. I'm not sure where that information has come from. We've had consultations that have been going on for aaaages. Lots of talk about whether the depot might be in Peckham or the Old Kent Road. Endless route discussions about which roads should be taken in Kennington, Brixton, Peckham, Camberwell, Elephant, Waterloo etc. And yet, we've still no tram, no tram tracks, no happy people travelling around south London marvelling at the environmental goodness of no longer needing cars...

The tram isn't particularly set to benefit the SE11 area. It will run through Kennington if its built, but Kennington and Oval are already well connected by virtue of their tube stations, the walkable Vauxhall or E&C overground / tube stations, and lots of buses. What it would do in actuality, would be to open up South London. Everybody knows that regeneration is not possible without good transport infrastructure. In the meantime, regeneration has just come to mean making the Elephant and Castle Shopping Centre derelict without giving its tenants any new options or building lots of buy-to-let properties (not always accessible for locals) in Peckham, on vague promises of a "yet to arrive tram" and then not delivering. (The cynic in me thinks that regeneration is just a glossy word for "removal of existing people who are not considered capable of generating capital and therefore are not assets"). But I do love South London, and I think everybody who lives south of the Thames should have the opportunities available to the rest of London. And those opportunities are made possible because it's possible for people to travel in and out of their London disticts. If Boris is serious about cutting knife crime, he'll back the tram and ensure that funding is forthcoming. If he is not serious about knife crime, he will just do a lot of fund-raising for local youth that will benefit this generation and he'll put lots of police people on the streets. And then the next incumbant mayor will arrive and decide to scrap those projects. At least if the tram is built, it would leave a very tangible legacy, accessible for all.

I have hopeful dreams that the already existing Croydon tram could be connected to the Brixton or Peckham branch of the Cross River Tram. But maybe it's because I'm a secret public transport geek. I like travelling on buses on the top deck in the window seat. And I like zooming along on the (only just affordable) tube to arrive somewhere different when emerging from underground. And I like the Thameslink line that will drop you from London to Brighton. And I also like cycling because it's free and good for you.

And anyway, how come they managed to get funding for the Cross Rail Project? It's not fair. *enters foot-stomping mode* You know, the Three Wheeled Pleb doesn't even care if the Cross River Tram doesn't cross the River. But please please, just get it built. Only, umm, preferably not in time for the Olympics :) :)