| Inner South London Line | |
| Template:Px | |
| Overview | |
|---|---|
| Type | Commuter rail Freight rail |
| Locale | Greater London |
| Termini | London Victoria London Bridge |
| Operation | |
| Owner | Network Rail |
| Operator(s) | Southern, Southeastern |
| Rolling stock | British Rail Class 456 |
| Technical | |
| Track gauge | Standard gauge |
| Electrification | 750 V DC third rail |
| Highest elevation | |
Template:Inner South London Line RDT The Inner South London Line is an Template:Convert/mi horseshoe-shaped Inner London railway route from Victoria to London Bridge via Peckham Rye. "Inner" distinguishes it from the Outer South London Line which runs from London Victoria to London Bridge via Gipsy Hill. The line is in Travelcard Zone 2 apart from the termini, which are in Zone 1. Passenger rail services are currently operated by Southern. It is planned that by 2012 the line will be incorporated into the London Overground network, diverting westbound services away from Victoria to Clapham Junction to form an orbital rail line around London.[1]
History[]
Template:Unreferenced section The London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) was authorised to build the line by the South London Railway Act 1862. It re-used the existing Wandsworth Road to Brixton section which had been constricted as part of the LCDR main line. This existing line was quadrupled and the line was extended to London Bridge. The northern pair (now known as the Chatham lines), with no stations, was used by the LCDR; the southern (now known as the Atlantic lines) was used by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). Several stations were shared by the two companies. The company pioneered rail electrification in the UK which was authorised in 1903 and the first electric train operated on 1 December 1909. For the following three years, steam trains alternated with the electrics: the latter operated a 15-minute interval service from 7.30am to midnight. In the first year of electric operation, passengers carried almost doubled, from 4 million to 7.5 million after falling dramatically following the opening of the tramways in South London which has led to a drop in passenger numbers of 1.25 million in only six months.[citation needed] The original electrification used the overhead system at 6700 V AC, supplied by the power station at Deptford. The line was converted to Southern Railway standard third-rail 660 V DC on 17 June 1928. The South Cross Route, one side of the London Motorway Box the innermost ring road of the unbuilt 1960s London Ringways plan, would have paralleled the South London Line between Wandsworth Road and Peckham Rye stations.
Services[]
A Southern train at Denmark Hill
Passenger rail services were provided by Southern, who operated a shuttle service along the horseshoe-shaped route running south from London Victoria, curving east across the suburbs of south London to Peckham Rye, where the route heads north and terminates at London Bridge.The last date of operation was December 8th 2012. See below. Additional services run along part of the line operated by Southeastern on the Victoria-Dartford and the Chatham Main Line routes; these services only call at Denmark Hill and Peckham Rye on the South London Line. Off-peak services are typically 2tph from smaller stations such as Clapham High Street, with a 4tph frequency from Denmark Hill.
Current developments[]
East London Line extension[]
Map of the East London line extension
- Main article: East London line extension
A 2.5 km link is planned to the East London Line (part 2 of East London line extension) which will run from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction on the Inner South London Line by way of Queens Road Peckham, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road. Work is scheduled for completion by May 2012 [2] in time for the 2012 Olympics.[3] A new station at Surrey Canal Road was also planned however this was put on hold in 2009.[4] When the East London line is connected to the North London line at Dalston Junction, this will complete an orbital rail route around Central London, fulfilling the Orbirail concept. The extension will use an alignment between Rotherhithe and Peckham which has been disused since 1911 via the now defunct Old Kent Road station. Template:Multiple image With the exception of Surrey Canal Station this service was introduced on December 9th 2012. 1 train a day still runs over the South London Line to & from Battersea Park Station.
Proposed developments[]
Victoria to Bellingham service[]
Comparative map of the existing South London Line with the future London Overground lines and the proposed Bellingham services
After conversion of the South London line to a London Overground route, many stations on the line will no longer have direct rail services to Victoria or London Bridge.[1] To compensate for the loss of direct services, it was proposed to introduce a new Victoria-Bellingham train service which would run from London Victoria along the South London Line as far as Peckham Rye, before branching off onto the Catford Loop Line to Bellingham. The proposal was originally abandoned due to funding issues but now appears to have been resurrected (as of March 2010) after lobbying by various pressure groups and local MPs.[5]
Criticisms and campaigns[]
One of the high rail bridges which pass over Brixton
The South London line (Chatham Line) passes through Brixton Station via disused platforms. The Atlantic Line lacks Brixton Platforms.
Suggestions have been made for new stations to be opened on the new Overground line. Campaigners in Lewisham are calling for funding to be made available for the construction of a station at Surrey Canal Road.[6] This route of the South London line crosses over Loughborough Junction and Brixton stations,[7] and the ELL extension proposals have been criticised for missing opportunities to create new interchange stations with Thameslink services and the London Underground Victoria line respectively.[8][9] Under initial proposals, no stations were planned at these locations as the line is on high railway arches, making the cost of any station construction prohibitive.[10] Suggestions were made that the old East Brixton railway station could be re-opened between these two stations as an alternative to providing direct interchanges.[11] The loss of direct rail services to Victoria or London Bridge after the transfer to London Overground has been the subject of public campaigns. Local pressure groups are campaigning to retain these direct services.[12] A survey by London Travelwatch found that 88% of passengers on the line felt they would be inconvenienced by the changes (although the survey also noted that respondents were generally unaware of the ELL/Overground proposals or of any possible benefits they might bring).[13] The original decision (since resurrected after pressure groups and local MPs urged the Mayor to reconsider and secured funding from the Secretary of State for Transport) to abandon the Victoria to Bellingham proposal (intended to replace some of these direct services) has also been criticised. Transport for London was the subject of critical commentary for the decision — especially as it had diverted funding for the Bellingham proposal to support construction work on the London Overground extension project — and for publicly attributing this decision to the Department for Transport.[5][14] Following consultation with London Travelwatch, TfL compiled a shortlist of possible solutions to address the concerns of transport campaigners. The options include various combinations of additional stops for fast trains, increased service frequencies, and the Victoria-Bellingham route. The list of options is being considered by TfL, Network Rail and the DfT and a decision will be announced in May 2010.[1]
Other proposals[]
In March 2008 Ken Livingstone, then Mayor of London, suggested that Transport for London was interested in bringing additional rail lines in South London into the London Overground network[15][dead link] but this proposal has not been developed further since the change in mayoral administration.
See also[]
Template:Commons category
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 London Overground: South London Line. Trasnport for London. Retrieved on 28 May 2010.
- ↑ [Rail Express issue 154 March 2009]
- ↑ London rail link gets green light. BBC News Online (12 February 2009). Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
- ↑ McKenna, John (12 February 2009). East London Line extension to Clapham to be built by London 2012. New Civil Engineer. Retrieved on 16 February 2009.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Template:Cite news
- ↑ Key Station For Our Area Campaign. Surrey Canal Road campaign group. Retrieved on 2009-10-18.
- ↑ Transport for London (2006). The Tube in 2010. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. (map illustrating future development phases as proposed by TfL in 2006, subject to change)
- ↑ Junction joy South. South London Press (2004-04-24). Archived from the original on 9 May 2004. Retrieved on 2007-11-03. (Web Archive)
- ↑ Martin Linton MP (2006-07-19). Parliamentary Debate: London Orbital Rail Network. Hansard. Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
- ↑ East London Line Extensions - Loughborough Junction. AlwaysTouchOut (2006-11-09). Retrieved on 2007-11-03.
- ↑ Then and Now: East Brixton station. Urban75. Retrieved on 2009-10-18.
- ↑ Stop the rail cuts campaign. Southwark Rail Users' Group. Retrieved on 2009-10-18.
- ↑ South London Line Research Study. London TravelWatch. Retrieved on 2009-10-31.[dead link]
- ↑ The Price of ELL Phase 2: Victoria - Bellingham Cancelled. London Reconnections (blog) (2009-04-23). Retrieved on 2009-10-31.
- ↑ Template:Cite news
External links[]
- South London Press article: 'Boris slammed on South London Line'
- South London Press article: 'Bid to save the South London Line'
- Template:PDF - a reproduction of a September 1953 article from The Railway Magazine, courtesy of the Southern E-mail Group.
Template:Railway lines in London Template:London Overground navbox Template:Use dmy dates ca:South London Line de:Inner South London Line it:South London Line