Government awards money for more London Overground trains & station by Millwall’s New Den
An announcement today will see £80.8 million awarded to the Greater London Authority to enable TfL transport upgrades so up to 14,000 homes can be built along the East London Line.
Projects will include more London Overground trains running on lines and the planned Surrey Canal Road station finally proceeding. The core east London line tunnel should increase from 16 trains per hour to 20.
London Overground increases will see two more trains an hour from the core to Crystal Palace and two more an hour to Clapham Junction via Peckham Rye.
A second entrance to Surrey Quays station is also on the cards. I recently looked at plans to knock down the current shopping centre and build 3,000 homes.
The 3,500 home Convoys Wharf scheme and 1,130 Timberyard scheme are also close by.
In Bermondsey the foundations of Surray Canal station (or New Bermondey) are already in place yet plans for new homes and complete construction of a new station hit controversy in recent years with fears Millwall FC would be forced to leave.
That station can now proceed with these funds.
This funding award may also offer an insight into why TfL taking over Southeastern metro would benefit the area. The GLA has won funding from central Government to improve transport within London operated by TfL with both this scheme and the DLR earlier in 2019.
Yet Southeastern is in a constant holding pattern as the franchise staggers along on short term extensions.
There is no single authority like the GLA pushing for funding to improve the franchised service as it runs in London to Kent – and the DfT are in paralysis.
Places like Kidbrooke are seeing over 5,000 new homes but unlike other parts of London has barely seen an extra carriage in recent years – and won’t until issues elsewhere on the network such as selective door operation are solved.
When or who will fund those much needed improvement works remains up in the air.
When all the improvements are completed. This will be good news for the people who live work and visit Bermondsey and Rotherhithe. Including those attending games at nearby Millwall.
Greenwich Council do not seem to to push for improvements to the public transport infrastructure despite thousands of homes built or in the process of being constructed around the Borough. Kidbrooke Village as mentioned is a hugh development in its self.
1. This is good news, to start addressing the three big developments and all the “on the side” little ones coming on line as we speak on top of Canada Water, Convoy Wharf and Timber Yard which could amount of 10,000 new properties or perhaps 30,000 new people coming to live in our area and for which Canada Water will be a main access to transport of all types.
2. A second entry is vital and we have been asking for this for ages, as Canada Water is closed because of congestion on a regular basis. While a new entrance to Surrey Quays is welcome, the real important second entrance should be in to Canada Water, if it were well planned this may alleviate the constant closing down of this really important station. Congestion is already a regular problem before the Jubilee gets to Canada Water.
3. The London Overground needs “route fixing” as it is so unreliable with so many hard to explain delays on one of the oldest underground routes in the world. Definitively needs looking in to. Once I tried Canada Water to Claphan and it took much more than an hour!
4. A NEW LINK IS NEEDED: A very good and cheap/ free ferry service is needed across the river from Rotherhithe to Canary Wharf (if the bridge is not coming), perhaps a tunnel would be even better, this would be justified, it would alleviate the Jubilee line if people could cross the river with ease, perhaps they would use their bicycles more often. This needs to be looked in to as this is one of the few initiatives which would provide a “new link”, such a contribution is vital to lighten the load of the overloaded links already not coping.
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