From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
The East London Line is a line of the London Underground, coloured orange on the Tube map. It runs north to south in the East End and Docklands areas of London.
The section beneath the Thames was originally a foot tunnel built by Marc Isambard Brunel between 1825 and 1843, one of several Thames foot tunnels. In 1865 it was bought by the East London Railway Company and adapted for trains. As the East London Railway, trains ran out of Liverpool Street station. Evidence of this can still be seen at the northernmost station on the East London Line, Shoreditch, where the tracks originally connected to the mainline railway.
When ownership of the line was turned over to London Underground it was operated as a branch of the Metropolitan Line, and known as the East London Branch. Some trains ran from central London to the southern portion of the line via a connecting tunnel at Whitechapel. On tube maps it was the same purple colour as the Metropolitan, but distinguished by a white stripe. It was quietly renamed to be a line in its own right, and later in the early 1990s its colour was changed.
For many years the line had only a connection to the rest of the network at Whitechapel. When the Docklands Light Railway opened it connected at Shadwell, and in 1999 a new station, Canada Water, was opened to connect to the Jubilee Line Extension. The line still retains (for now) two distinctions: it is the second shortest Underground line, with an end-to-end journey time of only 15 minutes, and along with the Waterloo and City Line, it is one of only two Underground lines to be confined entirely to one fare zone.
The line has for some years been grouped operationally with the Metropolitan Line and it still uses Metropolitan Line rolling stock in a four-carriage configuration. Until 1985, trains on the East London Line were operated with guards as well as a driver; their withdrawal prompted an unsuccessful strike on the line in May 1985. The current rolling stock, built in the early 1960s, was upgraded in 1994 with improved suspension, lighting, heating and ventilation. Only six individual four-car trains run on the ELL. As of 2003, the line is maintained by the Metronet consortium under a Public-Private Partnership.
Geographically accurate map of the East London Line (Large)
in order from north to south
Extensions of the East London Line have been discussed for many years, with the intention of expanding the line from a small stub in the network to a major transport artery. In 1998, London Transport announced that it was seeking private funds to extend the line into south London, sharing track and stations with the mainline network (as already happens on the Bakerloo Line and parts of the District Line).
In 1999, proposals emerged for the East London Line and other "sub-surface" London Underground lines to be transferred to Railtrack, the privatised rail operator responsible for maintaining the national rail network. This would have seen the ELL being integrated with the London suburban commuter network. Talks with the government fell through in early 2000, but the company announced that it would "continue to actively explore the integration opportunities surrounding the East London line."
After the Government gave the go-ahead on 9 October 2001, the construction of the northern extension was due to begin in December 2001. However, it was held up when it came to light that a Grade I listed 17th century arch in the former Bishopsgate Goods Yard was to be demolished as part of the project. Campaigners launched legal action against London Underground in an effort to prevent the demolition, but the project finally received legal clearance in the Court of Appeal on 7 July 2003. It is anticipated that the northerly extension at Highbury should open in 2006 and that all work on the project should be finished by 2008. However, given the past record of London Underground projects, these figures should probably be regarded as optimistic.
This triple extension project is the first London Underground project to be funded through a PFI (Private Finance Initiative) scheme, though the recent Jubilee Line Extension project was funded through a similar Public-Private Partnership scheme. The project will cost some £600 million and is projected to yield £10 billion in economic regeneration. It is still not entirely certain whether it will be completed, as the Treasury has not yet confirmed the funding. It is possible that it may be funded instead through bonds issued by the Mayor of London.
The route of the northern extension was uncontroversial, as it was essentially confined to reusing the disused viaduct to the former Broad Street station. By contrast, the southerly route has undergone many changes and has not yet been definitively agreed. The initial 1999 proposal mooted four options, all starting south of Surrey Quays:
In a move to bring the Underground to Hackney for the first time, the line is to be extended northwards from Whitechapel, with new stations created at Bishopsgate, Hoxton, Haggerston and Dalston. The line will then join the North London Line, going through Canonbury station and terminating at Highbury & Islington station, for interchange with the Victoria Line. This will require only about 4 km of new railway to be constructed, as existing but disused trackbeds (principally the Broad Street viaduct) will be used for most of the distance.
Shoreditch station, currently only served in peak hours and on Sunday mornings, will be closed, and, along with the track that links it to Whitechapel station, will join the already lengthy list of closed London Underground stations. Statutory planning powers for this extension were granted in January 1997. Because of an inability to extend the platforms at the existing Wapping and Rotherhithe stations, it is likely that they will also be closed.
It is possible that the line will be further extended from Highbury to Finsbury Park to the north, following the Network Rail Northern City Line tunnels, and Willesden Junction to the east, by way of Camden Road, Primrose Hill and Queens Park, following the above-ground Network Rail North London Line tracks.
A 2.5 km link is planned to connect the line south of Surrey Quays to the overground Network Rail South London Line to Clapham Junction, by way of Queen's Road Peckham, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High Street, Wandsworth Road and on to Clapham Junction. A single new station at Surrey Canal Road would also be built. Initially, it was planned to run this line via East Dulwich to Wimbledon, but this plan has been shelved for the time being.
The line will also be extended with a flyover link from New Cross Gate station into the Network Rail Croydon Line, joining Brockley, Honor Oak Park, Forest Hill, Sydenham, Penge West, Crystal Palace (by way of a branch), Anerley, Norwood Junction and terminating at West Croydon. Beyond the construction of a train servicing facility at New Cross Gate, little work will be needed to achieve this. Both of these plans were approved in October 2001.
There was some campaigning for this extension to go even further to Sutton, but estimates indicated that passenger usage would be so great that the line would be unable to take much traffic north of West Croydon and this option was not adopted.
History
Map
Stations
Proposed Extensions
Northern Extension
Southern Extensions
External links
