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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

Harringay's second rail line missed off the guest list of Dave and Nick's marriage vow renewal ceremony

Picture by Sunil060902 from Wikipedia

It seems that the proposed electrification of the line that runs through Harringay Green Lanes Station (the Barking to Gospel Oak line) has failed to make the cut in the most recent rail investment spending round. 

Yesterday Dave and Nick announced £9 billion of rail infrastructure spending at their so called "second gay wedding" (I like to think of more as a renewal of marriage vows). Since it was a key part of Boris Johnson's manifesto, it had been hoped that further investment in Harringay's second line was to have been included in the spending portfolio. But it seems that this was not to be.

The works would have seen electricity powered trains able to run the length of the new Overground Line, removing the need to change trains at Gospel Oak where the electrification currently starts. The proposed link-up with the Great Northern Line at Harringay is also to be shelved for the time being.

I'm currently unaware of the reasoning, but a quick look at the proposals published last September (attached) suggests that it may well have been a cost issue. At between £69 - 80M, it was by far the most expensive item on the list of proposed projects in London and the South East (Proposals for the BGO line work and the costings are also attached as extracts).

So, for the time being at least, it looks like the only rail works we're likely to see on the Harringay Green Lanes line will be the addition of a few hooks on Harringay Bridge so that we can get the banner hung.

Tags for Forum Posts: barking to gospel oak line, overground, public transport, tfl, trains, transport

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The attached just in from the Barking – Gospel Oak Line User Group on this issue.

Attachments:

Detailed discussion here:

http://www.londonreconnections.com/2012/hlos-highlights-part-1-the-...


The problem is that the DfT think it's TFL's funding responsibility, and TFL think it's the DfT's...

Ah, is that why we have to change at Gospel Oak....

Mostly, yes.  One rush-hour service per day actually goes as far as Hampstead Heath, but you would need electrification to properly merge the services.

So, is that a dual power train, then?

The Turbostars on the GOBLIN are diesel-only.  Electric trains require electricity on or above the track, but diesel trains carry their own fuel!  You see diesel freight trains on electrified lines sometimes too.

Do you know the reason they don't regularly run on past GO?

Off the top of my head:

1) The North London Line is already chokka (partly with freight) and so it would require a significant service re-think .

2) It’s obviously bad practice to run diesel trains when you can run electric trains, not least environmentally.

3) The further a service covers the more likely it is to be hit by problems.  Now, if your diesel train from the GOBLIN breaks down at Acton you are faced with several issues, including ‘how do we get our Turbostar engineers over to Acton’ and ‘given that we can’t replace this broken-down train with an electric 378 from the NLL, how are we going to get people home to Harringay Green Lanes tonight?’

4) For now at least, the Turbostars are only two-car, and some of the platforms on the GOBLIN have still to be extended to cater for three-car. On the overcrowded NLL, in contrast, we now have four-car trains.  Given that the NLL cannot currently take a more regular service, watch what happens if you swap 4-car trains with 2-car ones…

Cheers. That all makes sense.

I think a major part of the reason why it wasn't used was the appalling service that used to be offered.

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