BRITISH Transport Secretary Stephen Byers announced on October 9 that he had approved plans for a southern extension to London Underground’s East London line. A 2·5 km link to the South London line and a flyover at New Cross Gate will reconnect the line with the South Central network, enabling suburban rail services from Wimbledon and Croydon to use the cross-Thames tunnel. A new depot will also be built at New Cross Gate.
Providing connections to the Docklands redevelopment zone and offering a second cross-city corridor, the East London line forms a key part of the ’Orbirail’ strategy being drawn up by Transport for London and the Strategic Rail Authority. SRA is to take the £600m project forward as a Private Finance Initiative, awarding a 30-year design, build, finance and maintain concession. Construction work is to be undertaken in four phases, with completion expected by 2006.
London Underground has spent more than 12 years developing proposals for the East London line expansion (Developing Metros 95 p18). It was awarded powers in 1997 to build the northern extension from Whitechapel to Dalston, Hackney and Highbury, which will connect to suburban routes north of the capital. Pending the award of the PFI concession, LU has now been authorised to proceed with preliminary engineering, and work is expected to start at Dalston and Bishopsgate in early December. n
