Infrastructure All routes lead to Brighton
The Brighton Main Line is one of the most congested routes in the country. Campaigners have long been asking for a second line to be
restored.Brian Hart explains what the options are
B
y 2018 all Brighton Line services will be 12-car, but Network Rail’s Sussex Rail Utilisation Strategy predicts by 2020 demand will
outstrip capacity as growth continues. North of London, the government says HS2 is imperative to increasing capacity, but what about the overcrowded south? There’ll be no high speed railways through Surrey and Sussex. Nevertheless, in 2007 Network Rail
considered some very radical solutions, such as converting the Brighton Main Line (BML) for double-deck or 16-car trains. Either option estimated £1bn in infrastructure, plus a six-month closure during reconstruction. For double-deck this included seven new parallel tunnels, plus another billion for the larger rolling stock, which obviously would be confined to the BML. But the deal-breaker was the longer dwell time at stations, resulting in even slower journeys, while no additional services could operate between the south coast and London. And there would still be no realistic alternative route. Simultaneously, yet another
independent Uckfield to Lewes reopening study had just begun, whereby Network Rail enthusiastically requested involvement and helpfully contributed detailed engineering assessments,
signalling diagrams and speed profiles. Mott MacDonald was commissioned to produce the business case, but this concluded a poor business case (0.79 – way below the DfT’s minimum 2.0 requirement). Yet again, the main disadvantage proved
to be that trains entering Lewes would, today, face towards Eastbourne, rather than Brighton, because the previous Brighton-facing route (1868 – 1969) has been irretrievably obliterated. However, as the succeeding Brighton Main Line 2 Project has shown, new tunnelling methods make the restoration of direct services into Brighton viable from the Uckfield line. This transforms the business case, whilst BML2 can also be phased. The Kent Phase is easiest and least
costly with reopening the Tunbridge Wells to Ashurst link which was once part of the main line to London Victoria (via Oxted). Its principal role today would be extracting over-demand on the nearby Tonbridge Main Line (TML) – one of Network Rail’s insuperable ‘major barriers to growth’. Direct services to London from a new and spacious ‘West’ station would run via Oxted, releasing capacity through Sevenoaks. Operationally, services might also usefully run in both directions via Orpington and Oxted.
The costlier Sussex Phase brings
substantial benefits and should happen first. Once open, it delivers an immediate relief/secondary line for ever-popular, bustling Brighton. Reducing railheading across Sussex onto BML stations is fundamental, whilst a second main line into ‘London-by-the-sea’ is essential. Falmer, in the city’s eastern environs and home to Sussex University and Brighton & Hove Albion’s new stadium, could become a useful parkway station on a direct and faster link to London.
Capital connection
London’s Phase is the costliest and in reality is a separate mega-project for the capital. BML2 originated from route utilisation strategies, such as London & South East in which Network Rail recommended a 15-mile railway tunnelled beneath south London from Coulsdon to Victoria to avoid Croydon’s notorious bottleneck. For many valid reasons, we think a better solution is the under-valued, partially-disused Selsdon to Lewisham route. And there isn’t a surfeit of corridors through south London. Principally, BML2 uses existing under-
utilised assets, strategic closed sections of railway, plus some new-build to achieve
Southern reports constant all-day demand on some routes, especially the BML
DECEMBER 2012 PAGE 33
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76