LONDON TRANSPORT
Railways – the regeneration vehicle
Julie Carrier, head of rail at engineering consultancy WSP UK, explores the shape of London’s rail infrastructure, and the changes to come.
L
ondon is a city in boom. People are flocking to our capital city at a rate never previously
seen to be part of the action. Clusters of like- minded professionals are forming around the city centre and extended suburbs, where ideas and creativity are being allowed to flourish, deals are done and the future is shaped.
Economists term this agglomeration. There are going to be one million more residents in London by 2020, according to the mayor. WSP research has found we will need the equivalent of 30 new Shards per year to meet this housing demand. London must find a creative and sustainable way to respond to this increased demand.
The solution many people choose instead is commuting, and this trend will only increase. On a typical weekday in autumn 2012, 536,000 passengers arrived into central London by rail during the morning peak and 981,000 across the whole day. Over the next 30 years commuter demand is expected to double on longer distance services into London.
The challenge is to create a world-class transport network to facilitate safe, reliable and affordable commuting. Thankfully this is well under way with the construction of the ‘mega’ schemes Crossrail and Thameslink.
Looking forward, the Northern Line will be extended to the huge Battersea/Nine Elms
134 | rail technology magazine Apr/May 14
development, and there is increasing public support for Crossrail 2, connecting Wimbledon to gentrified Hackney. Rail is the regeneration vehicle behind the mayor’s vision.
Crossrail
Europe’s largest infrastructure project, Crossrail stretches from Reading and Heathrow in the west, across to Shenfield and Abbey Wood in the east, covering over 100km of track including 21km of new twin-bore rail tunnels and nine new stations. The scheme, crucially, links Heathrow with Paddington, the West End, the City and Canary Wharf, reducing journey times, easing congestion and improving connections.
It will increase the capacity of the capital’s rail network by 10%; up to 24 trains per hour will operate in the central section between Paddington and Whitechapel during peak periods, with each train able to carry 1,500 passengers. An estimated 200 million people will travel on Crossrail each year, with many of these passengers coming from roads to the more environmentally sustainable form of rail transport. The scheme has brought employment opportunities and been a catalyst for regeneration. The wider economic benefits are estimated at £42bn for UK GDP.
Improved connectivity will be achieved at 40 existing stations and new stations are
being constructed.
In particular, WSP has been closely involved in the scheme, working on state of the art stations at Bond Street (below) and Tottenham Court Road.
Crossrail has revolutionised the way we perceive the functionality of a station and provided a glimpse of the possibilities for the future of rail travel for discerning commuters. Consideration of optimising retail and commercial space has become as significant an influence on design as the movement of passengers with floor plate values significantly increasing around major transport hubs. In the Bond Street area, forecasters predict an increase in the value of office space from £500/sq m in 2011 to £800/ sq m by 2020. Interestingly, expertise gained on these pioneering stations has become sought after internationally, with WSP’s colleagues in Canada and the Middle East keen to deploy London-trained engineers on their own mega schemes.
© Crossrail Ltd & Absolute Photography
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