O N G N D R O O L U P

N E W S R No 26 JANUARY 2016 L E T T E Our Newsletter is sent out New Southgate to Broxbourne to our members and other contacts. The EVOLUTION OF group exists to campaign alternative for sustainable transport solutions in London and Alexandra Palace 2 to Finsbury Park to support the work of the Campaign nationally. If you have not already done so we would be pleased if Essex Road, a lost opportunity for you would also join our interchange group and take part in Dalston our London based activities. Angel Follow us on our to Hackney, website at: Chelsea, the original planned bettertransportforlondon the original planned northern terminus and on twitter southern terminus @CBTransportLDN To contact the group write to Chris Barker, Campaign for Better Transport, to Moorgate 46 Redston Road, London N8 to the Tooting Broadway Balham 7HJ. e-mail: south west a preferable route chrisjbarker46 @gmail.com phone: 020 8347 7684. Crossrail2 has evolved con- This road and Walworth Road Dalston and the West Anglia two stops close together but Regular meetings of the siderably since the Hackney to in south London were easily routes at Hackney Downs. It the two stops are too far group are held in central the most densely packed bus then served the part of London apart to give good interchange London. Chelsea line was safeguarded. The Newsletter is edited It is even being spoken of as routes in the capital. where most commentators at either. Destroying more by Chris Barker. a high speed line. It is being The Moorgate branch of the believe there is most scope council housing, on top of Contributors are promoted as the means to Great Northern, inherited for growth, providing inter- that threatened by HS2, is as welcomed. Opinions from the Northern Line, is change and congestion relief barmy as it is unwelcome expressed are those of disperse HS2 passengers, packed to the gills in one di- with the Central and Great to those who live there. To the authors and not which rather ignores the origi- rection during the peaks and Eastern services. grow the economy you have necessarily those of the nal objective. Campaign for Better grossly underused at other The current scheme takes to expand all aspects of infra- Transport. The Hackney-Chelsea line times. The interchange would the line through the existing structure, which includes We welcome anyone to was seen as a means of have both relieved the conges- corridor to Broxbourne, and housing in close proximity to write articles and reviews, relieving congestion from the tion and promoted a more possibly beyond. Many have the new stations. or contribute stories for Victoria and Central Lines in frequent off-peak service. commented that Crossrail2 And while expense seems publication on the website. particular. It was to reach the Weekend services axed in the has lost its way. While this line no object north of Victoria, To do this either send ma- parts of London that other late 80s have only just been is undoubtedly poorly served, it is now proposed to delete terial directly to the editor Chris Barker or, if you tube lines did not reach. Its restored. and Angel Road is the most Tooting Broadway in favour would like to receive an cost:benefit ratio was far The first Regional version dehumanised station in Lon- of Balham, solely because of invitation to be a direct higher than that of Crossrail 1, of Crossrail2 replaced Essex don, the overwhelming need difficult ground conditions. contributor, please send a which was only ahead in the Road with Angel, duplicating is for a high speed link to This duplicates an existing rail request to the site admin- pecking order because it was an interchange with the Stansted that would free up link from Clapham Junction istrator Charles Martin felt that excavation of the Northern Line that would al- the existing line. Moreover, when what are needed are [email protected]. area through which it ran ready be provided at Euston the idea that there is scope new links and interchanges. Previous issues of the and/or King’s Cross. It did for housing development in A scheme developed to newsletter can be found at would be subject to a higher bettertransportlondon. rate of inflation than offer interchange for Great this area seems to overlook reduce travelling distances org.uk. Hackney-Chelsea. Northern passengers further the fact that it has been con- and congestion threatens to Key to the relief of over- north, with a station at Alex- strained by the existence of encourage people to travel crowded lines is the provision andra Palace. However, this several large reservoirs which further to work, which means of interchange wherever one is now under threat in turn. as far as I know are still very that congestion relief will line crosses another. This gov- The alternative of an inter- much required. evaporate very much more erned the siting of stations on change at New Southgate The obsession with disp- quickly. The scheme’s planners Hackney-Chelsea. A particular excludes everyone from the ersing HS2 passengers has must be weaned off ‘predict attraction was the station at loop line. diminished the interchange and provide’ as the only solu- Essex Road, where buses sim- The Hackney-Chelsea Line at King’s Cross. It has been tion to our transport needs. ply could not cope with the also offered interchange with replaced by a Euston/St. Pancras Andrew Bosi growth of passenger numbers. the North London lines at station, a better idea than Lorry safety On 17th November the London Cycling Campaign delivered a petition to the mayor calling for a rush hour lorry ban and the introduction of ‘direct vision’ lorries. Mayor Boris Johnson responded that Transport for London will be looking at restrictions on lorry movements during rush hours ‘for reasons of congestion not just cycle safety.’ He also agreed fully with the LCC’s view that lorry designs should change to eliminate ‘blind spots’ and give drivers much better all round vision. The Freight in the City exhibition, held at Alexandra Palace on 27th Oc- tober, shows that freight operators are taking the threat to safety from large trucks seriously. Exhibits included audible and visual devices to warn drivers of nearby objects including cyclists and a camera array which gives drivers an all round view of their vehicle on one screen. It can be said that drivers using such devices suffer from a ‘sensory overload’ which makes it difficult to take in all the information provided whilst also manoeu- vring the vehicle. This might be supplemented by another idea, champi- oned by the GLA, to move to vehicles with low cabs and doors with big windows so that drivers have more chance of seeing cyclists. Whilst these are widely used on refuse vehicles there have been doubts whether they are suitable for other purposes, particularly in the construction in- dustry. However, two manufacturers, Mercedes and Dennis, are now showing that this layout can be used for all types of vehicle. In off-road conditions the whole vehicle can be lifted on an air cushion. SILVERTOWN – YET ANOTHER RIVER CROSSING Should The Silvertown Tunnel will run from The Silvertown Tunnel is one of to the North. Consultations on just before the commencement of a clutch of schemes devised to re- these three schemes were held in TfL run Blackwall Tunnel Approach to near place the unpopular proposed East February – March 2012 see:- Victoria Dock Road facing west London River Crossing, The other consultations.tfl.gov.uk/river/crossings our towards the Lower Lea Crossing. two schemes, which will go out to The Silvertown Tunnel is the scheme consultation at the end of this month that has the strongest case as it is trains? It will have two bores, with two lanes are the Gallions Reach and Belve- presented as a replacement for the in each bore. This would suggest a dere river crossings to the east of the restricted northward bore of the According to a London capacity of 4,000 vehicles (PCUs) Thames Flood Barrier and Woolwich Blackwall Tunnel. This probably ex- Assembly Transport Committee per hour in each direction. Ferry. Gallions Reach would appear plains why it has been presented report, 68 per cent of It is therefore puzzling to read, from a glance at the A-Z to substi- first, in order to create a ‘snowball’ respondents to their survey ‘We have carefully modelled the tute for the Barran Report pro- effect after it has been approved, for traffic impacts of the scheme and do posed Underground (River Line) to it is said that the schemes have met favoured devolution of South not anticipate that implementing Thamesmead, whilst Belvedere public acclaim – 80% of respondents London rail services to TfL. the Silvertown Tunnel scheme might connect a tank farm on the say something must be done. There Complaints about the present would lead to any significant over- South side of the River with the were 1,000 incidents at the Blackwall service centred around the all increase in traffic levels.’ Ford Motor Works and Heathway Tunnel in 2014. A common cause of level of fares, overcrowding, delay is lorry drivers not finding out delays and cancellations. that their vehicles will not fit in the A more frequent service was tunnel, until they are well down the also cited. The present route – so why not have a loading Overground services seem to gauge? satisfy most of these com- Due to the low capacity of the plaints although this might Blackwall Tunnel there can be delays prove more difficult on the of 25 minutes – rationing by time crowded tracks of South London. rather than by price. The tunnel Valerie Shawcross, Chair of will have a bore large enough to the London Assembly Trans- take high cube HGVs and double port Committee said, ‘There is deck buses. This will obviously aid a growing consensus that rail road hauliers competing against devolution to London is a trains on HS1 to the Barking Ripple good idea, including among Lane terminal, though this traffic passengers both inside and might pass via the Belvedere link. outside of London... Another Waiting to access Camden Town station Plans to expand the underground As is usual with urban roads the thing we found was that the station at Camden Town have been published. A possible site for the unstated agenda is to provide a nightmares at London Bridge entrance would be on Buck Street, between Camden High Street and market for petroleum. Assuming station might have been Kentish Town Road. It would lead to three new escalators and two lifts. constant use for most of the day and avoided, had a strong part- Below ground there would be more space to change between trains. given a mean lead of ten miles per nership existed between Net- This is a rehash of a scheme floated some 20 or more years ago which was trip, the four new links, including work Rail and TfL.’ withdrawn in the teeth of opposition from property owners. It is certainly Pimlico-Nine Elms, could generate a TfL have also proposed needed with the station having to be regularly closed because of over- petroleum market of around £120 mil- managing central London rail crowding. Interchange between the Edgware and High Barnet will also be lion pa at current prices. What these terminals but the Transport improved. This would become particularly important if the two branches of schemes will do for global warm- Committee has said this the Northern Line are split so that all Barnet trains go via Bank and all ing, I leave to others to elucidate. would be too complex and is Edgware trains via Charing Cross. Robin Whittaker not worth pursuing.

2 Paying people who don’t drive In Spring 2015 the London boroughs of Hounslow and Hackney joined a new app called BetterPoints, which rewards residents who walk, cycle and run. It is part of a new trend which aims to encourage citizens to walk and cycle, both for their own health and that of the wider community. Points are earned via a smartphone app which records activity. There is also a weekly bonus of 250 points for five days of activity. 2,000 points earns a treat such as a reward voucher of The Future of £2 to spend in selected shops. Meanwhile there is also the option of donating. Isabel Dedring, Deputy Mayor for Transport has suggested pay- Electric Transport ing Londoners to walk and cycle, as has Simon Birkett of Clean Air The question that is being manufacturer claim a range of at Siemens. The cost of electric London. It makes both health and increasingly asked is whether the 200 miles, plenty for most Lon- vehicles is falling fast as the num- economic sense to pay people electric motor is the best way to don routes. However the Dutch bers manufactured increases. who reduce their contribution to drive the wheels of our road technology company ABB claim Competitiveness will improve air pollution and congestion by transport vehicles? they now have superfast chargers, through saving on fuel and their choice of active travel. capable of replenishing in about 6 maintenance cost. We all know that for rail this It also cuts inactivity which is minutes, quite enough for buses to There are plans to add electric responsible for one in six deaths debate has long been settled recharge at terminal points. ABB motors to ships and even aircraft, although sadly we are still waiting in the UK. The CEO of NHS Eng- suggests that this could be done cutting fuel consumption and pol- land has already said that obesity for electrification on many lines. by a pantograph connecting with lution. Siemens developed the For road vehicles, electric drive will bankrupt the NHS. A sharp a contact bar. technology for the world’s first rise in urban diabetes is causing systems offer much higher efficiency, Electric drive systems add hugely electrically powered car ferry in great concern in Brent and New- smooth power transmission, zero to the comfort of passengers. The Norway. The ferry entered service ham where one in ten now has vibration, extremely low noise and vibration of the diesel engine not in early 2015 and causes no carbon diabetes. zero pollution at the point of use. only increases the maintenance dioxide emissions due to Norway’s In Stockholm they want to bal- So what’s not to like and why bill but is an irritation to the user. renewable energy generation. ance their congestion charge zone are they still produced in relatively Electric motors can be pro- Most car manufactures are with a ‘reverse’ congestion charge small numbers? Well, battery grammed to start and stop adding pure electric vehicles to which pays cyclists. It is part of a range, lack of public charging in- the vehicle smoothly, reducing their range. There are about carrot and stick strategy that is frastructure and re-fuelling time. discomfort for elderly and infirm 45,000 electric vehicles in the UK. particularly directed at the sub- This is of particular importance passengers thrown around by Registration of electric vehicles in- urbs, outside the congestion to private car owners. Although inconsiderate drivers. Idling creased by 50 per cent from 2013 zone, where citizens are resisting average UK mileage is about 22 combustion engines are also a to 2014 due to excellent products giving up their cars. miles per day, motorists like the nuisance to residents living near now available from Nissan, BMW, We see a similar picture in Lon- freedom of covering longer dis- bus stops and terminals. Renault and Tesla. Electricity is all don with car household owner- tances and with electric cars that Electric drive systems are about around us and it can be generat- ship as low as 29 per cent in inner is difficult at the moment. Not so three to four times more efficient ed from renewable sources. There London Tower Hamlets but actu- with public transport buses. The than combustion engines and it is are plans to convert lampposts to ally increasing in many outer bor- fixed routes are ideally suited for predicted that by 2050 80 per charging points. No need for tankers oughs such as Sutton, which now electric drive. Many urban bus cent of motor vehicles will be hybrid to supply fuel to petrol stations. has 78 per cent car ownership. In routes are well within the range of or fully electric. Most vehicles in The steam engine was replaced order to persuade more people to battery systems available today. development now incorporate by the internal combustion engine. give up their cars and free up Buses spend time sitting idle during some sort of electric drive. ‘Electric Will the internal combustion engine space on the underground, this is which they could be recharged. motors are actually the perfect go the way of the steam engine? another tool that may prove very Buses by the US company drive system,’ says Dr. Karsten Maybe quicker than we think. valuable. Proterra and the Chinese BYD Michels, head of development Friedbert Meinert Rosalind Readhead

3 NEWS ROUNDUP

Curse of the diesel destination and not intermediate stops l Reduce the need for people to for disabled people to travel. On GMB, the union for staff working so the situation could well be worse have to travel by providing key 21st September a demonstration on streets across the UK, has if other calling points are included. amenities and job opportunities was held at Oakwood which has published a new study of official Timetables for long distance trains locally and more balanced economic one of the worst records – closed data on the mean average level of are often ‘padded’ with extended development between the Central for 13 days during July and August Nitrogen Dioxide (NO2) pollutants in times for the last stretch to enable Area and the rest of London. alone. TfL blame staff shortages for the air measured at 110 monitoring late running trains nevertheless to l More investment throughout the closures but also cite industrial stations across the UK for 2015. arrive on time. London in walking, cycling and ac- action as being responsible for At 18 sites NO2 levels exceeded publishes figures cessible transport, and in outer recent closures. 40ug/m3 (micrograms per cubic for the percentage of trains arriving London in public transport services, Transport for All want it to be metre) which is the level the Euro- early or within one minute of particularly bus services and orbital better publicised that when people pean Union sets for the average over scheduled arrival time. This shows rail. are unable to use the tube because a year. Seven of these sites were in that, for 2012/13, the last year for l Strong road traffic reduction of lifts being out of order they are London, headed by Marylebone which figures are available, the targets, implementing road user entitled to alternative means of Road which returned a colossal figure was 68.1 per cent. charging, strengthening low emis- transport. TfL policy states: ‘If you 84ug/m3. The other London sites sion requirements and avoiding arrive at a tube, TfL Rail or Over- Is this the demise of the traffic generating transport ground station and the lift is un- were Camden Kerbside, Tower third runway? Hamlets Roadside, Hillingdon, schemes. available, staff will help you to plan Bloomsbury, Southwark, Old Kent ‘No third runway! No ifs, no buts!’ l Promote an integrated approach an alternative journey to your des- Road and Haringey Roadside. David Cameron’s ringing declaration to freight with a network of consoli- tination. If there isn’t a reasonable GMB members working on the seems to be coming back to bite dation hubs and managed distribu- alternative route, we’ll book you a roadside such as street cleaners him as the Government once again tion for the final leg of delivery. Shift taxi (at our cost) to take you to and refuse workers are particularly postpones the decision on the third road freight to rivers and canals by your destination or another step- exposed to such pollutants. GMB is runway at Heathrow. It seems that implementing the Blue Ribbon free station from where you can calling for more local monitoring the issues of noise and atmospheric Network. continue your journey.’ and for action to further reduce pollution and the predicted snarl To help make accessibility more up of surface transport in the area Lift closures compromise affordable London Underground exposures. accessibility John McClean, GMB National are becoming overwhelming. To has built an inclined lift at Green- Health, Safety and Environment add to the pressure all the London Transport for All is campaigning ford, an ingenious device which officer, said ‘These figures on nitro- mayoral candidates are opposed. about lift closures at underground uses the existing stairwell instead gen dioxide confirm the urgent need The choice seems to be between stations which make it impossible of requiring a new vertical shaft. for better air quality monitoring in Heathrow and Gatwick, but similar urban and built up areas. Clean air problems, if not so intense, arise if should be a right, not a privilege’. a new runway is built there. The Under EU law any location should truth is that more flying and a new not exceed 200ug/m3 more than runway anywhere will make it more 18 times in a year. It is reported difficult to ensure the continuing that Putney High Street exceeded habitability of planet Earth. We the limit for 2016 on 8th January. need to reduce and not increase the number of aircraft in the air. Signs of Thameslink upgrade Rosalind Readhead for mayor Crucial to the plan to run 24 trains per hour through the Thameslink Our member Rosalind Readhead core tunnel by 2018 is the provision is standing as an independent of 115 new class 700 trains and candidate for mayor of London. depots to service them. The depots Her manifesto includes a ban on are at Three Bridges and Hornsey. private cars in central London and The Three Bridges depot is now a ban on diesel vehicles. She wants complete and the first two class to prioritise active travel like 700 trains have been delivered. walking and cycling, reclaim car The Hornsey depot is due to open parks for housing and making solar in July 2016. power integral to new builds. You can see more details on her website Train timekeeping banprivatecarsinlondon.com/ A new report from Passenger Focus Just Space community vision reveals a gulf between what for transport passengers and rail industry consider ‘late’. The current rule is that a local Just Space, an informal alliance of train is on time if it arrives within community groups, campaigns and five minutes of its scheduled arrival concerned independent organisa- time and a long distance train within tions, has published a draft ten minutes. Passenger Focus reveals transport policy to influence the that for every minute of lateness Mayor’s Transport Strategy (MTS) overall passenger satisfaction which has not been updated since declines by one and a half percent- 2008 and will be refreshed age points and by three percent for alongside the new London Plan. commuter trains. The draft presents four transport The figures only relate to time at objectives:

4