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Report to Scrutiny

Item Number:

Contains Confidential or No Exempt Information

Subject of Report: Overview of Rail Connectivity in the Borough

Scrutiny Review Panel 2 – 2016/2017: Transport Meeting: 14 th September 2016

Russell Roberts Service Report Author: Principal Transport Planner Email: robertsru@.gov.uk Tel: 020-8825 9430

Harjeet Bains Scrutiny Officer: Scrutiny Review Officer Email: [email protected] Tel: 020-8825 7120

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz Cabinet Responsibility: (Transport, Environment and Leisure)

Lucy Taylor, Director, Regeneration and Planning Director Responsibility: Email:[email protected] Tel: 020-8825 9036

To consider the effectiveness of rail connectivity (e.g. , Overground, , First Great Brief: Western, TfL, , Gatwick connections, Spur, etc.) in the borough and make recommendations for further improvements accordingly.

The Panel is recommended to: - consider and comment on the information provided on Recommendations: rail connectivity in the borough; - identify areas for further review at future meetings; and - make suggestions for further improvements where necessary.

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1. Background 1.1 Ealing has quite an extensive rail and Underground (Tube) network predominately arranged on a radial basis to and from central . The Central, District and Piccadilly lines as well as the , Heathrow Connect, , Chiltern and all serve stations within the borough. However, whilst there are strong east-west, radial connections, there are limitations on north-south, orbital connections to other parts of to and from Ealing. The network coverage is best in the east and central of the borough with most of these areas being within a 12 minute walk (960 metres) of at least one station. However, in the west the rail and Tube networks do not provide good coverage (see map 1).

1.2 Rail and Tube journeys account for 10% of trips starting in Ealing, and are split 2% and 8% of trips respectively. Table 1 below shows Ealing’s modal split compared to the west and outer London borough averages.

Table 1 – Rail/Tube Mode Share Comparison Borough Rail Tube Ealing 2% 8% west London 2% 8% outer London 4% 4%

1.3 In terms of actual numbers of journeys, there are 49,280 daily Tube trips and 12,320 daily rail trips per day out of an all modes total 616,000 trips per day originating in Ealing.

1.4 Due to the very high costs associated with new rail/ Tube stations and extensions for in order to justify any changes to these networks, there needs to be significant levels of either new or existing development to satisfy the challenging business case requirements. Railway proposals will be compared to proposals in other areas in terms of benefits and disbenefits. Any new rail infrastructure is also likely to require taking land from existing buildings and/or green space. Whilst tunnelling may be a method of reducing impacts on surface uses, the costs are extremely high with planning and construction taking several years to complete (see and examples).

1.5 In recent years therefore, Ealing officers have focussed on improving the reliability and frequency of services on the existing networks. For example, officers helped to negotiate four trains per hour through Station as part of the Crossrail plans. As train paths (capacity) get filled up, future enhancements could be investigated in terms of lengthening trains to provide more seats. This approach has been used on London Overground (). However, stations may need to be modified to accommodate longer trains, particularly where platforms require lengthening.

1.6 Ealing is set to benefit from two new railways with enhanced stations currently being designed to serve the borough, Crossrail and High Speed 2. There are also proposals for possible future rail links between and plus to via Acton.

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2. Crossrail Services 2.1 Crossrail will take over both GWR local services and Heathrow Connect into London in May 2018 (see map 2). From January 2019 Crossrail will extend current train paths through a tunnel to provide direct services across London to Shenfield and in to the east with intermediate stops underground including Bond Street and . The total cost of this project is £14,800,000,000.

2.2 The introduction of Crossrail services in January 2019 is expected to bring significant accessibility benefits to the five Crossrail stations in the borough. All of the stations (Acton Mainline, Ealing Broadway, , Hanwell and Southall) will be step- free and the enhanced service pattern (up to ten trains per hour) alongside significantly improved journey times into London will raise the PTALS in many parts of the borough. For example, the journey time from Southall to the West End will drop down to 19 minutes with no change required.

2.3 Crossrail is predicted to generate significant increases in passenger numbers for the stations it serves. For example, at Ealing Broadway there will be 21,150,000 passengers by 2026 a 25.9% increase on 2015 levels (see appendix 1), this and further future increases have been accounted for with a capacity of 27,000,000 passengers per year. .

2.4 The Council has also secured £7,300,000 from TfL to invest in the areas around each of the five stations through Crossrail Complementary Measures (CCM) funding. This will see improvements to public realm and wider public transport connectivity through revisions to bus infrastructure and more integrated station frontages.

3. High Speed 2 railway 3.1 The government is promoting the High Speed 2 (HS2) railway to provide a new link between London and (phase one) with extensions also proposed to Leeds and Manchester (phase two). The total cost of HS2 phase 1 is estimated at £42,600,000,000.

3.2 Within LB Ealing HS2 would be in a tunnel from to the boundary with at broadly following the alignment of the Central line, West branch (see map 2). A new station in and is proposed on the current site of the Old Oak Common railway depot (immediately to the east of the borough boundary at Old Oak Lane). Officers are working with schemes promoters HS2 Ltd, to minimise the impacts of construction and operation on local residents and businesses. A Hybrid Bill to attain consent for this scheme will be going to the House of Lords this Autumn. Construction is due to begin in 2017 and last until completion of phase one in 2026 and 2033 for phase two.

4. Other Future Rail infrastructure 4.1 Two new railway projects with alignments through LB Ealing are being promoted by Hounslow Council. An officer from Hounslow will attend the meeting to provide further details.

4.2 The first is a proposal to introduce passenger rail services on the freight railway line

Page 3 of 15 between Southall and Brentford (circled on Map 1). This project would require track and signalling works to provide a three train an hour ‘shuttle’ service from Southall station (and Crossrail services) to the development area beside the A4 Great West Road. The estimated cost of this project is over £40,000,000.

4.3 The second proposal is to provide passenger rail services between Hounslow to Old Oak Common using the ‘ curve’ alignment currently used by freight trains to provide a link between the ‘Hounslow Loop’ railway line (including Brentford) to the NLL to connect with Crossrail and HS2 (see map 2). This proposal would provide additional services to South Acton and Acton Central, however, the level crossings adjacent to these two stations would also be affected. The estimated cost of this project is around £20,000,000.

4.4 TfL is currently planning and designing a second new railway in tunnels across London, . This will link south west London to north east London via central London with stations at Victoria and Court Road and could be operational by 2030. This ‘Metro’ route is expected to cost £27,000,000,000 in total. Whilst a longer, ‘Regional’ option running from Cheshunt in Hertfordshire to Epsom in Surrey, passing through central London via stations and is estimated to cost £32,000,000,000.

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5. Tube Services 5.1 Ealing is served by three Tube lines, the Central, District and Piccadilly services (see map 1).

5.2 The Central line consists of two branches within LB Ealing, the Ealing Broadway and West Ruislip branches which are joined at a junction to the west of station. The Ealing Broadway branch includes and, at its terminus, Ealing Broadway, stations. The West Ruislip branch includes , , Greenford and Northolt stations within LB Ealing. The Central lines connects Ealing to central and east London and other significant stations on this route include Shepherds Bush, Circus, Bank and Stratford.

5.3 The consists of the Ealing Broadway branch only within LB Ealing and serves Park, Acton Town, and Ealing Broadway. The District Line connects Ealing to south west London (Richmond and Wimbledon), central London (including direct trains to from Victoria Station) plus east London. New rolling stock offering more space and walk-through carriages have been introduced on the District line within the last two years. This will be followed by a signaling upgrade soon as part of TfL’s Four Lines Modernisation programme. When these improvements are complete by 2023, the capacity of the District line will increase by 24%, which means it will be able to carry about 10,000 more passengers an hour. However, the extra capacity improves the attractiveness to users to commute further and more often on this service.

5.4 The has two branches within LB Ealing, the Heathrow and branches and these join at a junction to the west of Acton Town station. The Piccadilly line stations within LB Ealing are Acton Town, South Ealing and Northfields (Heathrow branch) and Ealing Common, North Ealing and (Uxbridge branch).. A number of Piccadilly Line stations lie just outside the borough boundary but serve LB Ealing residents, these include (Heathrow branch), , Sudbury Town and (all Uxbridge branch). The Heathrow branch suffers from extra overcrowding in addition to peak hour commuters due to large numbers of airport passengers using it from other parts of London to access .

5.5 On the deep Tube lines there is also a plan to develop one signaling system and new train fleet, with walk-through, air-cooled carriages. These will be introduced first on the Piccadilly line from the early 2020s (dates to be confirmed) and, following this, on the Bakerloo, Central and Waterloo & City lines.

5.6 Numbers of Tube passengers have generally been increasing across LB Ealing with an average 15% increase from 2007 to 2015, shown in Appendix 1. Growth has been particularly strong among stations in the north of the borough with Hanger Lane showing a 34.3% increase. However, growth has been small on the Piccadilly Line (0.5% at Northfields) whilst there have been decreases at Chiswick Park and Ealing Broadway. There were 63,372,300 entries and exits for all stations within LB Ealing for 2015 in total with passengers using Ealing Broadway accounting for around 27% of this total. The numbers of Tube passengers tend to be higher than rail passengers this is mainly due to the higher service frequencies and more extensive network offering more destinations making the Underground a more convenient service.

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5.7 The first Night Tube services were launched on the Central and Victoria lines on Friday 19 August. Night services on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines are due to follow the in autumn (date to be confirmed). The Night Tube will offer a 24-hour service on Fridays and Saturdays.

5.8 On the Central line, trains will run approximately every 10 minutes between White City and and approximately every 20 minutes between Ealing Broadway to White City and Leytonstone to Loughton/ Hainault. There will be no service between North Acton and West Ruislip, Loughton and Epping and Woodford and Hainault.

5.9 Piccadilly line trains will run approximately every 10 minutes between and . There will be no service on the Terminal 4 loop, or between Acton Town and Uxbridge.

5.10 There are also plans to expand the night time service to parts of the Metropolitan, Circle, District, and Hammersmith & City lines once the relevant modernisation programmes have been completed. Additionally, services could operate on parts of the London Overground in 2017 and the by 2021.

Page 6 of 15 6. Rail Services 6.1 The Great West Mainline railway runs through LB Ealing and the Great West Railway (GWR) provides both long-distance and local train services on this line into London Paddington (see map 1). Local services run through the west London and in the towards Reading and Oxford. GWR serves Acton Mainline, Ealing Broadway, West Ealing, Hanwell and Southall as intermediate stations within the borough. There are around eight trains an hour between Ealing Broadway and London Paddington Monday to Saturday with a journey time of around ten minutes.

6.2 Train services between Paddington, LB Ealing and Heathrow Airport are provided by Heathrow Connect, this is a joint venture between GWR and Heathrow Express. Heathrow Connect also serves the same intermediate stations within the borough as GWR. This service runs two trains an hour Monday to Saturday and one train an hour on Sundays.

3 6.3 The is a 2 ⁄4-mile (4.4 km) suburban railway line in west London, . It runs northerly from a triangular junction with the west of West Ealing to a central bay platform at which is also on the Central line. A triangular junction near Greenford connects to the Acton-Northolt Line (formerly the New North Main Line). The line serves mainly the suburbs of Ealing and Greenford. It is one of the few remaining true branch lines in the area. The passenger service is provided by Great Western Railway. Trains from the branch continue on the Great Western Main Line to reach Paddington, typically in 24 minutes, and call at the three intermediate stations: West Ealing, Ealing Broadway and Acton Main Line.

6.4 London Overground provides train services on the North London Line (NLL) running through the east of the borough (see map 1). The NLL has stations at South Acton and Acton Central and serves north and east London (including West , & and Stratford stations) plus south west London to Richmond. There are four trains an hour in each direction Monday to Saturday. The train car sets were lengthened from three cars to four cars in 2011 and again from four cars to five cars in 2015. A new station is being planned at Acton Wells adjacent to North Acton with a pedestrian link to the Old Oak Common Interchange for Crossrail/HS2. This station is currently scheduled for completion in 2026.

6.5 The Chiltern Railway serves Northolt Park station with services to London , Gerrards Cross and High Wycombe. There is one train an hour to London Marylebone Monday to Saturday with a journey time of around 20 minutes. Northolt Park station will be refreshed with repainting and additional signage during 2017.

6.6 Chiltern Railway has been lobbying for access to the future Crossrail/HS2 Interchange station at Old Oak Common. A business case for this proposal is currently being investigated by HS2 Ltd and will report back on its viability in 2017.

6.7 Investment in improving train services and capacity does continue. Great Western Railway have recently signed a multi-million-pound deal with train manufacturer Bombardier and leasing company Porterbrook for 37 Class 387 four-carriage electric trains. These will join the eight already ordered by GWR. This brand new fleet of trains will replace their diesel Turbo trains that operate in the Thames Valley. The trains can

Page 7 of 15 be run in four, eight- and 12-carriage formations; with the latter providing 97 more seats per train than the longest Turbo train today. The first of the Class 387 trains (GWR Electrostars) will be introduced on new Hayes & Harlington to London Paddington services in September, and will help provide an additional 1,400 seats at the busiest times every day for commuters. The Greenford Branch Line service will become a shuttle service terminating in a bay platform at West Ealing to accommodate this change and the future Crossrail services.

6.8 Rail passenger numbers have increased dramatically by an average of 89% from 2006/7 to 2014/15 as shown in Appendix 2. The North London Line (London Overground) and Greenford branch line in particular have seen particularly large rises notably South Acton (139.9%) and South Greenford (233%). Total rail passengers at stations within LB Ealing numbered 15,127,554 during 2014/15, whilst passengers at Ealing Broadway accounted for 38% of this total.

6.9 Passengers can also access Gatwick Airport changing at Junction by using rail services operated through LB Hounslow by SouthWest Trains on the from Brentford or Kew Bridge stations.

Page 8 of 15 7. Legal Implications 7.1 is a statutory body created by the Act 1999.

7.2 S. 141 (1) of the Greater London Authority Act 1999 gives the a general duty to develop and implement policies to promote and encourage safe, integrated, efficient and economic transport facilities and services to, from and within London.

7.3 By virtue of S. 154 (3) (b) of the Act TfL (a statutory body created under the Act) has a duty to facilitate the discharge of the duties under s. 141 (1).

7.4 TfL also has a power under s.173 to provide or secure the provision of public passenger transport services, to, from or within Greater London.

7.5 The Council is required to adopt a Local Implementation Plan (a LIP) which is a statutory plan prepared under section 145 of the Act to set out how we will implement the London Mayor’s Transport Strategy within Ealing. Each borough’s LIP must demonstrate how it will contribute to the Mayor’s goals, strategies and outcomes, as well as other local and sub-regional goals.

7.6 The Greater London Authority Act 1999 also made TfL responsible for the planning and operation of aspects of the system including the Underground network.

7.7 The responsibility for awarding passenger rail franchises lies with the Secretary of State for Transport as given in the Railways Act 2005.

7.8 Planning and construction powers of a new railway or tramway scheme in England can be given by the Secretary of State for Transport by an order made under the Transport and Works Act 1992 (TWA). However, nationally significant rail schemes in England require development consent under the Planning Act 2008.

8. Financial Implications 8.1 There are no financial implications arising directly from this report.

9. Other Implications 9.1 There are no other implications from this report.

10. Background Papers 10.1 There are four main relevant background papers to accompany this report:

• Overview of Public Transport Connectivity - Report to Transport Scrutiny Panel (30 th June 2016) http://ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/Meetings/tabid/70/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/397/ Meeting/5189/Committee/279/Default.aspx • Council Petition to High Speed 2 – Report to Council (15 th April 2014) http://ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/Meetings/tabid/70/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/397/ Meeting/89/Committee/2/Default.aspx

Page 9 of 15 • Crossrail – Report to Scrutiny Review Panel 2 – Transport (2 nd October 2013) http://ealing.cmis.uk.com/ealing/Meetings/tabid/70/ctl/ViewMeetingPublic/mid/397/ Meeting/116/Committee/37/Default.aspx • West London Sub-Regional Transport Plan https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/sub-regional-transport-plans

Page 10 of 15 Report Consultation

Date Comments Date Sent Response Appear in Name of Consultee Department to Received Report Consultee from Para Consultee Internal Lucy Taylor Director of Regeneration and 19/8/16 Planning Cllr Aysha Raza Panel Chair 19/8/16 Cllr Joanna 25/8/16 Throughout Panel Vice Chair 19/8/16 Dabrowska External None

Report History

Decision Type: Urgency item? Non-key Decision No Authorised by Date Report Report Deadline: Date Report Sent: Cabinet Member: Drafted: N/A 1/9/16 1/9/16 Report No.: Report Author and Contact for Queries: Russell Roberts Principal Transport Planner Email: [email protected] Tel: 020-8825 9430

Page 11 of 15 Appendix 1

Tube Station Usage

Station Name Entries & Exits 20 07 Entries & Exits 2015 Percentage Change Acton Town 5,770,000 6,235,000 8.06 Chiswick Park 2,220,000 2,148,500 -3.22 Ealing Broadway *17,530,000 *16,840,000 -3.94 Ealing Common 3,420,000 3,516,600 2.82 Greenford *3,520,000 *4,716,500 33.99 Hanger Lane 2,940,000 3,949,500 34.34 North Acton 4,990,000 6,106,300 22.37 North Ealing 870,000 892,600 2.60 Northfields 4,060,000 4,080,100 0.50 Northolt 3,410,000 5,026,000 47.39 Park Royal 1,590,000 2,019,400 27.01 Perivale 1,970,000 2,405,600 22.11 South Ealing 3,450,000 3,699,800 7.24 West Acton 1,560,000 1,736,800 11.33 Source TfL *Includes rail passengers

Page 12 of 15 Appendix 2

Rail Station Usage

20 06/7 Entries & 20 14 /15 Entries & Percentage Station Name Exits Exits Change

120.43 Acton Central 1,334,016 2,940,598

46.74 Acton Main Line 309,456 454,106

85.58 Castle Bar Park 97,263 180,504

102.50 Drayton Green 75,414 152,710 Ealing Broadway #3,479,699 #5,817,932 67.20 172.38 Greenford #85,234 #232,160

38.37 Hanwell 324,857 449,490

-9.12 Northolt Park 221,451 201,254

139.87 South Acton 367,851 882,356

233.10 South Greenford 14,207 47,324

55.40 Southall 1,558,579 2,422,096

24.85 West Ealing 1,078,954 1,347,024 Source Office for Rail Regulation # Rail passenger ticket sales only

Page 13 of 15 Map 1

Page 14 of 15 Map 2

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