2022 promises to deliver London's biggest transport bonanza in decades, a haul of new station connections unmatched this century. Throw in last September's Battersea extension and we're in the midst of a brief golden age of project completion thanks to plans made when the going was good. It can't continue as funds evaporate, plugs are pulled and future plans indefinitely mothballed, indeed 2022's expansion may turn out to be something of a last hurrah. But let's look forward to what the upcoming twelve months should bring...
January: In 12 days time the southbound Northern line platform at Bank station will be sealed off to the public and you'll never be able to catch a train from it again. It's all part of a major upgrade to the ultra-labyrinthine station which'll make getting around much easier, including lifts to the Northern line, escalators down from the Central line, two new moving walkways and a brand new entrance on Cannon Street. In particular the tracks beside the current southbound platform will be filled in to create a new customer concourse while a totally new platform they've been busy building in parallel is readied for use. You'll hardly recognise the place.
The Northern line will be closed between Kennington and Moorgate from Saturday 15th January with a reduced service on the remainder of the Bank branch. A temporary bus route, the 733, will operate on weekdays between Oval and Finsbury Square. Expect a new (and potentially ugly) tube map to coincide with the start of the closure. Shutdown is due to last 17 weeks which'd put reopening around the weekend of Sunday 15th May. Not everything inside the station will have been completed by then, but TfL's expectation is that they'll have the entire upgrade completed by the end of the year which would be damned impressive... and makes Bank one of 2022's shiny new baubles.
March-June: It's inconceivable that Crossrail won't open this year, which is damned exciting after three and a bit years of interminable delay. Trial operations are well underway, indeed they were even shuttling trains back and forth on Christmas Bank Holiday Monday, but everything still hangs on the successful rollout of rewritten software for signalling (ELR110) and for control and communications (CMS28.0). If that goes well then passenger evacuation scenarios will be tested in the weeks to come, followed by a period of 'shadow running' and only when confidence is high will full opening get the green light.
Nobody yet knows for certain when opening day will be, but Sunday 6th March remains the optimistic earliest possibility and 'some time in the first half of 2022' the backstop default. That could mean catching a purple train under Central London is only nine weeks away or could mean three, four or five months, but all of these are still excitingly close considering past tribulations. A new tube map is promised whenever Crossrail finally deigns to appear, although it might be missing a station. Bond Street remains horribly behind schedule and is nowhere near being ready to hand over to TfL, so it remains likely that initial services will have to skip the station which may mute the triumphant launch somewhat. But that transformational launch between Paddington and Abbey Wood is growing ever closer... which makes Crossrail 2022's shiniest, sparkliest bauble.
September-December: And there's more. The Overground extension to Barking Riverside is due to open in the autumn, whenever 'autumn' actually is, unlocking the development of thousands of remote estuarine houses. TfL first proposed an Overground extension in 2014 (when completion was expected in 2019) and put in for planning permission in 2016 (anticipating 2021). Last year they completed the viaduct that curves off from the Tilbury line and attention is now focused on the installation of telecoms, signalling and overhead line equipment. The new service is initially expected to run at an operating loss, which is what happens when you run an expensive service to a housing estate that doesn't yet fully exist, but should realise an operational surplus by 2030. The opening of the extension will also result in the publication of the year's third new tube map... because Barking Riverside is 2022's third shiny bauble.
December: Meanwhile Network Rail has a new London station up its sleeve - the unexcitingly named Brent Cross West. It's being slotted into the Midland Main Line between Cricklewood and Hendon, just south of Staples Corner, as part of a major Barnet council regeneration scheme. The area around the station is mostly industrial area at present, with an eye to turning it into 6700 flats, so not somewhere most of the rest of London is going to want to visit. Even the Northern line station is closer to the Brent Cross shopping centre than this. The station will be served by Thameslink trains so opening is likely to coincide with timetable changeover day on 12th December. Whether Thameslink will still be on the tube map by then is another question... but if it is expect to see Brent Cross West making an appearance as 2022's fourth shiny bauble.
After 2022 all that's left on London's new station list are maybes. New Bermondsey (formerly Surrey Canal Road) is not a given. Beam Park in Havering looks to have lost its funding. Old Oak Common should spark into life when HS2 begins, notionally in 2029, but any adjacent Overground stations may now be lost. Progress on the Bakerloo line extension is suspended. Any hope of the DLR reaching Thamesmead is just blue skies thinking. The pandemic and its associated debts look to have slammed down the lid on optimistic expansion, as enforced funding discussions with government focus on what to cut back, not what to grow. 2022's expansive burst of rail infrastructure is the ultra-fortunate beneficiary of plans laid down in happier times. London may not see its like again.
