Last week the Mayor announced he was progressing the development of the West Orbital Railway, a proposed Overground line linking Hendon to Hounslow. It'd mostly follow an existing freight line but would need four new stations. In the latest move £6.65m has been provided to fast-track a design phase to support a public consultation, expected in the summer. [map][diagram]
And I have questions... 37 questions as it turns out.
1) Is the Mayor going to admit that the original idea came in 2014 under his predecessor? It appeared in Boris's London Infrastructure Plan 2050 as part of a potential outer orbital railway called the R25. 2) Do you remember I described it at the time as "a Mayoral/TfL pipedream, lightly pencilled in for the 2040s", then went out and tried to ride it? 3) Is the Mayor going to remind us that he's already published a West London Orbital – Strategic Outline Business Case, this back in 2019? It was 111 pages long so quite serious, and proposed opening Phase 1 in 2026 (cough). 4) Do you remember I wrote about it in 2020, specifically how the Dudding Hill freight line might be turned orange? 5) The original plan included additional branches to West Hampstead and Kew Bridge. The former's still in the frame long-term ("While this is our initial proposal, it would not prevent services running to West Hampstead Thameslink in the future") but is Kew Bridge permanently binned?
6) Has anybody else actually been out to look at where the new line might go, rather than just regurgitating TfL's press release? Just me then :)
Hendon 7) Hendon station's grim isn't it? An ungated halt accessed via manky steps beside the M1 motorway. It'll need a lot of cash to create an acceptably accessible station. 8) The station has six tracks but only four platforms, so which are the Overground platforms going to be? Two of the four serve slow Thameslink trains and two are whizzed through by fast East Midlands services, so how can they terminate Overground trains in the midst of that? Or are they going to need to build two new platforms on the freight lines, as suggested in a 70-page planning document in 2021?
Brent Cross West 9) This is a 2 year-old station so ought to have been built with an Overground orbital in mind. But how the hell does that work? I've looked at the track layout and the junction leading to the Dudding Hill line is alongside the platforms, not after them. You cannot stop at the station and then bear off along the Brent Curve because you've missed the turning. I mean look. 10) Are they seriously going to have to build two new platforms at a brand new station? This 40-page feasibility document from March 2025 suggests yes they are, sheesh.
Neasden 11) It's almost two miles from Brent Cross West to Neasden. Are the unfortunate folk who live in the middle near Gladstone Park just going to have to watch these useless trains go by? 12) Whatever TfL's schematic map suggests, you can't stop Overground trains at the existing Jubilee line station because the freight line is at least 180m distant. Do they build a new station where the lines cross or a separate station 200m away down Neasden Lane? 13) OK, I've read Brent council's Neasden Stations Growth Area Plan and the chosen option is a separate WLO station. It'd be by the bridge over Neasden Lane on the existing McGovern scrapyard, along with 500 houses in varying highrise blocks. It's fairly horrible round here at present so it'd only be an improvement. But what are the chances of that 2022 redevelopment plan ever coming to fruition? 14) A 200m interchange at street level's not ideal is it? And it's no better at the next station...
Harlesden 15) Again you can't stop Overground trains at the existing Bakerloo line station because the freight line misses it, so will this be one new station or two separate stations? 16) If it's two, how do passengers interchange to the Bakerloo line? Do they have to leave the station and cross Acton Lane or could you squeeze a 100m walkway under the road? 17) And what gets demolished to cram in the new station? A row of houses on Harley Road or the Old Sub-Station on Acton Lane?
Old Oak Common Lane 18) That is a really odd name for the station because the freight line DOESN'T PASS Old Oak Common Lane. Last time TfL proposed a WLO station here it was called Old Oak Common Victoria Road and that would be perfectly possible. What is going on here? 19) Back in 2017 TfL ran a consultation which proposed adding an Old Oak Common station on the Mildmay line, Richmond branch. I blogged about it at the time and then it all went quiet. But that really was on Old Oak Common Lane, so is the plan to resurrect that AND add a new Overground station on the West Orbital Line? 20) It'd be an expensive option building two step-free stations in essentially the same place, plus they'd have to build a walkway across both tracks to remove severance. Does Sadiq really have the money for this? Or will the huge HS2 hub get just one Overground station on the least useful line? 21) Most of the surrounding area is currently an HS2 development wasteland but a Victorian street called Midland Terrace is currently in the optimum spot for a WLO station so do any houses have to be demolished? 22) TfL's route diagram shows an interchange to North Acton station, but that's at best an 8 minute walk. Are a lot of the promised interchanges on this line really just annoyingly long walks? 23) Also this station's only ¾ mile down the line from Harlesden station, and yet earlier the WLO had a 2 mile gap. Are these intervals annoyingly sub-optimal?
Acton Central/South Acton 24) These are two existing stations on the Richmond branch of the Mildmay line. It'd be great if they got twice as many services BUT by squeezing extra trains through here, might the new line just make the old line less reliable? 25) There are also level crossings at either end of this stretch. Won't bringing the barriers down twice as often cause huge severance locally? Indeed the 2025 feasibility document suggested the crossings would need to be closed to traffic as much as 70% of the time and thus the only practical solution is to close them entirely and add pedestrian/cycle bridges. Local drivers would despise that!
Lionel Road 26) Brentford FC's new stadium was built inside a triangle of railway lines and the plan is to build this new station on the northern edge. But won't it now be impossible to squeeze a westbound platform up against the accessway to Gates J, K and L? 27) Presumably the station building would have to be built opposite, where the empty Sega Building now stands. Is this actually factored into the redevelopment proposals? 28) Lionel Road is a pedestrianised backstreet. Wouldn't it be better to call this station Brentford Stadium, then everyone would know where it was? 29) There's already a station 100m away which is Kew Bridge. Both will have trains to Hounslow, but how will the public know which of the two to wait at?
Brentford/Syon Lane/Isleworth 30) These stations currently have half-hourly trains to Waterloo and Weybridge. Residents will love getting four more trains an hour because that could be transformative, but do any of them really want to go to Harlesden, Neasden or Hendon? Central London's really where it's at.
Hounslow 31) Where precisely are trains going to terminate? They can't hang around on either of the two existing platforms because other trains need to pass through. Is part of the Inwood Business Park going to be compulsorily purchased for a third terminating platform? 32) It may be called Hounslow but it's not that near the town centre - two Piccadilly line stations are much closer. Will local residents really find this new orbital connection useful?
33) This new line is really going to make a mess of the west side of the tube map, isn't it? 34) According to the leader of Barnet council, "by filling a major gap in the public transport network it will give our residents faster, more sustainable access to everything West London has to offer." Do you genuinely believe that bolx, Barry, or are you just overblowing the whole thing? 35) The new Overground line will need a new name. We're told they'll "consider the communities along the route as well as local heritage and history to find a suitable name that showcases London's rich diversity and culture." In other words it's entirely unguessable at this stage so let's not try yet, eh? I'll run a sweepstake later. 36) Is there a worse use of the word 'soon' than Secret London's recent headline "London’s Transport Network Could Soon Be Getting A New £700 Million Overground Line"? Tone down your ludicrous hyperbole, Katie. 37) If planning for the West London Orbital goes well it'll be 'late 2027' before TfL make a decision on progressing the project and the line might then open in the 'mid-2030s'. Given it's been on the drawing board for a decade already, and given some of the new stations look quite tricky to build, and given some of the interchanges are definitely sub-optimal, and given the fact the public coffers will only get emptier, wouldn't you agree that 'late 2030s' or 'never' would be a more likely prediction?
