Bakerloo Line extension to New Cross and Lewisham proposed
Being always right about everything is a burden Brockley Central must bear. For years, we have been banging on about the fact that a southern extension of the Bakerloo Line should be a key priority for London and that the case is so strong that, despite being a relatively unfashionable project (compared with Crossrail 2, etc), its time would come.
Just to be extra-right, we predicted that the route would go down the Old Kent Road, rather than through Camberwell. And lo! Londonist reports:
Boris Johnson has been teasing an update about a possible southern extension to the Bakerloo Line for a couple of weeks now, and in the newly released London Infrastructure Plan 2050 we can see what Transport for London has in mind. The preferred route runs from the current terminus at Elephant and Castle down Old Kent Road and through New Cross and Lewisham, down to Catford and then on to Hayes and Beckenham Junction. Catford would get up to 27 trains per hour, Hayes up to 15 tph and Beckenham up to 6 tph.
The concept for an additional fast orbital rail service linking boroughs in the inner suburbs – dubbed the R25 in City Hall – follows the rapid growth of London Overground, which has seen a boom in passenger numbers since being enhanced and integrated into the capital's transport system, helping regenerate areas and stations and decongest tube lines.
We understand that there's a lot of politics involved in any such announcement and Boris is good at floating ideas, not so good at delivering them, but it's coming and probably sooner than the sceptics think. Thanks to Stuart for the heads-up.
