Thameslink West: an alternative to Crossrail 2?

Crossrail 1, the most expensive transport investment for over a century, has proved even costlier than anticipated or hoped for. Observing the complex city centre stations – with their vast sub-surface ticket halls, demolishing half a dozen buildings at five central London stations – indicates that the line would be expensive. Slim-down design of stations, without complex ticket halls and interchanges with the tube, and with simpler escalator access at either end of the stations, directly from above ground, may have proved better value for money. Crossrail 2 of similar design, but with even longer tunnels deeper into the relatively low density southern suburbs of the city, needs to be simplified and redesigned to maybe half the cost. Thameslink West is an alternative approach, building on a 1943-idea to build a deep rail tunnel between Battersea and Paddington via Victoria. Thameslink West complements the existing Thameslink (East).

Thameslink West
– Thameslink West consists of a 3 kilometre tunnel between Victoria and Marylebone, with new sub-surface stations, tunnel ramps at either end and an intermediate station at Bond Street.
– Thameslink West has 16 carriage long train platforms at the three new sub-surface stations and several new or remodelled on-surface stations such as Brockley, Battersea, Wembley Park, Brent Cross West, Tottenham Hale.
– The costs of the three below ground stations would be £1.5bn each, the tunnel another £1.5bn. Several new train line junctions would be provided in the north, including at Finchley Road, Kenton, Wembley, Harringay, Seven Sister, Tottenham and/or Walhamstow. The new junctions and on-surface stations would cost on average £50m each.
– In the north, Thameslink West would extend to destinations such as Stansted, Cambridge, Hertford, Stevenage, Luton, Milton Keynes, Aylesbury and Bicester. And in the south to destinations such as Dartford, Sevenoaks, Gatwick, Horsham, Guildford and Heathrow via Staines.
– At Brixton, Clapham North, Willesden Junction, West Hampstead, Harringay and/or Tottenham, Thameslink West will relieve the Victoria, Jubilee, Northern, Bakerloo, Metropolitan and Piccadilly lines. Providing extra capacity for up to 200.000 passengers an hour on the six lines together at peak hours, the equivalent of the capacity of half the north/south tube lines.
– With Thameslink West, fewer commuters will need to travel through stations such as Highbury & Islington, London Bridge, Stockwell, Vauxhall, Green Park, Paddington, Euston, Moorgate and Liverpool Street, reducing station overcrowding at peak hours.

Afterword
Thameslink West is an opportunity for London to do away with overcrowded pubic transport at a reasonable cost to the city and the nation. The Thameslink West & East both allow direct journeys i) into the centre from the suburbs, ii) between outer boroughs as well as iii) more capacity north-south within the Circle lines and Overground loop. With double long 16 carriage trains, 2500 passengers can travel every 150 seconds in either direction on either line. The Thameslink West will not solve overcrowding forever – but should together with an enhanced Thameslink East, an enhanced Overground loop and the new Elizabeth line –provide enough capacity for several decades to come. North-south and east-west as well as diagonally between the outer boroughs of the metropolis.

• Thameslink West: an alternative to Crossrail 2? (4p pdf)
• Planning in London 

Flere syklister i norske byer? Lær av Berlin!

Kronikk Aftenposten 17. mai 2019
Oslos byråd ønsker en tredobling av antall syklister til en av fire av lokale reiser. En stille sykkel-revolusjon har allerede funnet sted i Berlin i løpet av det siste tiåret. Andelen personer som daglig pendler med sykkel er halvdoblet til mer enn en av fire. Denne artikkelen redegjør for noen lærdommer fra Berlin for Stor-Oslo og Norges tjue større byer og kommuner. Fra en by med  omtrent et halvt århundre med målrettet sykkel-tilrettelegging.

Det historiske, fysiske og juridiske rammeverket i Berlin er nokså forskjellige fra Norge, og høy sykkelandel hos oss er bare mulig med både fysiske og juridiske endringer. Endret kjøreatferd er nødvendig for å gi syklister den nødvendige prioriteringen, tryggheten og sikkerheten – opplevd og fysisk. Som kan kun gjøres ved å endre lover og forskrifter, samt omfattende kampanjer overfor bilistene om endringene. Endringer i reglene om prioritering i gatekryss, i rundkjøringer og ved forbikjøring av syklister har vært diskutert i et halvt århundre, kan ha størst virkning og haster mest.

Sluttord 
Lærdom og erfaringer fra Danmark, Nederland og Tyskland er godt tilgjengelig, og kan ideelt tilegnes og implementeres her i løpet av få år. Men vi mennesker er tross alt komplekse, og noe lærdom tar generasjoner å tilegne seg. Sør-Korea og Kina har imidlertid tilegnet seg enormt med kunnskap fra den vestlige verden på bare noen få tiår.

Så kanskje er det håp tross alt for at en av fire pendlere i de tjuefem største norske byene/ kommunene kan pendle på sykkel til og fra jobb fra mars til oktober – gjerne en fjerdedel på elsykkel og en fjerdedel på delesykkel. Til sammen en og en tredjedel million pendlere i 25 kommuner fra Arendal i sør, til Ålesund i vest og Tromsø i nord – hvor til sammen halve landets befolkning bor.

Ikke minst når en ny generasjon har hatt byrådsmakten i en valgperiode og tatt over sykkelplanleggingen i Oslo. Godt hjulpet hvis en ny generasjon planleggere, ingeniører, beslutningstakere, entreprenører m.fl mestrer flere språk enn engelsk og skandinavisk. For å tilegne oss lærdom direkte fra våre hundre millioner sykkelglade naboer i de tre landene på den andre siden av Nordsjøen. For storbyenes del, kanskje spesielt Berlin og Rotterdam, hvor store deler av byene ble gjenoppbygd på både sykkelens og bilens prinsipper – parallelt og likestilt.

• Kronikk Aftenposten 17. mai 2019 (pdf)
• A cycling revolution? PiL 97/16 2p pdf 
• Oslo anno 2050: City life in 2050 (Plan 5/2007 pdf)

Nyttige lenker

• http://www.adfc.de
• http://www.fahrradklima-test.de
• https://www.berlin.de/senuvk/verkehr/politik_planung/rad/
• http://www.cycling-embassy.dk/
• http://www.dutchcycling.nl/
• http://www.rotterdam.nl/fiets
• https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/streets-toolkit

ADFCs årlige rangering av sykkelvennlige tyske byer viser følgende resultater i 2018 basert på 170.000 spørreskjema (pressemelding):

• Storbyer: Bremen, Hannover, Leipzig
• Større byer: Karlsruhe, Münster, Freiburg
• Middels byer: Göttingen, Erlangen, Oldenburg
• Mindre byer: Bocholt, Nordhorn, Konstanz

Is the 'brick' warehouse striking back?

Inner London may be about to leave one of its last post-war legacies behind – low density light industrial, storage, distribution, logistics and retail sheds. Typically still found along or near the orbital Overground, now that Stratford and Nine Elms are being transformed and regenerated more than maybe anyone could have imagined a few decades ago.

The 2020-decade Inner London warehouse will be different in five aspects from its one or two century old predecessor. This time around the warehouse is built with steel or concrete rather than iron columns. The ceiling heights are maybe double or triple, the lifts are indoors rather than a pulley on the outside, and the first floor will typically accommodate white van parking. With stunning outer walls of bright and colourful light weight materials, metals and/or glass. Rather than brown, red or beige brick, often now appearing as almost black.

High intensity giant logistics and distribution centres accommodating the 50 biggest logistics companies should all be accommodated in three inner or near-inner London locations respectively. As for the remaining 500 to 1000 medium size companies with light industrial, storage and/or logistics needs in the five inner southern London boroughs. Located one on top of the other in 3, 4 or 5 storey twenty-first century warehouse style buildings (see below figure from Berlin PZB).

Afterword
But dear Southwark and Mayor of London, please go back to the drawing board. Old Kent Road is nigh for redevelopment, but only as part of a holistic inner London strategy on retail sheds, light industry, storage, distribution and logistics.

Policies on white van emission and white van parking within Inner London and the North Circular Road are also needed. If one in three vehicles on Inner London roads is a van, then policies have to adapt to reflect this current situation.

Inner London policies on ground floor commercial, light industrial, workshops and civic use-class flexibility are also needed from the Mayor. As maybe as many as four fifths of apartment buildings in inner London are built at present with residential use on the ground floor. Mandatory flexibility on ground floors uses will benefit all Londoners and decrease the cost of local services needed by all – small businesses, the self-employed, start-ups and the like included.

• Is the 'brick' warehouse striking back? pdf 2p
• Planning In London