Clapham Junction is the 10th busiest National Rail railway (i.e. not counting tube stations) station in terms of passenger entries and was used by 32.3mn as of the last financial year.
The station does hold two honours; the largest number of interchange passengers (30.4mn), and the highest number of trains running through (a commuter train every 20 seconds at peak). The high figures are down to the station being a junction for a wide array of commuter and intercity lines from the South West and South of England. A majority of trains heading towards London Waterloo and London Victoria – the two busiest National Rail stations in the UK – run through Clapham Junction.
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Following on from the earlier discussion on Clapham Junction, I’ll inject my two pennies. Last Summer, TfL released consultation feedback for their Crossrail 2 proposals, and this was their response to such a proposal:
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Originally Posted by TfL Crossrail 2 Consultation Feedback
11.3.2. Suggestion that the Northern line should be extended to Clapham Junction at the same time as Crossrail 2 to reduce costs and disruption
There are currently no proposals to extend the Northern line from Battersea Power Station to Clapham Junction. Previous work by TfL suggests that if the Northern line were extended to Clapham Junction alone, overcrowding would increase significantly on Northern line trains heading into the West End and the City from Kennington.
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Crossrail 2 will provide substantial relief, but the fundamental issue is that as noted in the first two paragraphs, Clapham Junction is a very busy station across the board. Significant developments are planned in the Battersea-Nine Elms-Vauxhall area before the arrival of Crossrail 2, and the number of people using the station has already ballooned dramatically in recent years. There has been some discussion that a potential path towards Clapham Junction should be safeguarded, but I can’t see that happening with the rapid growth in population. It would simply be overwhelmed and nobody would be able to get on further down the line.
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Originally Posted by Swede
As I recall it, the reason the new extension doesn't go via Vauxhall is to prevent even more pressure on both Victoria Station and on parts of the Northern Line. I.e. these lines/stations are already very much at/near capacity.
With Crossrail2 in the works, having the new branch of the Nothern line go to Clapham Junction makes sense tho.
Looking at google maps I'm thinking it'd kinda make sense to extend the other branch one station so it would end on an interchange at Morden South. I guess the line is crowded as is and the area is too low density to warrant such an investment tho. I guess we'll see how it all goes after the Camden Station re-build that will hopefully give that station large enough capacity for transfers that the Northern line can be split and thus have a set up that allows for more trains and more operational stability.
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Vauxhall is already a heavily used station and with the number of skyscrapers planned around the station, adding Northern Line transfers to the mix would be highly problematic. Building the new Nine Elms station further to the west of Vauxhall enables for intensified development south-west of Vauxhall, whilst relieving pressure on Vauxhall station.
TfL have proposed that the Northern Line Extension will operate 30tph, but one of the key developments will be the rebuild of Camden Town on the other side of Central London due in 2024/25. TfL will realistically then be able to completely separate the two Northern Line routes into distinct lines. With that comes drastically reduced potential for conflicts, and the potential to run at higher frequencies of say 36tph or more.
Going beyond Battersea Power station, I would bypass Clapham Junction and building a station in the vicinity of Battersea Bridge Road. The line would then briefly run under the Thames for an interchange station at Imperial Wharf, before heading south for another interchange station at Wandsworth Town. You could either split the line in two, or opt for one route heading south to Earlsfield and beyond, and/or a route towards Roehampton.
As for an extension beyond Morden, Sutton would make a logical destination, it is a junction station for five routes and an important regional centre with no Underground connection. Back in the 1920’s there were plans to run trains along what is now part of the Sutton Loop Line. A physical connection could be cheaply constructed as there is just a 50m gap between Morden depot and the Sutton Loop Line tracks. The primary issue over the Northern Line taking over the line to Sutton is whether you would operate Thameslink trains on the same route or whether to terminate Thameslink services at Morden South. Another option would be to simply carry the line south-east under the A24 towards Epsom.
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Originally Posted by aquablue
Well London is the central focus of the UK and their political/economic capital. Of course it will have more funding for transport and infrastructure compared to the meager funds NY gets from the government.
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It’s unfortunately not that simple. London retains just 31% of tax revenues raised, compared to 74% for New York. That means that historically the city has been more reliant on intergovernmental transfers than its international peers and has had far more hurdles to overcome to secure grants and funding from central government. Since 2013, that grant has been reducing year-on-year and having to be offset by levies generated in London. Ideally if London retained a similar share of tax revenues as New York, there would be even more infrastructure projects on the go.