Three London stories from the last 24 hours...

[suzyscottdotcom]

... firstly, I recently mentioned a consultation by TfL about changes to the Buckinghamshire end of the Metropolitan Line, that would provide through off-peak trains Chesham to London...

Chesham to get all day direct Tube services to central London
LU announced today that Tube users will get direct services all day from Chesham and central London, following a consultation last year.
It is planned for the new through-services to start in 2011 after new trains are delivered on the Metropolitan line.
Currently passengers travelling to and from Chesham during off peak periods have to change at Chalfont & Latimer.
The changes, which would not affect the current peak-time services, are as follows

• Two trains per hour running direct between Chesham and central London throughout the day. Customers would no longer need to change at Chalfont & Latimer
• Two Metropolitan line trains per hour between Amersham and central London, instead of the present four. The two trains per hour service provided by Chiltern Trains (one train per hour on Sundays) would be unaffected, so the total number of trains from Amersham to central London would fall from six to four per hour (and from five trains to three per hour on Sundays)

... additionally, the proposed final extension of the London Overground (former East London Line) to & from Clapham Junction, are to be funded...

Final section of Capital's orbital railway gets the go-ahead
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, and Transport Secretary, Geoff Hoon, have today reached agreement on funding for phase two of the East London line, which will complete the London Overground network and create an orbital railway around the Capital. This means phase two of the East London line will be constructed before the 2012 Games at a cost of £75m.
The scheme will link Surrey Quays on the East London line extension to Clapham Junction, providing direct links to the City and Docklands.

• The DfT is currently re-franchising the Southern services. The agreement between the Mayor and the DfT includes the transfer to TfL of the South London line services, which will be incorporated into the London Overground network when the phase two extension opens
• Phase two will run through the boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth, Wandsworth and Lewisham between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction stations
• It will provide four trains an hour in each direction between Dalston Junction and Clapham Junction calling at all stations en route
• TfL will take over the operation of Wandsworth Rd and Clapham High Street stations as part of the funding package with DfT
• The project will help reduce congestion on radial routes and at central London interchange stations. It will also reduce the disruption caused by the Thameslink works at London Bridge by providing alternative routes to the City and Docklands. DfT will fund the enhanced track access charges that will accrue from this addition, if approved
• Provision for a new station at Surrey Canal Road has been included in the scheme. Construction of the station will be developed as part of the regeneration scheme for the area and will be dependent on a further value for money assessment that TfL is currently carrying out
• As long as the above steps are confirmed the project aims to be completed by May 2012
• The London Overground network consists of the Richmond to Stratford, Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction (via Kensington Olympia), Gospel Oak to Barking and Euston to Watford Junction lines, and will be joined by the extended East London line when it opens in 2010

... finally, it seems that Comfort DelGro, owners of well over a thousand London buses already with Metroline, are in talks with National Express re buying the Travel London operations. Presumably this is to allow National Express to continue to pay premiums to the Government for the East Coast Mainline franchise...

Singapore queues for London buses
National Express, the transport group, has been holding detailed talks about the sale of its London bus operations to one of Singapore's largest firms.
Comfort DelGro, which is the world's second-biggest land transport company, is understood to have approached National Express about a deal that would have valued the division at about £50m. People close to the talks said they had been discontinued in recent weeks but could be revived as part of a review of National Express's portfolio of assets.
National Express, which runs the InterCity East Coast rail line and is the biggest coach operator in Britain, declined to comment this weekend on the talks with Comfort DelGro.
The company, which is led by Richard Bowker, is examining options to raise capital, including through a rights issue. The sale of non-core assets, such as the London bus operations, is another potential route to generating funds ahead of a deadline a year from now to refinance almost £500m of debt.
The London operation, which includes a number of routes into the centre of the capital, is viewed as peripheral by senior executives because the company lags in the market behind competitors such as Arriva and FirstGroup.
Last week, analysts at JP Morgan warned that Mr Bowker may be forced to axe National Express's dividend in conjunction with a discounted rights issue.
The economic downturn has prompted concern about revenue performance in the company's crucial rail division, which also includes the C2C and East Anglia networks.

Comments

[landsraad.livejournal.com]

I think quite a few people that live in Amersham will go over to using Chiltern when the S Stock is introduced. I have heard a number of complains from people living there that the new stock is not going to be suitable and even more so now with the service reduction.

[suzyscottdotcom.livejournal.com]

56% of people were apparently in favour. Don't know what TfL thinks of the rest.

Can't see why they can't do a C&L - Amersham shuttle, like the Chesham one, to replace the missing bit.

Chiltern is defiantly the faster of the two, but it does stop at Marleybone, not a lot of use unless you are going there.

[landsraad.livejournal.com]

If only the original West Hampstead Interchange plan had gone ahead, would have made Chiltern quite a bit more useful.