Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter September 2024
New logistics hub at Bow
Despite making up 15 per cent of vehicle-miles in London, freight vehicles emit a quarter of the total carbon emissions. So a development destined to take 90,000 HGV movements from the streets of London, proposed for Bow Good Yard east of Stratford, can only be a good thing. The proposal is for a logistics consolidation hub to enable goods brought in by rail to be transferred to road vehicles for their onward journey to their destination. The road vehicles would be electric vans or cycles. The scheme includes green spaces and leisure areas in consultation with the local community. The site will also cater for construction traffic and include a concrete batching plant.
Housing and transport at London Colney
The Borough of Hertsmere, just north of the M25 J22 junction (London Colney), has proposed a new settlement of 5,000 homes at Bowmans Cross, next to junction 22 of the M25. Given that the M25 is already unacceptably congested, this location is a poor choice regarding transport planning implications. The nearest station (if reopened) would be Napsbury on the MML/Thameslink. Another new development around Crews Hill station would have 5,500 homes. Neither Bowmans Cross nor Crews Hill are well served by buses, nor are there any plans to improve them - and Hertfordshire’s proposed A414 Mass Rapid Transit (bus!) would bypass Bowmans Cross altogether. At least Crews Hill has a railway station (Thameslink/GN).
New trains for the Elizabeth line
The government has confirmed funding for TfL to procure 1 ten new Elizabeth line trains from Alstom, based in Derby. The announcement comes after the firm began a redundancy consultation due to a gap in orders.
DfT said the trains were needed due to ‘strong passenger demand’ expected on the Elizabeth line, and they would allow increased capacity on the network in future. TfL said that four of the new trains would be needed when those terminating at Paddington are extended to Old Oak Common to cater for HS2 passengers.
Meanwhile trouble is brewing over unacceptable gaps between platforms and trains at a number of Elizabeth line stations outside the central zone. In separate incidents earlier this year, two passengers have been injured boarding trains at Ealing Broadway.
New homes at tube stations
Building new homes on station car parks ticks two boxes. They are near transport links and also serve to discourage unnecessary car journeys. It is understood TfL remains committed to redeveloping station car parks though opposition has been fierce and success in securing approval so far has been limited. Arnos Grove car park is now in the process of redevelopment and Cockfosters is likely to follow soon. Schemes for Finchley Central and High Barnet station car parks were met with substantial opposition and were dropped. There is however every expectation these schemes will reappear in some form or other.
Parking policy
Campaign group Possible and the countryside charity, CPRE, have joined forces to launch an interactive Parking Action Policy map to evaluate boroughs’ parking policies from a climate perspective. Categories include the cost of parking, the coverage of CPZs and the provision of electric vehicle charging points. Boroughs which score highly on these factors include Camden, Hackney, Haringey, Islington and Lambeth, whilst Bexley, Havering, Hillingdon, and Redbridge are at the bottom of the scale.
Pendolinos on HS2?
After our article (HS2:Elizabeth line to Birmingham and Pendolinos to Paddington?) appeared in Newsletter 50, January 2024, reports emerged in May of a complex, medium term plan from senior railwayman Chris Gibb entitled Getting the Job Done: A new approach.
Under his plan. the HS2 line would see the following mixture of trains and speeds
· refurbished Pendolinos running at 155 mph (as they do in Italy) on route from London to Manchester and Glasgow and vice versa and
· bespoke HS2 trains running at 186 mph (the same as Eurostars and other European high-speed trains) on route from London to Birmingham, Liverpool and Manchester and vice versa.
North of Birmingham, the 400-metre HS2 trains would be too long for existing platforms and too power-hungry when ascending some gradients for existing energy supplies. So, services would be provided by 200-metre HS2 trains and 266-metre Pendolinos: the latter can take curves faster and carry more passengers than the former.
No feasible scheme has yet emerged to link Old Oak Common to Euston with grade-separated approach tunnels (to achieve planned HS2 frequencies). On the other hand, there are a dozen platforms long enough for Pendolinos at London’s Paddington terminus, which could be reached by a cheap, simple connection near Old Oak Common. Does Paddington have enough spare terminal capacity for some Pendolinos and/or 200-metre HS2 trains?
Blackwall and Silvertown tunnel tolls
TfL’s consultation on tolls for the Blackwall and Silvertown tunnels opened on 10th July and closed on 3rd September. The proposal is that cars and small vans will be charged £1.50 off peak but there will be a peak-hour charge of £4 – morning northbound and afternoon southbound. There will be no charge between 10pm and 6am. As a concession low-income households living in 12 east or south-east boroughs will be able to apply for a 50 per cent discount. NHS staff and patients will be eligible for reimbursement. Taxis, blue badge holders, mini-buses and coaches will be exempt.
A regular cross-river cycle shuttle-bus bus service will be provided through the Silvertown Tunnel for cyclists, but guaranteed only for 12 months. Bus services using the two tunnels - 108, 129 and SL4 – will be free for local residents, but again only guaranteed for 12 months. It is not clear whether the shuttle-bus will be able to take cargo bikes or adapted cycles.
The Stop the Silvertown Tunnel Coalition says that the opening of the tunnel will send between 20,000 and 30,000 more vehicles every day through Greenwich and neighbouring boroughs into Newham, including the much bigger vehicles using the dedicated HGV lanes. This will leave south and east London residents with increased congestion and pollution and a charge to cross the river by car. At the same time there will still be no reliable, high-capacity river crossing for bikes, cargo bikes and adapted cycles east of Tower Bridge.
Agreeing with the Silvertown Tunnel coalition, Caroline Russell, Green Party Greater London Assembly member, has appealed for a ‘charging plan with creative ideas for re-purposing the tunnel prioritising people walking and cycling and travelling on public transport’.
One worry is that the charges will divert traffic towards the nearby free crossing points including the Woolwich Ferry and the Rotherhithe Tunnel. There might also be increased traffic on Tower Bridge where there is concern about its condition.
London missing traffic reduction targets
The 2024 report of the Healthy Streets Scorecard coalition (of which Future Transport London is a member) reveals a depressing picture of boroughs lagging behind the delivery of the Mayor’s key commitments to reduce traffic, boost active lifestyles, increase bus speeds and end road deaths and serious injury.
Amongst targets which are on course to be missed is for 80 per cent of journeys to be made by sustainable means by 2041. Car use is in fact rising and reduction of road deaths is likely not to be sufficient to meet the rigorous 2030 target. Continuous congestion seems to be the prime reason why average bus speeds are now lower than they were before the pandemic. On the other hand, data shows that London is broadly on track to meet the original 2050 target of net zero carbon emissions (but is struggling to achieve this by 2030), and good progress is being made in achieving a reduction in NO2 emissions. No doubt ULEZ is at least partly responsible for this.
Overall boroughs with the highest scores in achieving targets are Islington and Hackney, with Waltham Forest being the highest scoring borough in outer London. Bexley and Bromley, as ever, score the lowest.
Will Overground expand?
The new Labour government has pledged to give England’s metro mayors new powers over transport, and with the government and London’s mayor being on the same side, relations will hopefully improve. Taking over additional lines by TfL’s Overground system is one of the mayor’s ambitions which is coming nearer to fruition. The first target could well be the Great Northern service from Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage. Another target could be the south-eastern services towards Dartford.
TfL argues that TfL could improve the services currently provided. They would coordinate fares with other TfL services, resulting in cheaper travel for most. They would smart up the stations and provide regular staffing, and increase frequency.
Dave Wetzel
Dave Wetzel, who, as vice-Chair of TfL, was largely responsible for Ken Livingstone’s Fair Fares policy in the 80s, has died at the age of 82. The policy which lowered bus fares throughout London was sabotaged by a court order following a complaint from the London Borough of Bromley which alleged that, because the borough had no underground railway, their ratepayers were unfairly contributing to the cost.
In later years Dave joined the Green Party and was an active campaigner for a Land Value Tax.
Low Traffic Neighbourhoods – the verdict
A recent poll has suggested that 58 percent of Londoners support LTNs with only 17 percent opposed. Nationally opinion is not so clear. 43 percent approve whilst 37 percent are opposed. There is more opposition when asking people how they would react to finding an LTN in their area although this opinion tends to change after they have experienced the LTN in operation.
There are now about 100 LTNs in operation in London. Some have been withdrawn or modified after problems have emerged although TfL is now funding boroughs to introduce a further 30.
LTNs, often now referred to as Liveable Neighbourhoods, certainly seem to have contributed to fewer road casualties. Research published last year by TfL found LTNs introduced since 2020 had 50 per cent fewer road casualties and 74 per cent less traffic.
Overall modal share is creeping up very slowly. From 2022 to 2023 active transport has increased from 62.3 per cent to 64.2 whilst 36 per cent of trips are made by car against 34 per cent by public transport.
ULEZ success
Emission figures for outer London have now been released by the GLA and show a substantial improvement in air quality since the Ultra Low Emission Zone was extended to cover the whole of Greater London. Nitrogen Oxide emissions have fallen by 13 per cent for cars and 7 percent for vans. PM2.5 emissions are 20 per cent down. Benefit is also apparent in the area immediately surrounding Greater London. Within five kilometres of the boundary NO2 emissions are down by an average of 9 per cent.
All this is primarily due to the reduction in the number of non-compliant vehicles operating in the zone. The compliance rate for cars is now 97.1 per cent (compared with 93 per cent a year ago and 44 per cent in 2017) and for vans, 88.9 per cent,
Comments