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New Brent Cross West (Thameslink) station

Supercoss

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Barnet Council today advised that 'Brent Cross West' is the name chosen for the new station being built on what is currently Cricklewood North group sidings, the 4 platform 12 car station (2 island platforms) . Brent Cross Cricklewood and Brent Cross Thameslink not used but appear in some early schematics.
Hendon and Cricklewood stations not affected by new buil d
 
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Supercoss

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Brent Cross exists on Northern Line Tube, Staples Corner doesn't 'sell'' the adjacent shopping area for which the station being primarily constructed
 

MG11

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I wonder if Meridian line speeds will be affected during construction, they normally accelerate to 125 MPH in this area.
 

Jon10

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They haven't bothered to shift the down fast track t the east, so there is no room on railway land for platforms on the Hendons.

Plus the West London Alliance of boroughs is expecting funding via the Mayor for the West London Orbital Railway, which would need those platforms to be there.
 

Jon10

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If they make the Dudding Hill Freight Line habitable again, are there any longer-distance services from SouthWest, or GreatWestern, or EastMidlands, or anyone else, that might want to try a longer-distance service?

(I maybe don't know the exact TOC names. Anyway, how did the Milton Keynes - South Croydon service get suggested - that's the sort of thing I am thinking about.)
 

mr_jrt

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The Milton Keynes - South Croydon came from the Watford - Brighton service (cut back so it could stay on the slow lines to improve reliability), which itself came from the Rugby - Gatwick service (presumably cut back to the Watford bay as that was the southernmost point on the WCML where it could interchange and turn back), which Connex South Central started...presumably to try and emulate Thameslink's success?
 

Edvid

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Bumping this thread as funding is in place (see Government / LB Barnet press releases) and works to provide replacement railway facilities are well underway. The station complex itself will consist of entrances on both sides of the MML, 12-car island platforms on the fast and slow lines*, a ticket office/gateline situated centrally above the tracks, and a single overbridge (both for station users and those simply crossing the line).

LB Barnet is also posting periodic updates on their website and a reserved matters planning application is in place for all station facilities bar the eastern entrance (which will be covered by a separate application).

Note that whilst the station will be named Brent Cross West, the project to deliver it (and replacement sidings etc) is still called Brent Cross Thameslink.

[* Once slewed, the slow lines PSR through the site will be reduced from 90 to 75 mph.]
 

D365

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[* Once slewed, the slow lines PSR through the site will be reduced from 90 to 75 mph.]

I assume that is in order to maintain high speeds on the fast lines. There won't be many (if any?) non-stop services on the slow lines.
 

Bald Rick

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I assume that is in order to maintain high speeds on the fast lines. There won't be many (if any?) non-stop services on the slow lines.

There will be some non stop, but usually only when the fasts are shut for engineering (most nights after about 2300)
 

Edvid

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The station is currently pencilled in for an opening date of May 2022 - however, that target is at risk because Network Rail say the weekend-long possessions needed for the track slews (sometime in 2021) now aren't available, as stated in Barnet committee reports (November 2019 / January 2020).
 

Aictos

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I guess whoever operates the TL franchise will manage the station or has that not been decided yet?
 

Edvid

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Yes, it will be whoever gets the Thameslink franchise next year.
 

Class 170101

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The station is currently pencilled in for an opening date of May 2022 - however, that target is at risk because Network Rail say the weekend-long possessions needed for the track slews (sometime in 2021) now aren't available, as stated in Barnet committee reports (November 2019 / January 2020).

What have NR done with the closures then? Why aren't they available?
 

Edvid

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I don't know. If NR provided a reason, it wasn't mentioned in the reports.
 

Bald Rick

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What have NR done with the closures then? Why aren't they available?

I also don’t know, but the deadline for planning such closures in 2022 is just about now. If the party constructing the station hasn’t provided the commitment to do so (in the form of a promise to pay) then the closure can’t be booked.
 

Class 170101

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I also don’t know, but the deadline for planning such closures in 2022 is just about now. If the party constructing the station hasn’t provided the commitment to do so (in the form of a promise to pay) then the closure can’t be booked.

Unless they can work within other closures I guess. There must be some closures booked for this route south of Bedford for OLE retensioning et al in connection with 125mph wiring upgrade - proposed to be complteby 2023 as I recall.
 

Bald Rick

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Unless they can work within other closures I guess. There must be some closures booked for this route south of Bedford for OLE retensioning et al in connection with 125mph wiring upgrade - proposed to be complteby 2023 as I recall.

Not sure about that timescale. Even then, the OLE works shouldn’t need blocks that are that disruptive.
 

Class 170101

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Not sure about that timescale. Even then, the OLE works shouldn’t need blocks that are that disruptive.

Maybe not but if they are hopefully the station works could be added later without affecting the OLE works.

The other thing to note with the track slewing this will need OLE changes so why not do both the slewing and uprating the OLE for 125mph all at once?
 

Bald Rick

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The other thing to note with the track slewing this will need OLE changes so why not do both the slewing and uprating the OLE for 125mph all at once?

Quite likely this would happen. But that would be about half a mile out of 50.
 

edwin_m

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Unless they can work within other closures I guess. There must be some closures booked for this route south of Bedford for OLE retensioning et al in connection with 125mph wiring upgrade - proposed to be complteby 2023 as I recall.

Looking at the layout sketch in #4, it appears three of the four main lines will have to be re-aligned to make room for the platforms. This would most likely require a closure of the Slows for several days to slew them to their new alignment, followed some time later by a closure of the Up Fast (and probably the Down Fast too) to move that. Although some work can be done before and after these closures, but the lines have to remain useable up to the start of the closure and be useable again afterwards, so the closure must be long enough to achieve this. Although I believe the MML still runs as a two-track railway on Sundays, I doubt that would be long enough so these would be disruptive possessions with timetable changes, unless perhaps they could be done over a Christmas period or when the is some other work going on that would reduce the service. OLE re-tensioning is a collection of fairly short tasks, each repeated many times, so probably doesn't need such a long closure.
 

Class 170101

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Looking at the layout sketch in #4, it appears three of the four main lines will have to be re-aligned to make room for the platforms. This would most likely require a closure of the Slows for several days to slew them to their new alignment, followed some time later by a closure of the Up Fast (and probably the Down Fast too) to move that. Although some work can be done before and after these closures, but the lines have to remain useable up to the start of the closure and be useable again afterwards, so the closure must be long enough to achieve this. Although I believe the MML still runs as a two-track railway on Sundays, I doubt that would be long enough so these would be disruptive possessions with timetable changes, unless perhaps they could be done over a Christmas period or when the is some other work going on that would reduce the service. OLE re-tensioning is a collection of fairly short tasks, each repeated many times, so probably doesn't need such a long closure.

A long closure being out of the question right now in that the MML to St Pancras is being used due to works at Kings Cross all the way to Newark on the ECML and the MML being a diversionary route in parts right up until mid 2021.
 

hwl

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Looking at the layout sketch in #4, it appears three of the four main lines will have to be re-aligned to make room for the platforms. This would most likely require a closure of the Slows for several days to slew them to their new alignment, followed some time later by a closure of the Up Fast (and probably the Down Fast too) to move that. Although some work can be done before and after these closures, but the lines have to remain useable up to the start of the closure and be useable again afterwards, so the closure must be long enough to achieve this. Although I believe the MML still runs as a two-track railway on Sundays, I doubt that would be long enough so these would be disruptive possessions with timetable changes, unless perhaps they could be done over a Christmas period or when the is some other work going on that would reduce the service. OLE re-tensioning is a collection of fairly short tasks, each repeated many times, so probably doesn't need such a long closure.

Move 1 track at a time using the PEM system?
 

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