South London Line

The South London Line is an 8.5 mile (13.7 km) horseshoe-shaped Inner London railway route from Victoria to London Bridge via Peckham Rye. It is operated by Southern. The line is in Travelcard Zone 2 apart from the termini, which are in Zone 1.

History

Construction

It owes its existence to the "South London Railway Act" 1862, which allowed the London, Chatham and Dover Railway (LCDR) to take part in this project. The line already existed from Wandsworth Road to Brixton as part of the LCDR main line: the new line was quadrupled between these points and extended to London Bridge. The northern pair (now known as the Chatham lines), with no stations, was used by the LCDR; the southern (now known as the Atlantic lines) by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LBSCR). Several stations were shared by the two companies.

London Ringways

The South Cross Route, one side of the London Motorway Box the innermost ring road of the unbuilt 1960s London Ringways plan, would have paralleled the South London Line between Wandsworth Road and Peckham Rye stations.

Electrification

The line was a pioneering railway electrification scheme. The opening of the tramways in South London had led to huge passenger losses for the railways - 1.25 million in only six months - and the LBSCR electrified the South London line in an attempt to reverse the tide: it had obtained powers to do so in 1903. On 1 December 1909 the first electric trains began operating. For the first three years, steam trains alternated with the electrics: the latter operated a 15-minute interval service from 7.30am to midnight. In the first year of electric operation, passengers carried almost doubled, from 4 million to 7.5 million.

The electrification used the overhead system at 6700 V AC, supplied by the power station at Deptford. The line was converted to Southern Railway standard third-rail 660 V DC on 17 June 1928.

Future plans

Plans have been announced to join the South London Line onto the East London Line extension to form part of the new London Overground system. The proposal is part of Phase 2 of the ELL extenstion project. Powers to build the southern extension have already been granted, but it is currently unfunded.

The route would follow the line currently served by National Rail from Queens Road Peckham as far as Wandsworth Road, then branch off at Heathbrook Park, passing through Battersea towards Clapham Junction.cite web|url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/resources/corporate/media/pressimages/rez-high/h-tube-map-2010.jpg|title=The Tube in 2010 |author=Transport for London|date=2006
accessdate=2007-11-03 (map illustrating future development phases as proposed by TfL in 2006, subject to change)] . This would then create an orbital network around Central London, fulfilling the Orbirail concept.

This route crosses over Loughborough Junction and Brixton stations , and the proposals have been criticised for missing opportunities to create new interchange stations with Thameslink services and the London Underground Victoria line respectively [cite web|url=http://web.archive.org/web/20040509165548/http://icsouthlondon.icnetwork.co.uk/0100news/0400lambeth/tm_objectid=14173461&method=full&siteid=50100&headline=junction-joy-south-name_page.html|title=Junction joy South|work=South London Press|date=2004-04-24|accessdate=2007-11-03 (Web Archive)] [cite web|url=http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200506/cmhansrd/cm060719/halltext/60719h0006.htm#06071968000550|title=Parliamentary Debate: London Orbital Rail Network|author=Martin Linton MP|work=Hansard|date=2006-07-19|accessdate=2007-11-03] . Under initial proposals, no stations were planned at these locations as the line is on high railway arches, making the cost of any station construction prohibitive [cite web|url=http://www.alwaystouchout.com/project/3|title=East London Line Extensions - Loughborough Junction
work=AlwaysTouchOut|date=2006-11-09|accessdate=2007-11-03] . Subsequent proposals have been put forward to open one, possibly two, stations on the line at Surrey Canal Road station [ [http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/projectsandschemes/networkandservices/eastlondonrailway/2119.aspx Next steps | Transport for London ] ] and Brixton railway station or East Brixton railway station.

Transport for London have suggested that the southern extension should be funded as part of the Thameslink Programme [cite web|url=http://www.tfl.gov.uk/assets/downloads/corporate/agenda-and-papers-dec-2007.pdf |title=Transport for London Board Meeting|date=2007-12-06|accessdate=2007-12-18|format=PDF] , due to capacity constraints at London Bridge station once the Thameslink upgrade has taken place. Network Rail's South London Route Utilisation Strategy has also very strongly emphasised the need for this extension to the ELL, particularly in respect of the even more restricted capacity during the reconstruction of London Bridge.

In March 2008 the Mayor of London suggested that Transport for London would hope to bring the South London Line into the London Overground network in the near future. [ [http://www.london.gov.uk/londoner/08mar/p3b.jsp?nav=around March 2008 - The Londoner - Next stop south London ] ]

See also

* London Overground
* London Victoria to London Bridge via Gipsy Hill

References

External links

*PDF| [http://www.semgonline.com/RlyMag/SouthLondonLineAndItsTraffic.pdf 'The South London Line And Its Traffic'] |1.03 MiB - a reproduction of a September 1953 article from The Railway Magazine, courtesy of the [http://www.semgonline.com Southern E-mail Group] .