Agreed that a tube *gauge* line is unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the distant future a new line is built (perhaps roughly along the route of the Superloop bus network?) which is classified as being part of the Underground rather than a separate mode like the Overground or Elizabeth line. Such a line could be built to have mainline-sized trains (like the sub surface lines) but would still run deep level like the Northern City line (which itself I wouldn't be surprised if it gets extended and integrated into the tube)
@@MikeWillSee Very unlikely, if there is another orbital line around London it'll almost certainly be similar to the abandoned R25 proposal. Basically an overground line made up of the West London Orbital and Gospel Oak to Barking lines. The track to link them already exists and that'd get you like 60% done with a loop.
As they should. As iconic as the tube is it’s just not compatible with the modern day. Investments in crossrail such as the Elizabeth line are the future for new TFL lines
I've got to point this out but Kennington is not built the same way as Camden Town. At Kennington trains from the Bank Branch can only continue onto the Morden Branch while Trains on the Charing Cross Branch can either transfer onto the Morden Branch, take the Kennington Loop and turn around to run northbound back onto the Charing Cross Branch or start travelling onto the Kennington Loop but then branch off onto the Battersea Power Station branch.
Is it Not possible to just shut these interchange stations (Camden Town and Kennington) one after the other but keep both lines running during the works as separate segregated lines?
@@wasmic5z i mean Mornington Crescent on the Charing Cross Branch is only 500m away from Camden Town so I think it is pretty reasonable to expect anyone on that branch wishing to go to Camden to just walk from there for a year during renovations. And for people wanting to interchange between the lines in the north they could do so at Euston. Another commenter said Kennington wouldn't need a shutdown and is basically fine as it is with some minor upgrades.
I work on the underground - central government is not interested in investing, or funding, the tune network in anyway shape or form. The last government pulled its yearly funding back in 2018 effectively making it the only major capital transport system in the world to NOT be funded, even in part, by its own government. And splitting the northern line has been talked about almost as long as people have been talking about driverless trains. Not gonna happen…
Though driverless trains and platform screen doors should really seriously be envisioned and done. It worked wonders in Paris to improve frequency and reliability on 2 of the busiest historical lines. Let alone line 14, which was built as such, and operates at 85 seconds frequency during rush hours. The fully automated driverless lines with platform screen doors allow for higher frequencies, higher speeds when entering or leaving stations, and much better service at odd hours and weekends. Switching the Northern line to GoA4 would allow pretty much all routings to function at their maximum frequency. That's the thing I didn't understand with the Elizabeth line : why did they keep drivers in the cabin on the central section that already works automatically...
@@KyrilPGi believe the lizzie line has the driver’s area because they’re used for the more overground parts of the route, which have like 3 different signalling systems and are harder to navigate as they’re shared with normal trains
@awyl Oh sure, I wasn't criticizing the fact of having a driver cab, but the fact that they keep in drivers in the cab for the entire length of the line instead of making the drivers only operate trains back and forth on the branches and overgroundish parts. So that the trains would continue without a driver on-board for the central section before getting a new driver on the other side. This way, a smaller number of drivers would operate the Liz line trains only where they are really needed. Like 2 smaller teams of drivers, one running the Western side and the other team the Eastern side, with no drivers in trains for the central section. This should reduce the operating cost of the line.
Absolutely. To the traveller, the Elizabeth Line has been a triumph, leading to only one reaction, "more please". To The Treasury, it was a disaster of overspends and overruns. In this instance, the obvious answer is to link Mornington Crescent with Chalk Farm and by pass Camden Town on that branch, that's less than a mile of running tunnel to build. Give both a new exit closer to the attractions if possible, or give Camden Lock a station if it can be justified. Change at Euston when needed. Here the problem is TfL are pitching a Camden Town upgrade on the back of another big project. The answer to overcrowding is to spread the people out.
The big problem the Northern Line has is the two remaining death-trap City & South London "island platforms" at Clapham Common and Clapham North. Central Government needs to fund a replacement station (between Clapham Common and Clapham North) that has two large side platforms and escalators at the North and South ends of the platforms to the existing station entrances. Builiding one station to replace two, but retaining both entrance points, would reduce the number of stops the Morden Branch trains have to make, decrease journey times and decrease the number of vehicles needed for a 36 TPH service. And escalators would get people in and out of the station faster. The old lift shafts would be retained for accessible transport, but we could build subsurface station entrances, similar to Oxford Circus, that allow lots more foot passengers to get in and out quickly.
TfL needs to develop Clapham High Street Overground Station into a real hub and allow trains to go to Victoria rather than its absurd opposition to Victoria trains stopping at Clapham High Street. TfL's dogma is that people should just take the Overground to Clapham Junction and change for Victoria services there; but that takes far too long. TfL won't invest in better bus routes from Clapham to Zone 1 either so it is just content to force people to use the Northern Line. TfL is a disgrace
Yeah, the station’s a pain, but with so many people wanting to live in Clapham, it’s just something you have to deal with. London’s huge, but everyone seems to want to cram into Clapham, so it gets crazy crowded. Just an accident waiting to happen, hopefully after people would stop wanting to live there or government fund it.
That's where platform screen doors would be ideal... I don't understand why they haven't yet installed PSD's in a number of crowded stations. This alone would improve capacity by allowing trains to enter and leave stations faster. And, of course, full driverless automation, which would be a great improvement for the busiest lines. Paris managed to convert the 2 busiest of its oldest historical metro lines (1 & 4) to full GoA4 driverless automation (with half size shoulder height platform screen doors on line 1, and full-size ones on line 4). And also to install platform screen doors in many stations of line 13, one of its overcrowded semi automated lines. All without major service interruptions (they prepared platforms and installed the doors by night). So London should be able to do the same. TfL could add platform screen doors during week nights, 3 to 5 nights a week, and it would gradually improve the lines.
Angel was a single platform station before the early 1990s. It solved the problem of overcrowding by keeping the old platform as a separate southbound one, building a new northbound one and using the extra space as a concourse linked to a new escalator. Maybe the Clapham stations could have a similar refurb if surrounding infrastructure allowed?
@@AlphaBee6 Before 1971 there were scissor 'crossover' tracks north of Clapham Common. These should be reinstated to allow for 'stepping back' whereby Northern Line trains running southbound could enter the northbound side of the island platform to terminate and then immediately depart as a northbound service. This would totally clear the Clapham Common platform as well as clearing Clapham North and all the northbound platforms on the busiest section. This also needs to be supplemented by TfL creating new direct City bus routes as an accessible alternative plus developing the nearby Clapham High Street Overground into a real hub with trains to Waterloo or Victoria. TfL won't rebuilt Clapham North or Clapham Common (despite the accidents and poor management of both stations as highlighted by the Rail Accident Investigation Board report into the forced and chaotic evacuation of passengers at Clapham Common in 2023). Yet nor does TfL should any inclination to make proper alternatives beyond some absurd notion that cycle hire and e-scooters can resolve the problem. TfL won't do anything until there's a fatality. It is time TfL senior staff actually bothered to come down to Clapham Common and Clapham North to see just how bad things are: TfL are OPPOSED to giving Clapham High Street Station trains services to Central London despite the obvious need. TfL senior leadership currently live in a bubble and don't understand the problems commuters face.
Hi Kyle. According to TFL's proposal about the split, it is looking likely that the Northern line route from High Barnet, Mill Hill East and Morden via Bank is still going to remain coloured on the tube map and the other between Battersea (If the extension to Clapham Junction gets the signal to proceed) and Edgware is going to be part of a new line that'll be coloured light green and called be called the Edgware line. But the upgrade to Camden Town station which needs to get the signal to proceed first or otherwise they can't split it. I'm a new subscriber by the way.
When I lived in Colindale I was really happy to find that getting the zone 2-3 travelcard included unlimited bus travel for the month. I started getting out at Mornington Crescent and taking a bus towards Charing Cross, which was not that much slower than continuing by tube. When the weather was nice I'd even walk instead. Saved quite a bit of money with the difference between buying the zone 2-3 travelcard vs zone 1 to 3 travelcard.
Having lived in central London for 40 years I use this system. I have always felt that the Camden Town interchange proposals were wrong headed to split the lines there. It is simpler to interchange at Euston which has platforms for both branches. This has very generous platform widths for the services. It is very confusing getting the 'Northern Line at Euston because they are designated by their 'branch names' . The Charing Cross branch can remain as Northern' and the City branch as 'City Line'.
@@charliebramley The inter platform passenger tunnels a the south end of the platforms help rather than interchange at the main tunnels at the bottom of the escalators
On a trip to UK in 2005, I got on the Northern in central London, went to Morden, stayed on the train and went to High Barnet, stayed in the train back to central London, to observe what it was like for numbers of passengers etc. It was not rush hour, but it was still very busy in the central section, so I can understand the need to ease congestion. Incidentally it is the same on Cross Country. Get on in Bournemouth with a half full train (220/221), but going through the Midlands the train is overcrowded, then by Newcastle everybody gets a seat!
good video! one other drawback you didn't go into which may seem obvious when you say it is splitting the line removes direct trains for people who currently commute on them. it's not just the stress on interchanges but the fact that a lot of commutes would get a bit more annoying
The advantage for commuters if they are split would be more trains per hour and less likelihood of delays if there's a problem on one of the branches. Once people get use to the change, I think most people would prefer the split
@@newcastlegeorge yes, that's the advantage - whether it outweighs the disadvantage for an individual traveller will depend exactly what journey youre making and what your priorities are
Calling one of the branches Northern and the other Southern would be particularly confusing if they were split as suggested at 5:00, given that the High Barnet-Morden route takes both the northernmost and southernmost stations! If it was split to run High Barnet/Mill Hill East to Battersea Power Station Station (Northern Line) and Edgware to Morden (Southern Line) then that would make a bit more sense ... but I think there's too much potential confusion between the Southern Line and Southern Railway, if the mainline railways haven't morphed back into a national entity by then with no TOC branding.
personally i'd just do without the southern line name, southern rail services still run from london bridge so commuters to and from london bridge may be confused instead i'd have the line running to hampstead be called the hampstead line (bringing back an old name practically, seeing as the hampstead tube was a thing) that way there'd be a clear distinction between the northern line, the hampstead line, and southern rail no other line i know is called the hampstead line and there is no clash with other railway services in great britain afaik so it's practically a free opportunity
They can't call it the "Southern Line" anyway, as it would potentially cause confusion with the Southern Railway, which interchanges indirectly at Balham (2 gate-lines), and London Bridge, and there's no way that Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the current TOC of the Brighton Mainline is ever going to get rid of that historic name. It'd be better to name the Charring X branch to "Northern Line" and Bank branch to "City & South London Rly Line". Oh and Mill Hill East used to be a shuttle to Mill Hill Broadway outside of rush hour, should probably be reinstated if the line is split in 2.
@HarrowwInk I think that the Morden branch should remain Northern Line and the other branch to Battersea could be called: 1. Edgware & Battersea Line or 2. West End Line (serves the most stations in the West End Charing Cross - Warren St) This branch should eventually be extended to Wandsworth Town Centre as well as Clapham Junction.
Splitting is one thing, having the stock is more important. They use 95 Stock trains, the only line to do so, so it's not a case of being able to retrofit other stock options. The maintenance contract runs til 2033, so it's likely that will be the date for new stock, and a proper rethinking. Also, though the comments on capacity are true, it's worth noting that in the event of delays on one branch, connectivity at CT, Euston Bank (W&C Line) and Kennington is a major function in avoiding commuter meltdown, especially as Thameslink sucks so badly. It's impossible to have capacity to make those stations just 'bigger'. Having them as an option is far better.
Well, its estimated, that upgrade works at Camden Town take four years to complete. Considering, that work can start in 2026 at earliest, it will be finished by 2030 at earliest. Considering that this is the earliest date, and that the works will possibly start later/take more time, the stock is probably due for renewal when they finish the works at Camden Town are finished, so they can get a new stock. Also TfL is replacing the older Bakerloo (72 stock), Picadilly (73 stock), Waterloo & City and Central (both 92 stock) Line trains in the next years, which should include the 95 Stock later on, so increasing frequency shouldn't be a problem after the upgrade works have finished.
@@gelber_kaktus The 92 stocks wont be going anywhere for a while, they're being refurbished and getting new motors to extend it's life.They havent even got funding for the Bakerloo replacements yet, but hopefully they should be getting it soon. They'll probably replace the 92, 95 and 96 Stock at the same time in the 2030s.
How about an extra spur to the Overground, maybe a line only used at weekends using the bridge over Camden High Street to make a connection from Camden Road, a new station at Camden Bridge and then reopening Primrose Hill to finally join the Lioness Line of the Overground at South Hampstead? This would certainly keep north London visitors happy using their own special route to Camden at weekends keeping them separate from the bustle of the tourists. Also a much shorter walk for them to the Hawley Arms, Camden Lock, Camden Bridge and the Stables markets.
Considering they managed to entirely rebuild Tottenham Court Road, one of Londons busiest interchange stations, they can do Camden Town. They just need the will. You’re right, it’s a no brainier.
Remove stopping at Camden from the Battersea to Edgeware line since they have the option of using Mornington Crescent. Then all changing between the lines would be at Euston (or Kennington). If this doesn't look like it will sufficiently relieve platform congestion then potentially look at a new station north of Camden Town under Castlehaven.
I really agree with all you are saying. The northern branches of the Northern line have one other issue - neither has decent interchanges with the Overground. If that can be put right, it might make overcrowding worse, but it might actually take people off the crowded parts of the Northern as well as, at present, a lot of orbital journeys around the suburbs need a journey into the centre on one line, and back out on another.
They would need to be called something like "West Northern" and "East Northern" or come up with two completely new names. Charing Line and Bank Line would be obvious. But in principal, until they get the funds for a bit reconstructive work around some of the stations, a full separation isnt going to happen.
Camden Town was a very busy interchange when I had to use it 60 years ago. It was often the case that trains for the Barnet/ Mill Hill East branch would not appear while there was train after train going to Edgware, hence the need to change. Perhaps this was an early attempt at splitting the lines? Please note that the Archway station on your map was in fact called Highgate until the line was extended with a tube station below the LNER Highgate station. The original Highgate station was then renamed Archway.
The Standard article at 6:10 is incorrect as there are at the very least 3 other lines with higher frequencies. In Paris alone, there are: metro lines 14 and 1 operating respectively with 85 and 90 seconds frequency during rush hours. Line 13 is set at 95 seconds, like some lines in Moscow, even though it often has disruptions due to the Northern branches causing this frequency to be sometimes unreliable and fluctuating. Line 14 is temporarily reduced to 105 seconds because they haven't yet received all the trains of the new fleet but the line should be back at 85 seconds by January or February when all 72 new trains are put in service. (They run something like 60 trains at the moment and receive about 4 new trains per month). Line 14 is expected to pass a million daily rides in the coming months, following its recent extension and the soon opening of a hub station on its Southern extension. Lines 14 and 1 are GoA4 (fully automated driverless using SAET NG and SAET), line 13 is GoA2+ (driver with automated train operations and platform screen doors at several stations to help manage the flow of passengers, it uses the Ouragan CBTC). There are also the metro networks of Lille, Toulouse, and Rennes in France, which use VAL and CityVAL systems and have rush hours frequencies closer to 60 seconds. That's precisely the point of these VAL and CityVAL metro systems : small infrastructure and vehicles but extremely high train frequency, allowing to transport large numbers of passengers. These metro lines become virtually "walk-in metros" thanks to the constant noria of trains. For London's Northern line, a switch to full GoA4 driverless automation with platform screen doors should be envisioned. Fully automated lines with full platform separation work wonders to improve saturation. It makes passengers less keen on trying to hold the doors, and the increased frequency that becomes possible really helps with crowds. That's why in Paris they have already converted the 2 busiest historical lines to full driverless automation and are preparing to upgrade most other lines to GoA4. The next one should be line 13, and the recently extended line 11 was prepared for a simplified switch to full automation later.
@@fakefe Moscow has a line that runs every 90 seconds. That is who the Victoria Line is quoted as being second to. If Warsaw also has a 90 second frequency line, that makes the Victoria the 3rd most frequent line.
@@katrinabryce There are three ways to deal with ties in this situation 1. (What you are saying) Give both systems 1st/2nd place then give the next 3rd place 2. Have both get 1st place and the next different time 2nd place 3. Do it by alphabetical order (not really applicable here)
@@_Mintyz_ I would say the top two are joint first, and Victoria are 3rd, or I would find another way to sort the top two such as what proportion of the day they operate at every 90 seconds.
Several years ago the points failed at Camden Town for a few months, and they had to split the line at the North for a while. Also at the southern end, most trains on the Charing X branch turn around at Kennington anyway - the complication is at Camden Town. As said elsewhere though, the requirement would be a beefed up Camden Town station and that does not seem likely. TfL have tried to do it by linking it to a shopping development. That is just not going to happen. However they have just spent £700M at Bank and this would not need anything like that.
Being a Yorkshireman, it forever annoys me when more and more money is spent on London transport with next to nothing for the north. This however is one of very few projects that I can't help but thing needs to be completed approximately yesterday. Complex though it may be, it's a relatively quick win and very cost effective way of massively increasing capacity. More relatively quick and each but highly effective projects like this are needed up and down the country.
Two ideas: Euston can help with the interchange problem, by being advertised as the place to change instead of Camden Town. And I would name the western one of the two lines ‘The Bloomsbury Line’ after its route through central London.
Euston already suffers from extreme overcrowding of rail passengers, and it is the first point where City-bound commuters can change onto other lines. So both above- and below ground it is already extremely crowded, it would also be a problem point.
I don't support this scheme. Public transport around the two north branches isn't well joined up and the quickest way to get anywhere is the tube which still isn't very quick . This will result in even slower journeys becauss there isn't a direct train any more. Like if you're going from Barnet to the West End, as I often have. Also, all tube lines are crowded. The northern line is only busiest because it's got two separate routes through London. This is a feature, not a bug
A temporary solution is to make Hamstead tube skip Camden Town and provide better interchange at Euston instead. That station is going under huge revamp for HS2 so it should be cheaper to add some cherries on top.
@@TheHoveHeretic one can change at Euston (which I do occasionally) and Mornington Crescent is literally 10 min walk. If Camden Town is ever expanded, the two stations may be too near to coexist. Note that the skip can be "temporary"
@@bonaquack I generally use Chalk Farm if I am unable to get on at Camden Town, because it is at the other end of the market. Get off at Camden Town, walk through the market and finish off the visit at the Chalk Farm end.
As I see things IF Crossrail 2 gets built ever it will will require Clapham Junction to be rebuilt IF you do that it would make sense to extend the Northern Line from Battersea Power Station down to Clapham Junction BUT to make that viable you'd need higher Northern Line frequencies AND the only way to achieve that is to split the lines in two AND you can only do that if you rebuild Camden Town.
The biggest issue that I can think of with separating it into 2 lines is the interchange at Camden Town. I've done it from time to time when there are gaps in the service to the High Barnet branch from whichever branch south of Camden that I am on and it is dangerous at times now. It would take a huge amount of rebuilding to cope with the amount of interchange capacity that would be generated between the 2 lines. The options appear to be a new station or to establish the interchange at Euston as both lines would have different platforms there. I don't have any idea how feasible either of these are.
The Charles Line? The only lines TfL or its predecessor London Transport has ever named that weren't named after a monarch are lines that aren't actually new lines. The Hammersmith & City Line and former East London Line could be a precedent, because they were created by splitting the Metropolitan Line in two (twice). So the Morden branch could become The City and South London Line, or the other branch could be the Hampstead Line.
@@katrinabryce Indeed, my bet has always been that the 'new' line would be called the Charles line. After all, his Mum got one named after her in her final years!
In addition to the more important reason of improving the capacity of the lines, the fact that the Northern Line has two very distinct branches passing through central London is VERY confusing to visitors. So, yeah, let's get it done!
I lived in London from 1989-1997 and I go into or through London regularly and have never witnessed a queue outside of a tube station waiting to get in to get catch a tube.
I regularly travel on the Northern line often exiting at Kings Cross and saw a queue up once when they purposefully closed gate entry to stop crowding on platforms, so I agree its not really that common, must’ve just been a bad day
It also happens at Victoria, for the Victoria Line and District/Circle, generally closing the entrance by the Taxi Rank, by the Bus Garage, often the one on the opposite side of the Bus Garage remained open, I used this in 1980s and 1996-2000 was worst in the late 90's I know it happened on Northern Line too, but never when I was using it.
@metatron-007 not sure if it wasn’t a thing while you were in the big smoke, but it’s basically a daily occurrence for anyone relying on a northern line station south of the river. Coming from someone who lives north of the river and gets evidence regularly from messages
You describe the split of the northern line as a "plan", however, TfL themselves describe it as an aspiration. There is at the moment no plan and no funding to split the Northern line.
Why not have the Bank loop run from Morden to Euston, and the Charing X loop keep the northern branches and run to Battersea Power Station (and possibly Clapham Junction), so there's more clearly implied purpose between them? The latter could keep the Northern Line moniker, and the former could have the City and South London name revivied (or a protracted version of it), since it follows much of the original's route. I guess the issue with Euston is that it already has issues with capacity as it is, but at least there would be less of a bottleneck at both Camden and Kennington.
I wish the actual reason Camden requires a full upgrade including a secondary ticket hall was released by tfl. Like having people need to change there isn't going to increase the amount of people going in and out the station at all and shouldn't make it exit only more often. More people will just be switching to the other platform within the station but the interchange tunnels are too small at the moment. But the platforms in the same direction are at the same level next to each other with nothing in the way, so instead of £2bn for a whole new station surely they can just knock through the wall on 1 platform in a straight line for 30 meters and they'll be at the next platform. Do this twice and the interchange capacity will be plenty high enough. Basically what they're planning but without the extra ticket hall being built. So why not do this for cheap and then that's it split the lines. Leave the new ticket hall as its own project. I dont get why it's estimated to cost £2bn anyway since Bank station just had an even bigger upgrade with more new concourse and ticket halls for under £1bn.
When people are on a train, they aren't really in the station. Increase interchange demand and you increase the number of people going in and out of the station. The exit-only issue is because there's platform overcrowding - there would be too many people waiting on the platforms if they were also coming from the street as well as changing between Northern line trains. Increasing the number of changees creates the same problem - too many people on the platforms. Then there's the Step Free considerations, meeting modern evacuation standards, generally just upgrading the busy station so the whole lot can deal with the crowds (this seems to be the main reason for the new entrance that has failed to get planning permission (the main reason why the scheme hasn't already happened) twice (or is it thrice now?). The platforms are also not parallel - the station is a \ / shape. It is nowhere near as simple as knocking through a wall.
The only way to make a new Camden Town station to work is to close the road between Camden Town and Mornington Crescent, dig down a massive station box, the full-width of the road and stack two Canada Water width cross platform interchanges one on top of each other. You would also need platform screen doors. That way Northbound passengers could just get off one train and walk to the other side of the platform. And Southbound passengers could do the same. An added benefit would be that you would "get rid of" the extra stop at Mornington Crescent, but reuse the site of the station as the southern entrance to Camden Town Station. Closing stations is good for decreasing total journey time and decreasing the number of vehicles required to give you 36 TPH - but bad for making passengers walk furtner to get to a station. Combining the two stations would give you all the advantages, but without that disadvantage. An "Oxford Circus" style entrance could be built under both the road junctions outside of Camden Town and Mornington Crescent, with the old station buildings being retained to give you a place for street level lifts to be located. For added passenger distribution a travellator could be built from the platforms to Camden Lock, creating three exit points that can get passengers out of the station faster at weekends.
This is an excellent idea; Perhaps another travellator could enable a connection to the OG at Camden Road station. it is a notable missing link that the OG has no interchanges with either the Hampstead or Highgate Northern line branches
The Northern Line can’t be that bad can it. I’ve been on the Northern Line lots of times and the 1995 Stock are still as reliable and won’t be replaced for at least 20+ years.
6:50 not sure if the higher frequency would actually improve the safety. With higher ridership the number of people on the platforms could also increase. Those stations with narrow platforms need to be rebuild
Seems like a good idea but no doubt a lot of people will be inconvenienced, having to transfer where previously they had the option to do their journey on a single seat.
Uk govt is pretty broke these days, and the political landscape has recently changed - the days of repeatedly pumping money into London transport and ignoring other cities have probably gone. Now they’ll just ignore everywhere! Most UK cities (ie in Midlands and the North) have negligible modern public transit, commuting is mostly buses and “last mile” on regional trains running into those cities. Even though they are smaller cities than London, still makes commuting in those cities a real chore and notably affects how the inner parts of those cities have (to the point, have not) developed. The 2nd largest UK city, Birmingham (plus adjacent West Midlands urban sprawl), has only two tram lines…that’s it, no metro, get the bus. Manchester has got a few more tram lines but still way off having a city wide system, Liverpool has absolutely nothing, Edinburgh has arguably two (same line runs north and south of city centre?) tram lines but mostly relies on buses…. (yes, Newcastle Metro is pretty good…but that’s the outlier)…and so on. And London has a massive Underground, overground, DLR, buses, last mile BR etc…!! London has just got the new Elizabeth line… now they want more?! it might have been politically acceptable to spend the next big lump of central government money on the London Underground (again!) under a Tory Government (much favoured by London / south east voters) but much harder under a Labour (northern voters..) government who have much bigger problems on their plate (homelessness, cost of living…. Vs some inner London Tory voters needing to queue a bit for a train?!!)
i hate the idea of calling the other branch the southern line because a southern RAILWAY already exists AND runs TO and FROM london idc abt consistency id call the line running to hampstead the hampstead line (to bring back hampstead tube somehow) and i'd call the other line the northern line
The hidden question COULD be. Could you do a Bank / Monument style interchange with Camden Town / Mornington Crescent stations. People walk a look further on stations than they think, and rejigging of platforms COULD work???
It's sort of already been done Most trains from Morden run via Bank and most trains starting at Battersea Power Station or Kennington run via Charing Cross
All trains from Battersea have to run via Charing Cross. It's also hard to turn round a train at Kennington unless using the loop linking the Charing Cross platforms.
Kyle looks different in this video for some reason. Also could they not disentangle it in phases - ie disentangle Kennington first so that the Morden branch always run through the Charing X branch and then onwards to MHE or Edgeware, and trains from the BPSS run in the other branch?
The only reason Kennington hasn't been disentangled is that the Morden branch needs more trains than merely what runs on the City branch. I don't think its an issue with station capacity now (it was before Bank was rebuilt), but rather an issue with no enough trains to run all the trains that Morden needs (which is more than what the City branch needs) via City - so some peak direction trains run via Charing Cross (ie start serving Morden at Kennington, rather than Camden, and thus reduce the extra train-miles needed). Or, in other words: disentangling Kennington will lower frequency, not increase it.
You could "split" the line today without altering the service, by simply changing the maps to show both current services through the core, and interlining north of Camden Town.
Splitting would cause the same issue people would still have the same issue alot of people use the line, new names,new lines is just a sticky plaster over the real issues
Until they relocated to Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, when TfL would have to cut spending, which would make the 'Underground toilet' of the 1970s, seem plush in comparison with the C21st........
@artrandy You people always come up with that threat but it would take a while to requalify. It isn't like being a mechanical engineer or a system architect, it is very based on local law.
westminster would rather break their own legs than actual make a decision on a long overdue project, also isn't it crazy how one of the wealthiest cities in the world can't fund their transport system? too many countries wait to the issue is at its more difficult point to fix, rather than resolving the issue before it becomes too much of a problem
the Northern Line was 2 separate Line from the start it merged into what we know today its not gonna happen they have a 106 trains on the Northern Line 85+trains out during peak Hours
Annoying for people who live in Golders Green and work in Moorgate, or people how live in Tufnell Park and work in Tottenham Court Road. Camden is about to be a lot busier
they should extend out the waterloo and city line to serve as an express northern line, run it under the northern for the core to help sort out some of the pressure. Have it stop at waterloo and bank like it does now, then Tottenham court road, Euston, Camden town, gospel oak, Finchley central terminating at mill hill east, taking it to mill hill would allow that little nub to be cut off the northern thus making it easy to put more trains on the newly split line. Would also connect it to Liverpool street from bank as the terminus on the other end.
Judging by how the lines run, sending the W&C from bank to Euston via Tottenham Court Road is not on. It would require a very big curve indeed to look the line round somewhere under the Central line or Lizzie line. The W&C platforms are virtually at right-angles to the Northern line and point more along the route of the central line to Liverpool street.
@@trevorelliston1 so straight to Euston would be better, figured itd be useful to have an extra transfer at TCR for the liz line but wed have that at liv street anywho
@@trentr9762 the turn from Waterloo to reach Euston is even worse as at that point the lines point south. as it is, Some partial tunnels already exist under the Charing x branch under some stations where an express northern line was seemingly under contemplation in the 1930’s. The best bet is to bite bullet, and rebuild Camden Town then split the branches.Transfer the 1995 stock to the line needing most stock, probably the longest branch, and provide new stock for the branch needing fewer trains. Do it all to follow on from Bakerloo line replacement.
@@trevorelliston1 the reason im set on Euston, is with HS2 terminating there its gonna need much more service then it gets now, its already very busy and its only gonna get worse!
This won't work because it will not get public support. People want ease of use. For example, I want to get on at the Angel and go directly onto the Edgware Branch. You might be young and fit enough to manage the 'rat runs' that exist to change lines at Euston and Camden Town, but others would consider it a nightmare, especially in Summer. On the occasions now when there is no through service, it can add 15 minutes to a journey, and if you're going from Angel to Belsize Park or Hampstead say, that doubles the entire journey time. No thanks buddy. Not every Londoner is concerned about the travails of the commuter, its Londoner's who use the underground at all times, not commuters, and yet you are petitioning for every day Londoners to be inconvenienced for the sake of commutors. Sorry to say it chum, but commuters in deepest Essex and Surrey don't get a vote in the Mayoral elections, and when politicians receive the public's reaction to a democratic consultation, which I think they'd have an obligation to do, the Mayor will drop the idea as a very unpopular idea. Im assuming that much of your data predates Covid anyway, and without having the statistics available to me right now, Im nevertheless pretty confident that with the subsequent increase in working from home, the 'heats off' this little plan, if not the heat of the underground passageways and those up and down steps and tight turnings at Euston. Apart from the fact that TfL do not have the money, are struggling to run the Underground on the resources it has right now, and big publicly backed schemes like this don't seem to be the priority of this Government, who are desperately trying to raise money to put into the NHS, I would suggest that if any spare cash was made available for upgrades on the Northern Line, they might like to improve upon the signaling. I thought they'd done that 10 years ago, but I waited 9 minutes today for a train at KX to go just one stop to the Angel. It was subsequently filled like 'cattle truck'. More sophisticated signaling could generate more trains for your commuters. If any other large amounts of money are thrown at the Northern Line in the future, they might like to think about an extension to Clapham Junction. If its only a small amount, then please make the Bank branch 24 hours over the weekend, instead of making every one who lives on this line a second class citizen by denying us the same service that the CC branch enjoys. So sorry to burst your bubble bro, but it just aint gonna happen...😀... edit: sp
Loved this video. But do you really have to say ‘on’ the weekend? Do you say ‘on’ Easter? Yet another Americanism creeping in!! Still very well made and very well explained
When I was growing up in Edgware as a 5 year old in the 1990', I don't know why I thought Northern Ireland was the same as the Northern Line... Either way, bnoth are devisive in regards to a split. They took away Astoria and the Mean Fiddler for TFL projects, for the love of god, don't take away the Electric Ballroom. The camden interchange also looks like some basterdised headers off a motorcycle to promote peak torque at specific revs. Complicated, but effective.
Making the proposed interchanges as simple as possible for passengers is going to be a challenge. Look to the northern end of the Victoria Line for inspiration. Sooner or later, those dangerously narrow ex-C&SLR island platforms are going to need the Bank treatment. "Southern Line"? Nope ... that'll just confuse the hell out of everyone using Southern (mainline) services. I'd be inclined to keep Northern for the western branch and City for the City branch (radical, eh?).
One way to fix the problem on the Northern Line is to extend the Northern Line to Clapham Junction. Can’t see new trains for the Northern Line yet as the 1995 Stock aren’t that old yet and are going to be replaced for at least 20 years.
How, especially if there are no more trains forthcoming, does that fix it. The too-small stock is stretched even thinner, and the line will be transporting even more customers. It adds to the problems, not fixes them.
@Dave_Sisson the modern Australian accent is the most neutral and easily understandable accents in the English language, he doesn't have to speak like a bogan, just a normal person. received pronunciation is an accent and talking style which requires, imo, a deeper voice and a more authoritative vocabulary, so if you don't commit, it just sounds bad... The worst version of it is that other famous UA-camr who does it.... Lays it on thic... Doesn't help the content one bit.
This split will probably see the "creation" of the last ever true tube line. It seems unlikely that TFL will ever build a new tube guage line.
The odd extension or junction rejig aside, I hope you're right!
Agreed that a tube *gauge* line is unlikely, but I wouldn't be surprised if at some point in the distant future a new line is built (perhaps roughly along the route of the Superloop bus network?) which is classified as being part of the Underground rather than a separate mode like the Overground or Elizabeth line.
Such a line could be built to have mainline-sized trains (like the sub surface lines) but would still run deep level like the Northern City line (which itself I wouldn't be surprised if it gets extended and integrated into the tube)
@@MikeWillSee Very unlikely, if there is another orbital line around London it'll almost certainly be similar to the abandoned R25 proposal. Basically an overground line made up of the West London Orbital and Gospel Oak to Barking lines. The track to link them already exists and that'd get you like 60% done with a loop.
@@kwlkid85 that's true, but I'm talking about the very distant future, likely long after you and I are gone!
As they should. As iconic as the tube is it’s just not compatible with the modern day. Investments in crossrail such as the Elizabeth line are the future for new TFL lines
I've got to point this out but Kennington is not built the same way as Camden Town. At Kennington trains from the Bank Branch can only continue onto the Morden Branch while Trains on the Charing Cross Branch can either transfer onto the Morden Branch, take the Kennington Loop and turn around to run northbound back onto the Charing Cross Branch or start travelling onto the Kennington Loop but then branch off onto the Battersea Power Station branch.
Is it Not possible to just shut these interchange stations (Camden Town and Kennington) one after the other but keep both lines running during the works as separate segregated lines?
@@BigBlueMan118 Yes, it would be possible, but it would mean a lot of people would have to take a large detour to get where they need to go.
@@BigBlueMan118 Kennington wouldn't need much work. It's not as overcrowded and already has decent cross platform transfers between the branches.
@@wasmic5z i mean Mornington Crescent on the Charing Cross Branch is only 500m away from Camden Town so I think it is pretty reasonable to expect anyone on that branch wishing to go to Camden to just walk from there for a year during renovations. And for people wanting to interchange between the lines in the north they could do so at Euston. Another commenter said Kennington wouldn't need a shutdown and is basically fine as it is with some minor upgrades.
Funny that The northern line goes more into south london than any other tube
It also doesn't go the most north, both the Metropolitan and Central line go further, and it looks roughly tied with Cockfosters on the Piccadilly
Yeah, I was gonna say I laughed at the point he said the Morden to Edgware would be called either northern or southern...
The northern most part of Scotland is called Sutherland.
@@EbenBransome Yes, so named by the Norse because it was south of Iceland and Scandinavia. All things are relative...
I work on the underground - central government is not interested in investing, or funding, the tune network in anyway shape or form. The last government pulled its yearly funding back in 2018 effectively making it the only major capital transport system in the world to NOT be funded, even in part, by its own government.
And splitting the northern line has been talked about almost as long as people have been talking about driverless trains. Not gonna happen…
Though driverless trains and platform screen doors should really seriously be envisioned and done.
It worked wonders in Paris to improve frequency and reliability on 2 of the busiest historical lines.
Let alone line 14, which was built as such, and operates at 85 seconds frequency during rush hours.
The fully automated driverless lines with platform screen doors allow for higher frequencies, higher speeds when entering or leaving stations, and much better service at odd hours and weekends.
Switching the Northern line to GoA4 would allow pretty much all routings to function at their maximum frequency.
That's the thing I didn't understand with the Elizabeth line : why did they keep drivers in the cabin on the central section that already works automatically...
@@KyrilPGi believe the lizzie line has the driver’s area because they’re used for the more overground parts of the route, which have like 3 different signalling systems and are harder to navigate as they’re shared with normal trains
@awyl Oh sure, I wasn't criticizing the fact of having a driver cab, but the fact that they keep in drivers in the cab for the entire length of the line instead of making the drivers only operate trains back and forth on the branches and overgroundish parts.
So that the trains would continue without a driver on-board for the central section before getting a new driver on the other side.
This way, a smaller number of drivers would operate the Liz line trains only where they are really needed.
Like 2 smaller teams of drivers, one running the Western side and the other team the Eastern side, with no drivers in trains for the central section.
This should reduce the operating cost of the line.
Absolutely. To the traveller, the Elizabeth Line has been a triumph, leading to only one reaction, "more please". To The Treasury, it was a disaster of overspends and overruns.
In this instance, the obvious answer is to link Mornington Crescent with Chalk Farm and by pass Camden Town on that branch, that's less than a mile of running tunnel to build.
Give both a new exit closer to the attractions if possible, or give Camden Lock a station if it can be justified. Change at Euston when needed.
Here the problem is TfL are pitching a Camden Town upgrade on the back of another big project. The answer to overcrowding is to spread the people out.
@KyrilPG it would be far more complex operationally to do this, and you've got to have someone on board in case of emergency.
The big problem the Northern Line has is the two remaining death-trap City & South London "island platforms" at Clapham Common and Clapham North. Central Government needs to fund a replacement station (between Clapham Common and Clapham North) that has two large side platforms and escalators at the North and South ends of the platforms to the existing station entrances.
Builiding one station to replace two, but retaining both entrance points, would reduce the number of stops the Morden Branch trains have to make, decrease journey times and decrease the number of vehicles needed for a 36 TPH service. And escalators would get people in and out of the station faster. The old lift shafts would be retained for accessible transport, but we could build subsurface station entrances, similar to Oxford Circus, that allow lots more foot passengers to get in and out quickly.
TfL needs to develop Clapham High Street Overground Station into a real hub and allow trains to go to Victoria rather than its absurd opposition to Victoria trains stopping at Clapham High Street. TfL's dogma is that people should just take the Overground to Clapham Junction and change for Victoria services there; but that takes far too long. TfL won't invest in better bus routes from Clapham to Zone 1 either so it is just content to force people to use the Northern Line. TfL is a disgrace
Yeah, the station’s a pain, but with so many people wanting to live in Clapham, it’s just something you have to deal with. London’s huge, but everyone seems to want to cram into Clapham, so it gets crazy crowded. Just an accident waiting to happen, hopefully after people would stop wanting to live there or government fund it.
That's where platform screen doors would be ideal...
I don't understand why they haven't yet installed PSD's in a number of crowded stations.
This alone would improve capacity by allowing trains to enter and leave stations faster.
And, of course, full driverless automation, which would be a great improvement for the busiest lines.
Paris managed to convert the 2 busiest of its oldest historical metro lines (1 & 4) to full GoA4 driverless automation (with half size shoulder height platform screen doors on line 1, and full-size ones on line 4).
And also to install platform screen doors in many stations of line 13, one of its overcrowded semi automated lines. All without major service interruptions (they prepared platforms and installed the doors by night).
So London should be able to do the same.
TfL could add platform screen doors during week nights, 3 to 5 nights a week, and it would gradually improve the lines.
Angel was a single platform station before the early 1990s. It solved the problem of overcrowding by keeping the old platform as a separate southbound one, building a new northbound one and using the extra space as a concourse linked to a new escalator. Maybe the Clapham stations could have a similar refurb if surrounding infrastructure allowed?
@@AlphaBee6 Before 1971 there were scissor 'crossover' tracks north of Clapham Common. These should be reinstated to allow for 'stepping back' whereby Northern Line trains running southbound could enter the northbound side of the island platform to terminate and then immediately depart as a northbound service. This would totally clear the Clapham Common platform as well as clearing Clapham North and all the northbound platforms on the busiest section. This also needs to be supplemented by TfL creating new direct City bus routes as an accessible alternative plus developing the nearby Clapham High Street Overground into a real hub with trains to Waterloo or Victoria. TfL won't rebuilt Clapham North or Clapham Common (despite the accidents and poor management of both stations as highlighted by the Rail Accident Investigation Board report into the forced and chaotic evacuation of passengers at Clapham Common in 2023). Yet nor does TfL should any inclination to make proper alternatives beyond some absurd notion that cycle hire and e-scooters can resolve the problem. TfL won't do anything until there's a fatality. It is time TfL senior staff actually bothered to come down to Clapham Common and Clapham North to see just how bad things are: TfL are OPPOSED to giving Clapham High Street Station trains services to Central London despite the obvious need. TfL senior leadership currently live in a bubble and don't understand the problems commuters face.
Hi Kyle. According to TFL's proposal about the split, it is looking likely that the Northern line route from High Barnet, Mill Hill East and Morden via Bank is still going to remain coloured on the tube map and the other between Battersea (If the extension to Clapham Junction gets the signal to proceed) and Edgware is going to be part of a new line that'll be coloured light green and called be called the Edgware line. But the upgrade to Camden Town station which needs to get the signal to proceed first or otherwise they can't split it. I'm a new subscriber by the way.
When I lived in Colindale I was really happy to find that getting the zone 2-3 travelcard included unlimited bus travel for the month. I started getting out at Mornington Crescent and taking a bus towards Charing Cross, which was not that much slower than continuing by tube. When the weather was nice I'd even walk instead.
Saved quite a bit of money with the difference between buying the zone 2-3 travelcard vs zone 1 to 3 travelcard.
Having lived in central London for 40 years I use this system. I have always felt that the Camden Town interchange proposals were wrong headed to split the lines there. It is simpler to interchange at Euston which has platforms for both branches. This has very generous platform widths for the services. It is very confusing getting the 'Northern Line at Euston because they are designated by their 'branch names' . The Charing Cross branch can remain as Northern' and the City branch as 'City Line'.
But changing at camden is also quite easy (as long as it's not rush hour and they stop you getting on trains cos of overcrowding)
It was probs easier to dig the tunnels at camden anyway
I'd designate the Edgware branch of the Northern Line as the Crosstown Line since most of the underground lines travel to Central London.
@@charliebramley The inter platform passenger tunnels a the south end of the platforms help rather than interchange at the main tunnels at the bottom of the escalators
It's almost like a sequel to your fixing the city loop video :)
True! Sometimes simple fixes can have big impacts!
Important video - important project. Earned a sub.
On a trip to UK in 2005, I got on the Northern in central London, went to Morden, stayed on the train and went to High Barnet, stayed in the train back to central London, to observe what it was like for numbers of passengers etc. It was not rush hour, but it was still very busy in the central section, so I can understand the need to ease congestion.
Incidentally it is the same on Cross Country. Get on in Bournemouth with a half full train (220/221), but going through the Midlands the train is overcrowded, then by Newcastle everybody gets a seat!
Great content and graphics. Having lived in Hampstead I can relate.
good video! one other drawback you didn't go into which may seem obvious when you say it is splitting the line removes direct trains for people who currently commute on them. it's not just the stress on interchanges but the fact that a lot of commutes would get a bit more annoying
The advantage for commuters if they are split would be more trains per hour and less likelihood of delays if there's a problem on one of the branches. Once people get use to the change, I think most people would prefer the split
@@newcastlegeorge yes, that's the advantage - whether it outweighs the disadvantage for an individual traveller will depend exactly what journey youre making and what your priorities are
It's not known as the misery line for nothing. Can b an absolute nightmare at times.
Camden Town is so much used by tourists, going to the big market there. Their first impression of that station must always be:- SCRUFFY.
Pre Covid it was busy, not now, we’re running at about 85-90% capacity, hybrid working is keeping capacity down. Weekends are more busy though.
Calling one of the branches Northern and the other Southern would be particularly confusing if they were split as suggested at 5:00, given that the High Barnet-Morden route takes both the northernmost and southernmost stations! If it was split to run High Barnet/Mill Hill East to Battersea Power Station Station (Northern Line) and Edgware to Morden (Southern Line) then that would make a bit more sense ... but I think there's too much potential confusion between the Southern Line and Southern Railway, if the mainline railways haven't morphed back into a national entity by then with no TOC branding.
It'd be a very fun tube trivia fact in future to say the northern line actually goes more south than the Southern line
personally i'd just do without the southern line name, southern rail services still run from london bridge so commuters to and from london bridge may be confused
instead i'd have the line running to hampstead be called the hampstead line (bringing back an old name practically, seeing as the hampstead tube was a thing)
that way there'd be a clear distinction between the northern line, the hampstead line, and southern rail
no other line i know is called the hampstead line and there is no clash with other railway services in great britain afaik so it's practically a free opportunity
They can't call it the "Southern Line" anyway, as it would potentially cause confusion with the Southern Railway, which interchanges indirectly at Balham (2 gate-lines), and London Bridge, and there's no way that Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR), the current TOC of the Brighton Mainline is ever going to get rid of that historic name.
It'd be better to name the Charring X branch to "Northern Line" and Bank branch to "City & South London Rly Line".
Oh and Mill Hill East used to be a shuttle to Mill Hill Broadway outside of rush hour, should probably be reinstated if the line is split in 2.
@HarrowwInk I think that the Morden branch should remain Northern Line and the other branch to Battersea could be called:
1. Edgware & Battersea Line or
2. West End Line (serves the most stations
in the West End Charing Cross - Warren
St)
This branch should eventually be extended to Wandsworth Town Centre as well as Clapham Junction.
Splitting is one thing, having the stock is more important. They use 95 Stock trains, the only line to do so, so it's not a case of being able to retrofit other stock options. The maintenance contract runs til 2033, so it's likely that will be the date for new stock, and a proper rethinking.
Also, though the comments on capacity are true, it's worth noting that in the event of delays on one branch, connectivity at CT, Euston Bank (W&C Line) and Kennington is a major function in avoiding commuter meltdown, especially as Thameslink sucks so badly. It's impossible to have capacity to make those stations just 'bigger'. Having them as an option is far better.
Well, its estimated, that upgrade works at Camden Town take four years to complete. Considering, that work can start in 2026 at earliest, it will be finished by 2030 at earliest. Considering that this is the earliest date, and that the works will possibly start later/take more time, the stock is probably due for renewal when they finish the works at Camden Town are finished, so they can get a new stock.
Also TfL is replacing the older Bakerloo (72 stock), Picadilly (73 stock), Waterloo & City and Central (both 92 stock) Line trains in the next years, which should include the 95 Stock later on, so increasing frequency shouldn't be a problem after the upgrade works have finished.
@@gelber_kaktus The 92 stocks wont be going anywhere for a while, they're being refurbished and getting new motors to extend it's life.They havent even got funding for the Bakerloo replacements yet, but hopefully they should be getting it soon. They'll probably replace the 92, 95 and 96 Stock at the same time in the 2030s.
How about an extra spur to the Overground, maybe a line only used at weekends using the bridge over Camden High Street to make a connection from Camden Road, a new station at Camden Bridge and then reopening Primrose Hill to finally join the Lioness Line of the Overground at South Hampstead?
This would certainly keep north London visitors happy using their own special route to Camden at weekends keeping them separate from the bustle of the tourists.
Also a much shorter walk for them to the Hawley Arms, Camden Lock, Camden Bridge and the Stables markets.
Considering they managed to entirely rebuild Tottenham Court Road, one of Londons busiest interchange stations, they can do Camden Town. They just need the will. You’re right, it’s a no brainier.
Remove stopping at Camden from the Battersea to Edgeware line since they have the option of using Mornington Crescent. Then all changing between the lines would be at Euston (or Kennington). If this doesn't look like it will sufficiently relieve platform congestion then potentially look at a new station north of Camden Town under Castlehaven.
I really agree with all you are saying. The northern branches of the Northern line have one other issue - neither has decent interchanges with the Overground. If that can be put right, it might make overcrowding worse, but it might actually take people off the crowded parts of the Northern as well as, at present, a lot of orbital journeys around the suburbs need a journey into the centre on one line, and back out on another.
They would need to be called something like "West Northern" and "East Northern" or come up with two completely new names. Charing Line and Bank Line would be obvious. But in principal, until they get the funds for a bit reconstructive work around some of the stations, a full separation isnt going to happen.
Northeastern and Northwestern
Camden Town was a very busy interchange when I had to use it 60 years ago. It was often the case that trains for the Barnet/ Mill Hill East branch would not appear while there was train after train going to Edgware, hence the need to change. Perhaps this was an early attempt at splitting the lines?
Please note that the Archway station on your map was in fact called Highgate until the line was extended with a tube station below the LNER Highgate station. The original Highgate station was then renamed Archway.
The Standard article at 6:10 is incorrect as there are at the very least 3 other lines with higher frequencies.
In Paris alone, there are: metro lines 14 and 1 operating respectively with 85 and 90 seconds frequency during rush hours.
Line 13 is set at 95 seconds, like some lines in Moscow, even though it often has disruptions due to the Northern branches causing this frequency to be sometimes unreliable and fluctuating.
Line 14 is temporarily reduced to 105 seconds because they haven't yet received all the trains of the new fleet but the line should be back at 85 seconds by January or February when all 72 new trains are put in service. (They run something like 60 trains at the moment and receive about 4 new trains per month).
Line 14 is expected to pass a million daily rides in the coming months, following its recent extension and the soon opening of a hub station on its Southern extension.
Lines 14 and 1 are GoA4 (fully automated driverless using SAET NG and SAET), line 13 is GoA2+ (driver with automated train operations and platform screen doors at several stations to help manage the flow of passengers, it uses the Ouragan CBTC).
There are also the metro networks of Lille, Toulouse, and Rennes in France, which use VAL and CityVAL systems and have rush hours frequencies closer to 60 seconds.
That's precisely the point of these VAL and CityVAL metro systems : small infrastructure and vehicles but extremely high train frequency, allowing to transport large numbers of passengers.
These metro lines become virtually "walk-in metros" thanks to the constant noria of trains.
For London's Northern line, a switch to full GoA4 driverless automation with platform screen doors should be envisioned. Fully automated lines with full platform separation work wonders to improve saturation.
It makes passengers less keen on trying to hold the doors, and the increased frequency that becomes possible really helps with crowds.
That's why in Paris they have already converted the 2 busiest historical lines to full driverless automation and are preparing to upgrade most other lines to GoA4.
The next one should be line 13, and the recently extended line 11 was prepared for a simplified switch to full automation later.
Trains on M1 line in Warsaw during rush hours are more frequent: every 90 seconds.
Yes, I imagine that's why the Victoria line is the second most frequent line in the world then.
@@fakefe I didn't say M1 in Warsaw is the most frequent in the world, but it is just slightly more frequent than Victoria line.
@@fakefe Moscow has a line that runs every 90 seconds. That is who the Victoria Line is quoted as being second to. If Warsaw also has a 90 second frequency line, that makes the Victoria the 3rd most frequent line.
@@katrinabryce There are three ways to deal with ties in this situation
1. (What you are saying) Give both systems 1st/2nd place then give the next 3rd place
2. Have both get 1st place and the next different time 2nd place
3. Do it by alphabetical order (not really applicable here)
@@_Mintyz_ I would say the top two are joint first, and Victoria are 3rd, or I would find another way to sort the top two such as what proportion of the day they operate at every 90 seconds.
Several years ago the points failed at Camden Town for a few months, and they had to split the line at the North for a while. Also at the southern end, most trains on the Charing X branch turn around at Kennington anyway - the complication is at Camden Town. As said elsewhere though, the requirement would be a beefed up Camden Town station and that does not seem likely. TfL have tried to do it by linking it to a shopping development. That is just not going to happen. However they have just spent £700M at Bank and this would not need anything like that.
Being a Yorkshireman, it forever annoys me when more and more money is spent on London transport with next to nothing for the north.
This however is one of very few projects that I can't help but thing needs to be completed approximately yesterday. Complex though it may be, it's a relatively quick win and very cost effective way of massively increasing capacity.
More relatively quick and each but highly effective projects like this are needed up and down the country.
Two ideas: Euston can help with the interchange problem, by being advertised as the place to change instead of Camden Town. And I would name the western one of the two lines ‘The Bloomsbury Line’ after its route through central London.
Euston already suffers from extreme overcrowding of rail passengers, and it is the first point where City-bound commuters can change onto other lines. So both above- and below ground it is already extremely crowded, it would also be a problem point.
I don't support this scheme. Public transport around the two north branches isn't well joined up and the quickest way to get anywhere is the tube which still isn't very quick . This will result in even slower journeys becauss there isn't a direct train any more. Like if you're going from Barnet to the West End, as I often have. Also, all tube lines are crowded. The northern line is only busiest because it's got two separate routes through London. This is a feature, not a bug
A temporary solution is to make Hamstead tube skip Camden Town and provide better interchange at Euston instead. That station is going under huge revamp for HS2 so it should be cheaper to add some cherries on top.
Camden Town is too important to skip. Hardly anyone (except R4 listners) missed Mornington Crescent during the time it was closed for a revamp.
@@TheHoveHeretic one can change at Euston (which I do occasionally) and Mornington Crescent is literally 10 min walk. If Camden Town is ever expanded, the two stations may be too near to coexist. Note that the skip can be "temporary"
@@bonaquack I generally use Chalk Farm if I am unable to get on at Camden Town, because it is at the other end of the market. Get off at Camden Town, walk through the market and finish off the visit at the Chalk Farm end.
As I see things IF Crossrail 2 gets built ever it will will require Clapham Junction to be rebuilt IF you do that it would make sense to extend the Northern Line from Battersea Power Station down to Clapham Junction BUT to make that viable you'd need higher Northern Line frequencies AND the only way to achieve that is to split the lines in two AND you can only do that if you rebuild Camden Town.
The biggest issue that I can think of with separating it into 2 lines is the interchange at Camden Town. I've done it from time to time when there are gaps in the service to the High Barnet branch from whichever branch south of Camden that I am on and it is dangerous at times now. It would take a huge amount of rebuilding to cope with the amount of interchange capacity that would be generated between the 2 lines.
The options appear to be a new station or to establish the interchange at Euston as both lines would have different platforms there. I don't have any idea how feasible either of these are.
The plans to expand the station with a completely new (and much bigger) northern entrance are ready.
They just don't have the funding yet
As soon as you suggested one of the branches be called Southern, I knew that can't be it. There's a Southern Railway already, running normal trains.
Commuter branch and entertainment branch. Simple.
Earning Line and Spending Line.
So will they call the new line, the Philip Line?
They should call it the andrew line 😂
The Charles Line? The only lines TfL or its predecessor London Transport has ever named that weren't named after a monarch are lines that aren't actually new lines.
The Hammersmith & City Line and former East London Line could be a precedent, because they were created by splitting the Metropolitan Line in two (twice). So the Morden branch could become The City and South London Line, or the other branch could be the Hampstead Line.
@@borisssss3884 🤣
@@katrinabryce Indeed, my bet has always been that the 'new' line would be called the Charles line. After all, his Mum got one named after her in her final years!
In addition to the more important reason of improving the capacity of the lines, the fact that the Northern Line has two very distinct branches passing through central London is VERY confusing to visitors. So, yeah, let's get it done!
I lived in London from 1989-1997 and I go into or through London regularly and have never witnessed a queue outside of a tube station waiting to get in to get catch a tube.
I regularly travel on the Northern line often exiting at Kings Cross and saw a queue up once when they purposefully closed gate entry to stop crowding on platforms, so I agree its not really that common, must’ve just been a bad day
It also happens at Victoria, for the Victoria Line and District/Circle, generally closing the entrance by the Taxi Rank, by the Bus Garage, often the one on the opposite side of the Bus Garage remained open, I used this in 1980s and 1996-2000 was worst in the late 90's
I know it happened on Northern Line too, but never when I was using it.
@metatron-007 not sure if it wasn’t a thing while you were in the big smoke, but it’s basically a daily occurrence for anyone relying on a northern line station south of the river. Coming from someone who lives north of the river and gets evidence regularly from messages
@@sambryer8625 Population issue maybe
@@stephenlee5929 Population problem maybe
Periods of morning peak the line does operate as a split service.
> High Barnet to Morden
> Edgware to Battersea Power Station station.
You describe the split of the northern line as a "plan", however, TfL themselves describe it as an aspiration. There is at the moment no plan and no funding to split the Northern line.
Why not have the Bank loop run from Morden to Euston, and the Charing X loop keep the northern branches and run to Battersea Power Station (and possibly Clapham Junction), so there's more clearly implied purpose between them? The latter could keep the Northern Line moniker, and the former could have the City and South London name revivied (or a protracted version of it), since it follows much of the original's route. I guess the issue with Euston is that it already has issues with capacity as it is, but at least there would be less of a bottleneck at both Camden and Kennington.
When i used to live Finchley often got the bus home at rush hour, as i couldn't face getting the nothern line
I wish the actual reason Camden requires a full upgrade including a secondary ticket hall was released by tfl. Like having people need to change there isn't going to increase the amount of people going in and out the station at all and shouldn't make it exit only more often. More people will just be switching to the other platform within the station but the interchange tunnels are too small at the moment. But the platforms in the same direction are at the same level next to each other with nothing in the way, so instead of £2bn for a whole new station surely they can just knock through the wall on 1 platform in a straight line for 30 meters and they'll be at the next platform. Do this twice and the interchange capacity will be plenty high enough. Basically what they're planning but without the extra ticket hall being built. So why not do this for cheap and then that's it split the lines. Leave the new ticket hall as its own project. I dont get why it's estimated to cost £2bn anyway since Bank station just had an even bigger upgrade with more new concourse and ticket halls for under £1bn.
When people are on a train, they aren't really in the station. Increase interchange demand and you increase the number of people going in and out of the station.
The exit-only issue is because there's platform overcrowding - there would be too many people waiting on the platforms if they were also coming from the street as well as changing between Northern line trains. Increasing the number of changees creates the same problem - too many people on the platforms.
Then there's the Step Free considerations, meeting modern evacuation standards, generally just upgrading the busy station so the whole lot can deal with the crowds (this seems to be the main reason for the new entrance that has failed to get planning permission (the main reason why the scheme hasn't already happened) twice (or is it thrice now?).
The platforms are also not parallel - the station is a \ / shape. It is nowhere near as simple as knocking through a wall.
The only way to make a new Camden Town station to work is to close the road between Camden Town and Mornington Crescent, dig down a massive station box, the full-width of the road and stack two Canada Water width cross platform interchanges one on top of each other. You would also need platform screen doors.
That way Northbound passengers could just get off one train and walk to the other side of the platform. And Southbound passengers could do the same.
An added benefit would be that you would "get rid of" the extra stop at Mornington Crescent, but reuse the site of the station as the southern entrance to Camden Town Station. Closing stations is good for decreasing total journey time and decreasing the number of vehicles required to give you 36 TPH - but bad for making passengers walk furtner to get to a station. Combining the two stations would give you all the advantages, but without that disadvantage.
An "Oxford Circus" style entrance could be built under both the road junctions outside of Camden Town and Mornington Crescent, with the old station buildings being retained to give you a place for street level lifts to be located.
For added passenger distribution a travellator could be built from the platforms to Camden Lock, creating three exit points that can get passengers out of the station faster at weekends.
This is an excellent idea; Perhaps another travellator could enable a connection to the OG at Camden Road station. it is a notable missing link that the OG has no interchanges with either the Hampstead or Highgate Northern line branches
It would ruin "Sorry I haven't a clue" though.
@@DavidShepheard Unnecessary, Camden Town has stacked platforms so you can add in direct transfer tunnels pretty easily.
The guy looks like AI
Maybe the Edware to Batter sea power station should renamed to the Hamsted Line with 'gold' as their line colour for a pun 'Golders Green'.
They did the same to the overground line(s) and now I have no idea what they’re talking about when they list delays/closed lines
The Northern Line can’t be that bad can it. I’ve been on the Northern Line lots of times and the 1995 Stock are still as reliable and won’t be replaced for at least 20+ years.
6:50 not sure if the higher frequency would actually improve the safety. With higher ridership the number of people on the platforms could also increase.
Those stations with narrow platforms need to be rebuild
Seems like a good idea but no doubt a lot of people will be inconvenienced, having to transfer where previously they had the option to do their journey on a single seat.
They really missed the opportunity to just close the station during COVID and do the renovation.
Uk govt is pretty broke these days, and the political landscape has recently changed - the days of repeatedly pumping money into London transport and ignoring other cities have probably gone. Now they’ll just ignore everywhere!
Most UK cities (ie in Midlands and the North) have negligible modern public transit, commuting is mostly buses and “last mile” on regional trains running into those cities. Even though they are smaller cities than London, still makes commuting in those cities a real chore and notably affects how the inner parts of those cities have (to the point, have not) developed. The 2nd largest UK city, Birmingham (plus adjacent West Midlands urban sprawl), has only two tram lines…that’s it, no metro, get the bus. Manchester has got a few more tram lines but still way off having a city wide system, Liverpool has absolutely nothing, Edinburgh has arguably two (same line runs north and south of city centre?) tram lines but mostly relies on buses…. (yes, Newcastle Metro is pretty good…but that’s the outlier)…and so on. And London has a massive Underground, overground, DLR, buses, last mile BR etc…!!
London has just got the new Elizabeth line… now they want more?! it might have been politically acceptable to spend the next big lump of central government money on the London Underground (again!) under a Tory Government (much favoured by London / south east voters) but much harder under a Labour (northern voters..) government who have much bigger problems on their plate (homelessness, cost of living…. Vs some inner London Tory voters needing to queue a bit for a train?!!)
i hate the idea of calling the other branch the southern line because a southern RAILWAY already exists AND runs TO and FROM london
idc abt consistency id call the line running to hampstead the hampstead line (to bring back hampstead tube somehow) and i'd call the other line the northern line
Northwestern and Northeastern :D If Angel and Archway end up on the same side...Archangel
They even made Camden Town interchange only - for defined times.
We could call one half the "City Branch"... but I'm struck for what to call the other half 😉
The hidden question COULD be. Could you do a Bank / Monument style interchange with Camden Town / Mornington Crescent stations. People walk a look further on stations than they think, and rejigging of platforms COULD work???
It's sort of already been done
Most trains from Morden run via Bank and most trains starting at Battersea Power Station or Kennington run via Charing Cross
All trains from Battersea have to run via Charing Cross. It's also hard to turn round a train at Kennington unless using the loop linking the Charing Cross platforms.
A number of stations will see even higher levels of interchange traffic - amelioration would not be cheap or quick . . .
I mean, they could possibly try to get people to change at Euston. It's not that far away.
IIRC the interchange at Euston includes a rather long walk through already busy underground passages.
Kyle looks different in this video for some reason.
Also could they not disentangle it in phases - ie disentangle Kennington first so that the Morden branch always run through the Charing X branch and then onwards to MHE or Edgeware, and trains from the BPSS run in the other branch?
Might be that I changed the backlight to blue from purple for once!
The only reason Kennington hasn't been disentangled is that the Morden branch needs more trains than merely what runs on the City branch. I don't think its an issue with station capacity now (it was before Bank was rebuilt), but rather an issue with no enough trains to run all the trains that Morden needs (which is more than what the City branch needs) via City - so some peak direction trains run via Charing Cross (ie start serving Morden at Kennington, rather than Camden, and thus reduce the extra train-miles needed).
Or, in other words: disentangling Kennington will lower frequency, not increase it.
You could "split" the line today without altering the service, by simply changing the maps to show both current services through the core, and interlining north of Camden Town.
Camden Town would make Euston look empty in comparison if that happened right now
Splitting would cause the same issue people would still have the same issue alot of people use the line, new names,new lines is just a sticky plaster over the real issues
Only 24 trains per hour each is such a London thing to say lol
The idea of splitting wouldn't work because of Camden Town.
No more londoncentric upgrades needed!
Boooo, should do High Barnet-Charing Cross-Morden line split for my own personal benefit
Closing the LLC tax loophole that benefits City lawyers and accountants would easily pay for upgrading TFL.
Until they relocated to Paris, Amsterdam or Frankfurt, when TfL would have to cut spending, which would make the 'Underground toilet' of the 1970s, seem plush in comparison with the C21st........
@artrandy You people always come up with that threat but it would take a while to requalify. It isn't like being a mechanical engineer or a system architect, it is very based on local law.
I can confirm they are going ahead with this, TFL has finally secured funding from the National Bank of Wakanda! 😛
westminster would rather break their own legs than actual make a decision on a long overdue project, also isn't it crazy how one of the wealthiest cities in the world can't fund their transport system? too many countries wait to the issue is at its more difficult point to fix, rather than resolving the issue before it becomes too much of a problem
the Northern Line was 2 separate Line from the start it merged into what we know today its not gonna happen they have a 106 trains on the Northern Line 85+trains out during peak Hours
petition for more australia content!!!
It's nice to have content about various systems from different places...
@@KyrilPG yeah, but the majority of viewers are australian who want australia content
When the rich and affluent need connecting to the tube, 1.1 billion readily avaliable tonextend the noerthern line to nine elms and Battersea
Annoying for people who live in Golders Green and work in Moorgate, or people how live in Tufnell Park and work in Tottenham Court Road. Camden is about to be a lot busier
If the Victoria Line is the second most frequent line in the World - what is number one?
they should extend out the waterloo and city line to serve as an express northern line, run it under the northern for the core to help sort out some of the pressure. Have it stop at waterloo and bank like it does now, then Tottenham court road, Euston, Camden town, gospel oak, Finchley central terminating at mill hill east, taking it to mill hill would allow that little nub to be cut off the northern thus making it easy to put more trains on the newly split line. Would also connect it to Liverpool street from bank as the terminus on the other end.
This plus the split would be cheaper than cross rail 2, and be very effective. Good idea
Judging by how the lines run, sending the W&C from bank to Euston via Tottenham Court Road is not on. It would require a very big curve indeed to look the line round somewhere under the Central line or Lizzie line. The W&C platforms are virtually at right-angles to the Northern line and point more along the route of the central line to Liverpool street.
@@trevorelliston1 so straight to Euston would be better, figured itd be useful to have an extra transfer at TCR for the liz line but wed have that at liv street anywho
@@trentr9762 the turn from Waterloo to reach Euston is even worse as at that point the lines point south. as it is, Some partial tunnels already exist under the Charing x branch under some stations where an express northern line was seemingly under contemplation in the 1930’s.
The best bet is to bite bullet, and rebuild Camden Town then split the branches.Transfer the 1995 stock to the line needing most stock, probably the longest branch, and provide new stock for the branch needing fewer trains. Do it all to follow on from Bakerloo line replacement.
@@trevorelliston1 the reason im set on Euston, is with HS2 terminating there its gonna need much more service then it gets now, its already very busy and its only gonna get worse!
UK government needs to fund a lot of things 😕
The point of joining the 2 railway
This won't work because it will not get public support. People want ease of use. For example, I want to get on at the Angel and go directly onto the Edgware Branch. You might be young and fit enough to manage the 'rat runs' that exist to change lines at Euston and Camden Town, but others would consider it a nightmare, especially in Summer. On the occasions now when there is no through service, it can add 15 minutes to a journey, and if you're going from Angel to Belsize Park or Hampstead say, that doubles the entire journey time. No thanks buddy.
Not every Londoner is concerned about the travails of the commuter, its Londoner's who use the underground at all times, not commuters, and yet you are petitioning for every day Londoners to be inconvenienced for the sake of commutors. Sorry to say it chum, but commuters in deepest Essex and Surrey don't get a vote in the Mayoral elections, and when politicians receive the public's reaction to a democratic consultation, which I think they'd have an obligation to do, the Mayor will drop the idea as a very unpopular idea.
Im assuming that much of your data predates Covid anyway, and without having the statistics available to me right now, Im nevertheless pretty confident that with the subsequent increase in working from home, the 'heats off' this little plan, if not the heat of the underground passageways and those up and down steps and tight turnings at Euston.
Apart from the fact that TfL do not have the money, are struggling to run the Underground on the resources it has right now, and big publicly backed schemes like this don't seem to be the priority of this Government, who are desperately trying to raise money to put into the NHS, I would suggest that if any spare cash was made available for upgrades on the Northern Line, they might like to improve upon the signaling. I thought they'd done that 10 years ago, but I waited 9 minutes today for a train at KX to go just one stop to the Angel. It was subsequently filled like 'cattle truck'. More sophisticated signaling could generate more trains for your commuters.
If any other large amounts of money are thrown at the Northern Line in the future, they might like to think about an extension to Clapham Junction. If its only a small amount, then please make the Bank branch 24 hours over the weekend, instead of making every one who lives on this line a second class citizen by denying us the same service that the CC branch enjoys.
So sorry to burst your bubble bro, but it just aint gonna happen...😀...
edit: sp
This guy is definitely AI
Loved this video. But do you really have to say ‘on’ the weekend? Do you say ‘on’ Easter? Yet another Americanism creeping in!! Still very well made and very well explained
Sadiq like labour focussing on funding all the wrong tiings 😢
It would be called something ridiculously woke, like what they have done with the overground lines
When I was growing up in Edgware as a 5 year old in the 1990', I don't know why I thought Northern Ireland was the same as the Northern Line... Either way, bnoth are devisive in regards to a split.
They took away Astoria and the Mean Fiddler for TFL projects, for the love of god, don't take away the Electric Ballroom. The camden interchange also looks like some basterdised headers off a motorcycle to promote peak torque at specific revs. Complicated, but effective.
Making the proposed interchanges as simple as possible for passengers is going to be a challenge. Look to the northern end of the Victoria Line for inspiration.
Sooner or later, those dangerously narrow ex-C&SLR island platforms are going to need the Bank treatment.
"Southern Line"? Nope ... that'll just confuse the hell out of everyone using Southern (mainline) services. I'd be inclined to keep Northern for the western branch and City for the City branch (radical, eh?).
Is the person in this AI generated?
One way to fix the problem on the Northern Line is to extend the Northern Line to Clapham Junction. Can’t see new trains for the Northern Line yet as the 1995 Stock aren’t that old yet and are going to be replaced for at least 20 years.
How, especially if there are no more trains forthcoming, does that fix it. The too-small stock is stretched even thinner, and the line will be transporting even more customers. It adds to the problems, not fixes them.
ONLY 24 trains per hour!!! 😂
Well Victoria line has up to 36 trains per hour in the rush hour, and Jubilee line has 30 trains per hour. So yes, it is "only" 24 trains per hour.
@@drsenseihugoBut the northern line is older than both of them. It does run the oldest section of the deep level tubes
@@stantorren4400 City and South London railway had high frequencies from the start though. IIRC the headway was as low as 5mins.
Are you AI???
Vocal fry is so highly annoying.
TFL complain about funding, yet they spent £6.3m on naming and 'rebranding' London's overground lines. Think that's a big part of the problem too.
Is this a computer generated video? How the man looks and sounds seems quite artificial.
No, it is not
if you are from sydney, can you stop trying to speak rp?... its not working for you, sorry.
I think you're stuck on stereotypes. He doesn't look like an average Australian, so why do you require him to sound like one?
@Dave_Sisson the modern Australian accent is the most neutral and easily understandable accents in the English language, he doesn't have to speak like a bogan, just a normal person. received pronunciation is an accent and talking style which requires, imo, a deeper voice and a more authoritative vocabulary, so if you don't commit, it just sounds bad...
The worst version of it is that other famous UA-camr who does it.... Lays it on thic... Doesn't help the content one bit.
@@AnarchyEnsues I always assumed he was a migrant from some area of the UK where Received Pronunciation still holds on.
There's that pesky vocal fry as well.
CROSS RAIL 2