Green For Go (nearly)

Some exciting news for those who live in my area of London. Within the last week I have seen several trains running on the new East London Line through this part of Hackney. I was aware the rails had been laid, and saw signals working late last autumn, but to see the trains actually running through my new local station is very cheering; I assume they are testing the track, signals and other systems.

The line will open for public service this summer. The £1bn project is officially called the East London Line extension and connects northeast and southeast London.

In January next year the new line will connect in the north with the London Overground network at Canonbury. Then in 2012 the East London Line Phase 2 will connect Surrey Quays with Clapham Junction in the south. This will complete the London Overground orbital route

Within Hackney there are new stations at Dalston, Haggerston, Hoxton and Shoreditch High Street. Apparently we can expect 12 trains per hour, each with a capacity of 490. It will be interesting to see what effect this has on the road traffic. Perhaps the removal of the high-capacity bendy busses will be timed to coincide with the opening of the rail service. That would be helpful.

Haggerston station, Lee Street, my new local station – just one minute from home

One of the new trains enters the new Dalston station. With the new line has come major building works: new rail bridges, improved highway, and several tall apartment blocks.

The new Dalston Station looks almost ready for business

The TFL map of the completed line is here.

The project website is here.

Lots of interesting history at Clive’s Underground Line Guide here:

And on Wikipedia here.

Finally, for the train spotters amongst you there is a Flickr pool of photos here.