Camden New Journal - News: Tube station revamp on the cards if route is split in two

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Camden New Journal - by DAN CARRIER
Published: 23 August 2007

Tube station revamp on the cards if route is split in two

Congestion fears as transport chiefs investigate changes to ageing Northern Line

CAMDEN Town Tube station is being eyed up for redevelopment again – as Transport for London finalise plans to split the Northern Line into two separate routes.
Planners believe creating two distinct services would allow more trains to run every hour.
The strategy follows a series of private meetings at TfL over the summer which has seen the plans discussed at the highest level.
Its success, however, hinges on Camden Town underground station – the congested stop where the two parts of the Northern Line overlap – being redeveloped.
A draft document reveals how one branch would run from Edgware to Kennington, while another would go from High Barnet through to Morden.
TfL believe this would allow them to increase capacity from around 20 trains per hour to as many as 30.
John Prescott, the former deputy prime minister, threw out plans to redevelop Camden Town station in 2005.
Transport chiefs had wanted to seize land surrounding the station to build a seven-storey tower of shops and flats. Market traders who would have lost their stalls, the neighbouring Electric Ballroom nightclub, residents and Camden Council opposed the plan.
A TfL spokesman said: “We would need to refurbish the station to make it (split the Northern Line) possible, and that would cost a lot of money. This is a long-term aspiration. We think this would be a good thing for the Northern Line.”
He added that the current station lay-out could not cope with the extra traffic and that TfL were currently looking into how feasible the plans were.
The spokesman added: “The Northern Line is one of the most challenging on the network in terms of its age, how much it is used and its design.”
Critics say splitting the line is unworkable and will lead to dangerous numbers of people changing at Camden Town.
Conservative Greater London Authority member for Camden and Barnet Brian Coleman said: “This will lead to trouble at Camden Town. It will take at least five to 10 years to redevelop the station and I have heard TfL want to do this as soon as possible. It will make Camden Town unbearably busy, and people do not want to be forced into changing at Camden Town.”
He added: “It is a cover for reducing the service. The service was run like this in the past and they changed it to increase trains. Why would it work the other way round?”
Andrew Bosi, of transport pressure group Friends of Capital Transport, said the jury was out on whether it would improve the service.
He said: “The sticking point is congestion. When they wanted to increase the size of the Tube station there before they were too greedy – they wanted to take half of Camden with them.
“However, if they do plan to have more people changing there, they will have to work out a way of making sure the station can cope.”

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