I think its about time that London Underground to be extended to South West London and of course stopping at Surbiton, this would make Surbiton more appealing for buyers and shoppers only strengthening the economy and for current residents to get to surrounding ares more easily.
I've put together two ways, Route One: The extension of the District Line from Richmond. This could be built as an underground tunnel:
From Richmond > Ham (for Ham House & Gardens) > Kingston > Surbiton > Hook Parade (for Chessington World of Adventures Resort).
OR
Route Two: The extension of the District Line from Wimbledon. This would be above ground to Surbiton and then underground along Brighton Road/Hook Road to extend to Hook Parade.
Wimbledon > Raynes Park > New Malden > Berrylands (possibly) > Surbiton > Southborough (possibly) > Hook Parade (for Chessington World of Adventures Resort).
Lets discuss, which route is better? Positives? Negatives? Would you use the line? :)
Comments
Perhaps TFL could look at extending the London Overground Network to Surbiton? Build a new line along side the existing main ones, give it an orange Overground sign and connect it with Clapham Junction..?
The latest news is that TFL and Network Rail are actively looking into providing additional main lines from Surbiton into Central London.
A tunnelled crossrail 2 type link is a very real possibility, joining up with trains from the north east of london. This scheme would replace the Chelney (Chelsea to hackney) route that has been talked about for years.
The South West main line is projected to have a worring capacity shortfall within the next decade or so. There is a very real possibility of peak trains being full before they arrive in Surbiton.
TfL are concerned at the implication sfor South West London, which is why they are involved. Google for Surbiton tunnel RUS (rail utilisation strategy) for more details.
Before any of that starts, we need Surbiton to be put in Zone 4 where it belongs.
I doubt that would ever happen, unfortunately. Even moving to zone 5 seems a step too far.
I'd say the first route is better, because the second just follows the stops of the mainline service that we already have. It would be useful to have a direct link to Richmond to replace the 30 minutes plus that it takes on public transport at the moment.
I must admit, though, I don't see too many other advantages. The District Line at Wimbledon/Richmond is only useful for local trips as getting into central London is too many stops so you may as well use the mainline instead and save half the time. Surbiton is even further out so would take even longer.
I only use the District line for getting to Earls Court, and I doubt that this journey would improve much from the current 5 minutes on the mainline to Wimbledon and District Line from there.
If we could extend the Waterloo & City Line to Surbiton, I'd be right behind it!
Extending the District Line would cost a fortune, so the benefits would have to be very clear cut.
For me, improving the mainline is the priority. In the 1970's, 25 trains an hour left Surbiton for Waterloo at peak times, we now have less than half that even though Surbiton's population is probably twice the size it was then because of all of the flat conversions etc. SWT refuse to increase this number due to 'capacity' - I am not sure why this has changed since the 1970's! Utilising the platforms freed up by the Eurostar at Waterloo should solve these problems.
My solution would be:
1. Four more fast trains each hour at peak time from Surbiton to Waterloo.
2. All peak time trains increased to 12 carriages.
3. More fast and slow trains from Surbiton to Waterloo at off peak times.
4. Last train time moved from 01.05 to around 02.00.
5. Improved 'Disaster Recovery' measures to ensure that a single incident like a signal failure or fatality does not paralyse the whole network for hours at a time.
This way, Surbiton would have a tube-style. 'turn up and go' service at peak times with comfortable standing room and even occasional seats available.
Ideally, the journey time should be halved as well, as 17-18 minutes is quite a long time to complete a 10 mile journey in comparsion to other lines. Now I really am dreaming.....
Blah, Blah, Blah.
It's all been said before and will NEVER happen......
I think there has been campaigns to get the tube extended to Kingston before that have failed so I can't see it being extended to Surbiton.
Plus looking at the District line and possible routes etc I think it would be far quicker to catch the current main lines from Surbiton intow Waterloo or Vauxhall to be fair.
The much touted Crossrail 2 would allegedly link the South West and West Anglia main lines, passing through Clapham Junction, Victoria, Tottenham Court Road, Euston, Harlow and onward to Stansted.
It would be a massive boost to Surbiton and the rest of our borough which has been overlooked by TfL for decades.
I don't think there's been any investment in our public transport infrastructure since Kingston borough moved from Surrey to join Greater London back in 1965. In fact, our public transport has got worse - I've been told there used to be twice as many trains to and from Surbiton in the mid 70's.
Our business and political leaders should kick up more of a stink about this and stop TfL ignoring us. It's unbelievable that a major centre like Kingston doesn't have the tube, or even a tram like Croydon.
What about a tram from Hampton Court to Richmond, routed along the current railway, and along the boundary of Richmond park, would that work?
Crossrail 2 could get us to Stansted ( 50 miles ) quicker than going to Heathrow, which is only 10 miles.
Look at how long it has taken Crossrail 1 to actually get off the ground. If Crossrail 2 ever comes to fruition I guess most people on this forum would be retired.
The sensible approach is to work with what we have got - the mainline running through Surbiton. The main improvements should be:
1. Reopen the Eurostar platforms at Waterloo to allow more capacity.
2. Extra trains stopping at Surbiton at peak times.
3. All weekday trains to be 12 coaches long and weekend trains a minimum of 8 coaches. I can't begin to understand why this is not already the case.
4. Occasional 'semi-fast' trains that stop only at Wimbledon and Clapham Junction at peak time to provide better integration with tube and airport services. It seems crazy that you have to sit on the chugger that stops at Berrylands, New Malden etc just to get to Clapham.
5. Better disaster recovery, so that 'person under a train at Clapham Junction' does not lead to a complete paralysis of the SW Trains network for the remainder of the day.
Capacity is the main problem for me. I use the train every day and am quite happy with standing in cramped conditions for 15 minutes as long as I am guaranteed to actually get on the train.
With the amount of new flats that continue to be built in Surbiton and further down the trainline, this will not be the case for much longer!