Crossrail 2 to come via Balham? Post Reply

[Annabel (admin)]

The new Crossrail 2 train link could be diverted through Balham, instead of Tooting Broadway, according to a Wandsworth councillor.

The line, which will link south-east and north-east London, will bring the extra connectivity to Clapham Junction from south London and Surrey, and had been planned to run via Tooting Broadway.

http://www.wandsworthguardian.co.uk/new ... ef=mr&lp=1

[danwatkins100]

You can have your say on whether you think the station should be located in Balham or Tooting via this petition:

www.balhamortooting.org.uk

Results will be anonymised and presented to Transport for London.

Please give your view!

Rgds,

Dan Watkins

[Goldhawk]

Do you have any more info on the proposals?

Eg period of works / amount of distruption

I see you are claiming you prevented them digging up Wandsworth Common for the access shafts

Do you have any info on the location of the access shafts for either option?

[Matto]

Dan – well done with the Wandsworth Common ventilation shaft campaign. Tooting makes sense to me! Happy to help spread the word about your http://www.BalhamOrTooting.org.uk site – good stuff.

[danwatkins100]

It was a joint effort with the Save Wandsworth Common group to get the access shafts removed, following the public meeting I called back in January this year. But as it happens, the Balham station proposal would see a shaft return to the Common, on the Bolingbroke Grove side, near the pond.

Very provisionally, I understand from TfL that the Tooting station would cost 'hundreds of millions' of £s more to dig (vs the whole Crossrail 2 price tag of £27 billion) and the disruption could last a couple of years more (as compared with Balham).

Hope that helps,

Dan

[papinian]

Dan: Could you explain where the cost of "100s of millions" cited comes from. I think it's important that we have some accurate information about what the costs are of a Tooting Broadway station and how those costs arise. On that basis alone, having Crossrail 2 go via Balham seems like an inferior solution. There will also be a higher tunnelling cost as the distance from Wimbledon to Clapham Junction via Balham is certainly longer than the distance via Tooting Broadway. Are those higher tunneling costs taken into account in the "100s of millions" figure. It seems odd to me that Tooting Broadway is considered to be problematic for locating an underground station - it has already had one for some time.

Do you know whether TfL have considered any alternatives to Balham and Tooting Broadway? It seems odd that we are being presented with a binary choice between the two. Balham already has direct main line rail links to Clapham Junction and Victoria. Has a station at Tooting Bec been considered? That would certainly have some positive benefits over either Balham or Tooting Broadway, e.g. accessibility for people in Streatham who currently have no underground connection.

[danwatkins100]

All information comes via TfL, because they haven't yet published the geological/engineering studies they undertook that suggested the extra build cost and disruption for the Tooting Broadway station.

I do know that for now only options that join up directly with the Northern line are being considered, so as to relieve Tube overcrowding problems. Tooting Bec was suggested, but rejected because it also has an underground seam running beneath it just as Broadway does (but Balham doesn't).

I have a number of requests out for further information on this and will report back when I hear more.

In the meantime, please do encourage other local residents to give their initial views to TfL via http://www.balhamortooting.org.uk/.

[Annabel (admin)]

According to some sites/newspapers this would turn the centre of Balham into a building site for six years, involve the closure of Waitrose in Balham.

[Goldhawk]

Thanks Dan & Annabel (Fleur) for the further info

I think I need more info before I can contribute to the Balham vs Tooting aspects

[boonkoh]

Agreed. This is a very emotional issue for most people in either area and as such its important to only bandy around facts. This is the first I've heard of it - is there any official information website or meetings that are scheduled by TfL or the local council?

[DonJ]

Agreed- there are a lot of agendas at play over where the council etc would like this link to be - suddenly announcing "this one store will definitely close for six years" seems like a very emotive way to frame an issue in the absence of any concrete facts...it would be good to know where all this info could be confirmed!

[papinian]

suddenly announcing "this one store will definitely close for six years" seems like a very emotive way to frame an issue in the absence of any concrete facts...it would be good to know where all this info could be confirmed!

Agreed. Cllr Fleur Anderson has said that if in Balham, the Crossrail station will be beside St Mary's, i.e. on the Tooting side of the railway bridge across Balham High Road. This is exactly where one would expect the Crossrail station to be located if in Balham. Given this location, it seems odd that the Waitrose site, which is some significant distance away, would be affected.

[Goldhawk]

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossr ... tober2015/

Consultation docs have been published

[Goldhawk]

The Waitrose site is used for the build and then an access shaft remains (they are not that big)

Unfortunately the consultation gives no details of what would happen if Tooting Broadway was chosen instead - where would the station be? Work sites? Shafts? etc

Seems like Balham is a done deal

[Emma]

Details of public consultations in Balham are here:

https://consultations.tfl.gov.uk/crossr ... flet-6.pdf

Has anyone considered Collier's Wood as an option if Tooting is too expensive. It would regenerate the area which was a requirement for the Tooting proposal and is located in the right direction with access to the Northern Line!

There is no benefit whatsoever to placing the link in Balham