Lea Valley Lines

Lea Valley Lines
A National Express East Anglia train at White Hart Lane.
Overview
Type	Commuter rail, Suburban rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Greater London East of England
Termini	Enfield Town Cheshunt Chingford London Liverpool Street
Stations	31
Services	5
Operation
Owner	Network Rail (Anglia Route)
Operator(s)	Abellio Greater Anglia
Depot(s)	Ilford Sidings at Chingford
Rolling stock	Class 315 Class 317 Class 379 "Electrostar"
Technical
No. of tracks	2-4
Track gauge	1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge
Electrification	25 kV 50 Hz AC Overhead lines
Operating speed	Below 75 mph (121 km/h)
Route map Legend Legend  00m 00chWest Anglia Main Line  Cheshunt 14m 01ch 14m 28ch 13m 71ch  Cheshunt Junction 13m 45ch Theobalds Grove   Waltham Cross 12m 63ch  00m 00chM25 motorway 12m 16ch Turkey Street   Enfield Lock 11m 65ch 00m 00ch Carterhatch Lane  10m 55ch Enfield Town   Brimsdown 10m 61ch 10m 32ch Southbury   Chingford 10m 33ch 09m 69ch Bush Hill Park   Ponders End 09m 71ch Bury Street Junction 09m 20ch  Highams Park 08m 52ch  Wood Street 07m 07ch  08m 45ch Edmonton Green formerly Lower Edmonton 00m 00ch  Lower Edmonton (low level) 07m 75ch Silver Street   Angel Road 07m 57ch 07m 11ch White Hart Lane   Northumberland Park 06m 73ch 06m 28ch Bruce Grove   Walthamstow Central 06m 16ch 05m 48ch Seven Sisters   Tottenham Hale 06m 00ch Palace Gates Line00m 00ch   00m 00chGospel Oak to Barking Line Seven Sisters Junction 05m 40ch  St James Street 05m 55ch 00m 00ch South Tottenham  05m 41ch  Tottenham S Junction Gospel Oak to Barking Line00m 00ch  04m 74ch  Coppermill Junctions 05m 03ch Stamford Hill   00m 00chHall Farm Junction 04m 16ch Stoke Newington   00m 00chLea Bridge Junction Clapton Junction00m 00ch   Lea Bridge 00m 00ch 03m 78ch Clapton   00m 00chLoughton Branch Clapton Tunnel00m 00ch   00m 00chLoughton Branch Junction 03m 64ch Rectory Road  00m 00ch  Queens Road (never opened) Queens Road Tunnel 00m 00ch 00m 00ch  Stratford International at High Speed 1 Hackney Downs N Junction 03m 04ch  00m 00chGreat Eastern Main Line 02m 78ch Hackney Downs   Stratford 00m 00ch North London Line00m 00ch   00m 00chHigh Meads Junction Reading Lane Junction 02m 55ch 02m 35ch London Fields  Regent's Canal 00m 00ch 01m 61ch Cambridge Heath  Bethnal Green N Junction 01m 30ch  01m 10ch Bethnal Green 00m 00ch Bishopsgate Goods    00m 00ch  00m 00chEast London Line 00m 00ch Bishopsgate (Low Level)  00m 00ch Liverpool Street

The Lea Valley Lines are three commuter lines and two branches in North East London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway,^[1] now part of the Anglia Route of Network Rail.

History

The first section was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway (ECR) on 20 June 1839 from the London end at Devonshire Street to Romford, extended on 1 July 1840 to Bishopsgate (London end) and Brentwood. The Northern and Eastern Railway (N&ER) opened its first section from that line at Stratford to Broxbourne on 15 September 1840, and to Harlow in 1841; though it remained a separate entity, its line was leased to the ECR from 1 January 1844. A branch from Broxbourne to Hertford opened in 1843.

Enfield was reached on 1 March 1849 by the single-line Enfield Town branch from the N&ER at Angel Road via Lower Edmonton. The ECR was incorporated into the Great Eastern Railway (GER) in 1862. A shorter route to Edmonton was provided by the GER in 1872, from Bethnal Green via Hackney Downs and Stoke Newington, which opened on 27 May; the section via Seven Sisters and Lower Edmonton, at a new high-level station provided adjacent to the old low-level station, opened on 22 July. The line from there to Enfield was doubled at the same time. The old line between Angel Road and Lower Edmonton was closed to passenger trains in 1939, except for occasional diversionary traffic including the period in the 1950s when the rest of the local network was being electrified under the Eastern Region; the line closed completely in 1964 and the track was removed soon after.

Another branch, the Chingford Branch Line, went from Lea Bridge to Walthamstow, Shern Hall Street, in 1870, extended southwards to Hackney Downs in 1872 and northwards to Chingford in 1873.

The final section linked Lower Edmonton on the Enfield branch via Churchbury (later Southbury) with the Broxbourne line at Cheshunt, opening on 1 October 1891; it was known as the Churchbury loop until the renaming of that station in 1960, then the Southbury loop.

A station was proposed near Clapton called Queens Road but never opened.^[2]

Route and services

All lines start at either London Liverpool Street or Stratford and are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia as a part of the Greater Anglia Rail Franchise.

The routes are:

• Southbury Loop (or Cheshunt Branch): London Liverpool Street - Cheshunt via Seven Sisters, Edmonton Green and Turkey Street, along the West Anglia Main Line to Hackney Downs Junction, rejoining it at Cheshunt Junction.

• Chingford Branch: London Liverpool Street - Chingford via Walthamstow Central, Wood Street and Highams Park, along the West Anglia Main Line to Clapton Junction.

• Enfield Town Branch: London Liverpool Street - Enfield Town via Seven Sisters, Edmonton Green and Bush Hill Park, along the West Anglia Main Line to Hackney Downs and the Southbury Loop to Edmonton Green and Edmonton Green Junction.

• Hertford East Branch: London Liverpool Street - Hertford East via Tottenham Hale, Broxbourne and Ware, along the West Anglia Main Line to Broxbourne and Rye House Junction, then the Hertford East Branch Line.

• Temple Mills Branch: Stratford - Tottenham Hale via Lea Bridge (closed), diverging from the Great Eastern Main Line and the North London Line at Temple Mills East Junction, joining the West Anglia Main Line at Coppermill Junction.

Until 1970 the Tottenham Hale and Chingford lines were connected by the Hall Farm Curve, which may be reconstructed.^[3]

The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS 05.02, 05.04 and part of 05.01. It is classified as a London and South East Commuter line.^[4]

A number of services to/from Liverpool Street start or terminate at Seven Sisters or White Hart Line. A minor service runs once a week on a Saturday only between Enfield Town and Liverpool Street via Stratford, the Gospel Oak to Barking Line and the West Anglia Main Line. This is one of only two places on the Gospel Oak to Barking Line where it is electrified.

Infrastructure

The line is double track for most of its length, however between Hackney Downs and Liverpool Street it is multitrack- the Suburban Lines for trains stopping at Bethnal Green, Cambridge Heath and London Fields and the Main Lines for non-stop West Anglia/Stansted Express services. It is electrified at 25 kV AC using overhead line equipment and has a line speed of 40-75 mph except between Cheshunt and Coppermill junction where it is 60-85 mph. Different sections have different loading gauges. Most is W8, with the branches to Enfield Town and Chingford being W6 and the branch to Stratford W9.^[4]

Future developments

Following the expansion of the London Overground network in December 2012, TfL expressed its intention to operate other suburban lines, including the West Anglian suburban routes: Liverpool Street to Enfield, Chingford and Cheshunt.

In late June 2013, as part of the 2013 Spending Review, the Greater London Authority confirmed that Chancellor of the Exchequer George Osborne gave the commitment for the Enfield Town, Chingford and Cheshunt service to be taken over by TfL from 31 May 2015.

The Tottenham Hale-West Anglian route is planned to become part of Crossrail 2 to Cheshunt, Broxbourne and Hertford East.

References

Brown, Joe (2006). London Railway Atlas. ISBN 978-0-7110-3137-1. 

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