Storm disrupts Brockley transport services

@BBCLondonNews Tree down in Brockley. pic.twitter.com/6vvuZQE3iL
— Michelle Price (@michelleaprice) October 28, 2013

At least they're being realistic. National Rail Enquiries reports that due to this evening's anticipated storms, there will be no Overground services and possibly no Southeastern trains tomorrow morning before 9am. Southern is also expected to be operating a reduced timetable.

"After this, it is expected that a normal service will resume on all routes." Although of course, that normal service is likely to be playing catch-up for a long-time afterwards, as delayed commuters swamp the trains.

With thanks to Monkeyboy for the warning.

UPDATE (07.52): Southeastern are not currently able to run train services due to the risk of trees falling onto the railway lines, damage to equipment and localised flooding. Southeastern expect to run a reduced service later this morning, with many routes not starting until after 09:00.

UPDATE (08.13): John Higginson has tweeted this photo of a cherry tree, blown over in Manor Avenue.

UPDATE (08.18): The Old Kent Road is closed-off near Asda (reportedly due to wind blowing over a crane on a building site), which is bad news if you're trying to bus in.

UPDATE (09.25):

@themostsearched Tree down outside Old Police Station. No trains until 10.15am & even that is an estimate... pic.twitter.com/Yf3ATFnYY9
— Laura Prior (@LauraPrior) October 28, 2013

The Economist on East London Line

Last post based on an Economist article for a while, we promise, but a few people tipped us off about this one and it's relevant to London's "great inversion", as well as our daily commutes.

Last week, the magazine focused on the London Overground's impact on areas along its route and claims the TfL-run model is likely to be rolled-out to other services as a result of its success, with the South Eastern service among the most likely to be taken over:

Since it opened in 2010—with extensions in 2011 and 2012—the London Overground changed two things. First, the way that commuters get around the capital has shifted. In 2008, 33m passengers zipped up and down the service. Last year 120m did. Fully 64% of those who use the network are getting to and from work. This initially lightened heavily congested trains on the Southern service (another line running along the route) with 46% of new passengers swapping from other train services...
  
Second, areas that were once underdeveloped became more popular... In Peckham Rye, another stop on the service in the south-east, average values went up by 24%. In New Cross, also in the south-east, the average value of property sold increased by 12%. Many buyers are young professional families, says Abdallah Osman of Winkworth, another estate agent. By contrast, average property values in Highgate, a leafy suburb in north London fell by 8%, while those in Muswell Hill, also in the north, fell by 3%. As prices go up across London, younger families and rich professionals are pushed farther east... 

But the continuing success of the Overground will not come smoothly. TfL predicts that several parts of the line will be crammed with commuters by 2016... Squeezed buses and Tubes in the East End have not seen the decline of 6m passengers originally predicted. New passengers have simply taken the place of those who have swapped to the Overground.

For the full article, click here.

Canada Water platform extension confirmed

TfL has confirmed that five-carriage East London Line trains will start running at the end of next year, with all doors opening at Canada Water, thanks to a platform extension at that station.

Confirming the appointment of the construction contractor, TfL says:

The first of [the five carriage] trains will run on the East London route - Highbury & Islington to New Cross, Crystal Palace, West Croydon and the South London route to Clapham Junction - by December 2014.

Works to extend platforms will take place at the following stations on the East London route: Highbury & Islington, Canonbury, Hoxton, Haggerston, Dalston Junction, Shoreditch, Shadwell, Wapping, Canada Water and Surrey Quays on the east London route, as well as Wandsworth High Street, Clapham High Street and Clapham Junction on the south London route. Work at the first of these stations is expected to begin in autumn.

The short platforms at Canada Water can't currently accommodate five carriages, meaning that without an extension, the front doors would have remained shut. These works mean that work-around won't be necessary.

With thanks to Matt on the South East London transport forum.

Extra capacity on the East London Line as TfL orders 57 new carriages

TfL has ordered 57 new London Overground carriages, which will enable it to expand capacity on the East London Line by the end of next year, sooner than previously expected.

The order means that trains will be lengthened by an extra carriage, increasing capacity by 25%. The East London Line (the busiest stretch of the service) will be the first to get the upgrade.

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In other Brockley Station news, a few BCers have asked us about the building work currently taking place on the northbound platform. Unfortunately, this does not signal the start of step-free access, they're just relocating the cafe.

Soundtracks lineup announced

Soundtracks, the music festival that uses the East London Line to link venues in East and South East London, has announced its lineup for this year.

The event, which includes live music from 40 different bands and artists playing on the trains themselves, will include gigs from The Wave Pictures, Woodpecker Wooliams and Tawiah (above).

Full details here.

The ELL: Buttoned-Up

To celebrate the 150th anniversary of the London Underground, Penguin has released a collection of novels, each one inspired by one of the 12 tube lines, of which the East London Line is of course one, as this literary treasure now confirms beyond doubt.

The East London Line-inspired novel is Buttoned-Up, an examination of style (natch), of which Penguin says:

London is a centre of cutting-edge fashion - in Buttoned-Up, the creators of 'the best fashion mag out there', Fantastic Man, tell the story of London style through the history of the button-down shirt. 

Encompassing music, street style, fashion, portraits, day and night locations, the visual context of east London where clothes factories and workshops used to be, night shots where bars and clubs used to be (or still are), an examination of collar shapes and archive images from fashion and music.

ELL tell all

With thanks to Fintan for the photo.