New Works Programs

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The New Works Program was a major investment program by the London Passenger Transport Board (LPTB) from 1935 to 1940 to expand the public transport network in London . The transport authority, also known as London Transport , was founded in 1933 to coordinate underground trains , trams , trolleybuses and bus services in the British capital. The New Works Program was intended to improve the offer of the LPTB as well as the suburban lines of the Great Western Railway (GWR) and the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER). Funding was largely provided by the state and the cost at the time was £ 42.286 million (equivalent to around £ 2.6 billion today).

London Underground

The program included the construction of numerous new underground stations in the city center, in particular the replacement of elevators with escalators . There were also extensions of several underground lines and the construction of connections to suburban lines and their electrification . The most important measures were:

  • Central Line
    • Renewal of the tunnels and extension of the platforms between Shepherd's Bush and Liverpool Street to increase speed and allow longer trains to be used
    • Replacement of the non-standardized power supply for this line with the busbars used on the London Underground
    • western extension of North Acton to the GWR suburban line to Denham (including its takeover)
    • eastern extension of Liverpool Street via Stratford to the LNER suburban lines to Epping , Ongar and Hainault (including their takeover)
  • Rolling stock
    • Design and construction of a new type of car, the 1938 Stock, for service on the Central Line and Northern Line
    • Further conversion of the existing steam locomotive-pulled dreadnought cars for operation on the newly electrified Metropolitan main line to Aylesbury. Additional T Stock motor vehicles were built for this purpose. This plan was abandoned in favor of the new A60 Stock car type .
    • Design and construction of the new O Stock car for the Hammersmith & City Line
    • Procurement of similar trains (P Stock) for the metropolitan route to Uxbridge
    • Replacement of manually operated sliding doors with those with compressed air operation
    • Construction of some new Q Stock trains for the District Line
  • Infrastructure
    • Improving power transmission from Lots Road Power Station
    • Improvement and renovation of numerous busy stations in the center, in particular the replacement of elevators with escalators

implementation

Before and during the war

In the first few years the various measures were implemented quickly, until the Second World War first slowed down and finally prevented completion. The renovation of the Central Line tunnels was completed in 1938, the replacement of the power supply by 1940. On November 20, 1939, the Bakerloo Line took over local traffic from the Metropolitan Line between Baker Street and Wembley Park as well as the Stanmore branch line. The 1938 Stock series could be delivered as planned, even if the extensions for which they had been procured were not all completed on time.

On July 3, 1939, the extension of the Northern Line from Archway to East Finchley was put into operation, where there was a transfer option to the LNER trains. From April 14, 1940, the underground continued to run to High Barnet. The stopover at Highgate was added on January 19, 1941. The Mill Hill East branch opened on May 18, 1941. The pending electrification work on the LNER branches from Finsbury Park via Highgate to Alexandra Palace and from Mill Hill East to Edgware were interrupted, as was the construction of the extension from Edgware to Bushey Heath. The completed depot at Aldenham therefore lacked a rail connection, which is why Halifax bombers were built there for the Royal Air Force instead .

The construction progress was most advanced on the eastern extension of the Central Line. The tunnels extended to Leyton , as well as from Leytonstone to Newbury Park . The latter section served as an underground factory for aircraft parts for the Plessey Group during the war ; a freight railway with a gauge of 457 mm connected the individual departments with one another. After the factories were removed, construction of the subway continued.

Changes in the post-war period

After the end of the war, London Transport enjoyed prioritization in the allocation of limited resources. The construction of the extensions of the Central Line could thus be continued unhindered. In 1946 the underground trains ran to Stratford, in 1948 they reached West Ruislip and in 1949 Epping. The original intention was to complete the Northern Heights project. The plans for the extension to Bushey Heath were revised and in 1947 Parliament renewed the building permits granted (which were now valid until the end of 1950).

The extension of the Northern Line to Bushey Heath and the Central Line beyond West Ruislip did not take place. The reason for this was the passing of the Town and Country Planning Act 1947, which led to the creation of a green belt around the capital, where settlement construction was only possible to a very limited extent in order to prevent further urban sprawl . For this reason, subways were no longer economical in this area. In 1949 a short extension from Edgware to Brockley Hill was planned, four years later London Transport finally abandoned this project as well.

The Great Northern & City Line had been part of the Northern Line since 1937 , but remained an operationally isolated route. The electrification of the remaining LNER routes from Finsbury Park to Alexandra Palace and from Mill Hill East to Edgware has been abandoned, and systems that have already been installed have been removed and used elsewhere. London Transport had the bridge widened immediately east of Mill Hill East, but later decided not to lay a second track. The Finsbury Park - Alexandra Park line remained with LNER (part of British Railways from 1948 ) until it was closed in 1954. Passenger traffic between Mill Hill East and Edgware was discontinued, but the single-track line remained for freight traffic until 1964 Business.

The electrification of the Metropolitan Line from Rickmansworth to Amersham and Chesham could not be completed until September 12, 1960. The four-lane expansion dragged on until 1961, but only affected the section to Moor Park , while the subsequent section to Rickmansworth remained double-tracked. The complete re-signaling north of Rickmansworth was completed in 1959, the section between Amersham and Aylesbury was not electrified as planned and instead transferred to British Railways in 1961. The project of converting the wagons of the earlier steam trains into multiple units was also abandoned and they were replaced by new rolling stock of the A60 Stock series. The Northern Line depot built in Aldenham served as a bus repair shop from 1955.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Tony Beard: By Tube Beyond Edgware . Capital Transport, St Leonards-on-Sea 2002, ISBN 1-85414-246-1 , pp. 118 .
  2. ↑ a b Central Line dates. Clive's Underground Line Guides, March 17, 2016, accessed April 29, 2016 .
  3. ↑ Bakerloo Line dates. Clive's Underground Line Guides, October 26, 2015, accessed April 29, 2016 .
  4. ↑ a b Northern Line dates. Clive's Underground Line Guides, March 17, 2016, accessed April 29, 2016 .
  5. ^ Tony Beard: By Tube beyond Edgware. Pp. 102-117.
  6. ↑ Stephen Halliday: Underground to everywhere . Sutton Publishing, Stroud 2001, ISBN 0-7509-2585-X , pp. 172-173 .
  7. ↑ London Gazette . No. 38145, HMSO, London, December 12, 1947, p. 5876 ( PDF , English).
  8. ^ Tony Beard: By Tube beyond Edgware. P. 124.
  9. ^ Tony Beard: By Tube beyond Edgware. P. 127.
  10. ↑ Oliver Green: The London Underground: An illustrated history . Ian Allan, Shepperton 1987, ISBN 0-7110-1720-4 , pp. 56 .
  11. ^ Metropolitan Line history. Clive's Underground Line Guides, March 17, 2016, accessed April 29, 2016 .