The new East London Line is ‘nearing completion’ following the finishing of the civils and trackwork of Phase 2 (ELLP2), by Birse Metro.
ELLP2 has resulted in a south-western branch from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction via Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill and Wandsworth Road, creating a new orbital rail network for London.
Birse Metro, working closely with Transport for London, built the new 1.3km railway to link London Overground services at Surrey Quays with the existing railway near Old Kent Road.
Now that Birse Metro has completed the majority of the new railway works, Invensys and Balfour Beatty Engineering Systems will start work to complete the Power and Systems works for the new line.
Work is scheduled for completion by late 2012.
I find it amazing that the trackbed has remained untouched other than as a footpath (unofficial?) for nearly 100 years, despite the fact that lines in that vicinity that have closed much later than that have been built on. Was it kept clear with rebuilding in mind, or had it survived through sheer luck?
I remember looking down from a block of flats on Reculver Road overlooking the East London Line about 30 years back, and there was a single line curving south-west from the ELL and then turning south-eastwards. I looked at a map and worked out that it was a spur from the Brighton main line to the ELL, a remnant of the time when there was through running up from that line through the ELL. The line looked very disused.
Can anyone tell me when the line fell out of use and when it was finally dismantled? When I first heard about through the reintroduction of services on the ELL through to Norwood Junction and Croydon, etc, I wondered if this line would be reactivated, but I discovered that the trackbed had been built on, and that the northbound line was to take the route that it does now.