Orbirail
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Orbirail was a name for a suggested orbital railway route around London. It would involve connecting the extended East London Line, the North London Line, the West London Line, the South London Line and (possibly) the Gospel Oak to Barking Line to form a route that would orbit London in Zone 2, Zone 3 and (possibly) Zone 4. It is not to be confused with London's existing circular railway, the Circle line of the London Underground, which is entirely within the central Zone 1.
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[edit] Status
Orbirail has never had any official status as a planned project. However, Transport for London's London Overground, if completed as planned, will achieve substantially the same objective.
[edit] History of orbital railways in London
London's railway system was largely built in the 19th century by competing private companies. The benefits of an integrated transport system were unknown at this time and each mainline rail company built its own terminus in central London and operated radial routes from that point. For example, Waterloo railway station in south-west London is the focus of lines radiating out from London to the south and west. Meanwhile metropolitan and suburban railways developed also on radial lines.
The first orbital rail service was the inner Circle line, which was operated over the central sections of the Metropolitan line and District line. This linked most of the mainline stations and was a commercial success.
The success of the Inner Circle led to the operation of a number of other semi-orbital routes within the capital, over existing main line routes and sections of the MR's and MDR's Inner Circle tracks:
- Middle Circle - Aldgate to Mansion House via Addison Road (now Kensington Olympia)
- Outer Circle - Broad Street to Mansion House via Willesden Junction
- Super Outer Circle - St. Pancras to Earl's Court via Cricklewood and South Acton
London was a much smaller city than it is now and most commercial activity was focused at the centre. These outer routes failed to attract the passenger numbers hoped for and were eventually cut-back or ended while other, more radial services on the lines continued.
Other semi-orbital routes fared little better. Throughout the 20th century London's railways operated on a radial model and the few remaining semi-orbital passenger routes withered with the lines used mainly for freight services. The National Rail network was privatised with radial franchises. Only the original inner Circle line enjoyed success.
Throughout the 20th century London expanded both in size and population and employment ceased to be as heavily concentrated in the centre. Many more people were travelling through central London by Underground and many of them were only travelling in on one radial route so that they could travel out again on another. Congestion increased and additional Underground lines were built at great expense.
It was at this point that some[citation needed] suggested reviving and expanding the semi-orbital routes. The reasoning was that these routes could relieve the some[citation needed] of the load on central London in a much more cost effective way than the building of new tube lines. People who were travelling via central London could be provided with alternative routes. The idea coalesced around the suggested name "Orbirail", and it was even suggested that a fully orbital route could be operated, something that the outer Circle lines never quite achieved. The idea won few friends in the National Rail network for commercial and operational reasons.
The situation changed drastically with the creation of Transport for London as a single body with overall responsibility for transport in London. It saw the potential in the unloved semi-orbital routes and started to plan a complete orbital rail system, albeit with no plan for a single fully orbital service, which was to become the London Overground. The London Overground network bears a striking resemblance to the Outer Circle line with the extended East London line being used to complete the loop.
[edit] Arguments for and against
Orbirail's proponents believe that it would be a relatively low-cost project, involving only a small amount of new track, some[citation needed] improvement to existing lines and an increase in train frequency. In return, the route would allow many people to make journeys without passing through Zone 1, thus relieving congestion on central London's railways.
There are complications which could prevent these lines running as single fully orbital route. Orbital railways have an intrinsic timetabling robustness problem. The trains are constantly "in orbit" so there is little scope for "recovery time" if they are delayed. A single delay can have long lasting knock on effects and be much more disruptive than on a non-orbital railway. Recovery time can be created by timetabling for longer stops at some stations but this increases journey times and reduces train frequency. (For this reason, it has also been proposed to discontinue the orbital nature of the Circle Line and replace it with a spiral shaped route.)[1] In this light, it is hard to see a larger and more complicated orbital railway being approved.
An alternative to a single fully orbital route would be two or more semi-orbital routes that join to entirely encircle London. TfL's current London Overground plans seem to point in this direction.
An additional problem is poor interchange with many of the radial routes. The proposed route offers no interchange with the Great Western Main Line, Chiltern Main Line, the East Coast Main Line, the Midland Main Line, the Great Eastern Main Line or the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway, Only local services on the West Coast Main Line stop at Willesden Junction. It has similarly poor interchange with many London Underground lines. Poor interchange options are a general problem with most of London's older railways, which were built by competing private companies in the 19th century before the need for a coherent and integrated transport network was understood.
