Campaigners seek to link West London Line to HS2

A campaign group in London wants the Government to build a direct link between HS2 and the West London Line at Old Oak Common, claiming that such a connection would offer greater connectivity for southern England.

“We’d like to see a physical link between the underground HS2 platforms at Old Oak Common and the West London Line,” Mark Balaam, chairman of the West London Line Group, told RAIL.

“There is enough space and the length of the curve is quite short in railway development terms - 1.2km - but it would allow a breathing space once operational between both networks.”

Balaam estimated the cost of such a link at between £500 million and £1 billion (the same as the Battersea Park extension of the Northern Line), and claimed funding for the project could come from HS2’s contingency fund.

“In terms of the overall HS2 budget, one-third of that was shown as contingency. We hope contingency is not just to deal with problems, but also opportunities for greater integration between HS2 and the classic network, as is happening elsewhere in the country,” he said.

“This link allows service expansion, because it means HS2 trains are practically able to get to Gatwick, as well as along HS1. By the time HS2 comes in, there could be a market for trains from the north of England to Europe.”

Balaam added that under present plans, southern England is “cut off” from HS2 because of a need to change trains at least twice in order to get to Euston or Old Oak Common. He claimed that potential users of HS2 would be put off by having to change twice, and would instead travel by car to their destination.

“All these people would be within one train of HS1. We’re thinking of a service once every couple of hours, one via Waterloo and Peckham Rye and the other via Clapham Junction and East Croydon,” he said.

Balaam claimed that as well as offering improved connections to southern England, the link could be used as a railhead for materials during construction of the highspeed network. The line could also be used as a ‘safety valve’ in times of emergency or during engineering works.

“Should anything go wrong at Euston, such as a fire or a terrorist attack, HS2 has no other southern terminal,” he said, suggesting HS2 trains could be diverted to Cannon Street via the link if needed.

“We believe it is still possible to build this during the existing construction phase - and if it isn’t, it ought to be put in as soon as possible thereafter,” he concluded.