Another link missed

[LMS6202]

Seeing the linking Bakerloo thread brought to mind another link that would have been of benefit. Namely the ELL and the former Northern City[whatever it's called now] Why when they were planning the ELL extension did they not go for a link underground from south of Shoreditch to Moorgate? To me that would have made more sense than the option they have chosen. Two new underground stations at Shoreditch and Liverpool Street may have been expensive to build but given that lot of folk from south of the river change at Whitechapel for the Hammersmith and City to go round to the city a direct link would have been a godsend to them and the traffic would have paid for these soon enough.. The extra benefit of a north London - south London through route would also have given a relief to Thameslink as well As it is this Dalston effort to my mind will be of only limited benefit

 

[A0]

Seeing the linking Bakerloo thread brought to mind another link that would have been of benefit. Namely the ELL and the former Northern City[whatever it's called now] Why when they were planning the ELL extension did they not go for a link underground from south of Shoreditch to Moorgate? To me that would have made more sense than the option they have chosen. Two new underground stations at Shoreditch and Liverpool Street may have been expensive to build but given that lot of folk from south of the river change at Whitechapel for the Hammersmith and City to go round to the city a direct link would have been a godsend to them and the traffic would have paid for these soon enough.. The extra benefit of a north London - south London through route would also have given a relief to Thameslink as well As it is this Dalston effort to my mind will be of only limited benefit

The original plan by the GN&CR who built that line to Moorgate was for it to extend south, in fact they started tunnelling to Lothbury, but I believe ran out of money.

The problem with routing via Moorgate is that City stations tend to be fairly quiet at weekends - which is one of the reasons the GN locals were diverted to KX at weekends many years ago.

Another issue would have been it's part of the national rail network, so FCC would have to be involved in any decisions. And before anyone suggests transferring the inner suburban services to TFL / LoROL - that's a non-starter. Unlike the Watford locals which were transferred, the inner suburban services stretch far in to Herts (Welwyn GC, Hertford, Stevenage and even Letchworth) and they are integrated with the outer suburban services. Whereas the Watford DC services were self-contained running on their own lines.