Piccadilly Line northern extension?

[Farnborough]

I drive the 298 bus route which serves Cockfosters and travels up to Potters bar which is a very busy section of the route you see a lot of people get on and off in Potters bar that have TFL staff passes, freedom passes oyster cards, travel cards, et cetera and would be interesting to see the Piccadilly line extended to Potters bar.

Isn't changing at Finsbury Park and getting the GN to Potter's Bar a better option?

 

[mr_jrt]

IIRC, the company that the GNR absorbed who originally built what became the High Barnet branch originally intended to continue north to Potter's Bar.

 

[Joshua_Harman]

Isn't changing at Finsbury Park and getting the GN to Potter's Bar a better option?

Not for those of us with TFL Staff Passes

 

[cle]

Perhaps the title i have given the thread is misleading. I am more interested in whether there should be a second branch in north London than in extending the current line beyond Cockfosters, although I don’t see anything necessarily wrong with that either.

I am thinking more of a route through suburban north London which would give greater public transport connectivity. Obviously the Victoria Line is faster than the Piccadilly in most cases; indeed if such a branch were to be built I would expect a high proportion of its users to change at Finsbury Park.

Fair. In that case, I think the radial routes are very comprehensive (all decent service, straight lines, vs South London, etc) - so north of Wood Green, where the capacity exists - especially post-upgrades, if funded - I would probably suggest a short, quasi-orbital extension eastwards... either north-east from Wood Green towards Edmonton and Chingford.... or from Southgate and across to Enfield and Waltham Abbey.

 

[BerkshireRails]

Never converted to a tube line, but a GNR steam branch from 1873 to WW2.

The line climbed constantly from Finsbury park to Highgate, then stayed at around that same high level through the tunnels and junction all the way to Muswell Hill (clue's in the name) and the terminus at Alexandra Palace.

Google Earth indicates that the palace plateau is at 92m, while the ECML track level is ~38m at Alexandra Palace station, resulting in a rise of 54m over a distance of ~700m (at the closest points), which corresponds to a gradient of about 1:13 or 7.69%. Too steep for conventional rail. If such a link was desirable to the palace and Muswell Hill, a longer route winding round the hill with an intermediate stop for the palace a little below the plateau to reduce gradient might be more plausible, with a rise of say 44m over ~1200m, about 1:27 or 3.7%. Even that would be more feasible for light rail though. Maybe a peoplemover, funicular or cable car? Might also cross the ECML at Alexandra Palace and extend to Wood Green for a Piccadilly/CR2 connection.

However, that would be possible to do with trams like the class 399s, which can climb a 10% grade according to the specifications sheet. I devised a low-floor tram system for Alexandra Palace/Finsbury Park to Harrow & Wealdstone which chose to call Northern Heights Tram which is Work in Progress.

 

[mr_jrt]

I do wonder if a variation on the idea could have been to dive down after Highgate through the hill under Ally Pally, and pop out the side on a bridge over the ECML on the way down to terminate at Gordon Hill or some such.