Why no Elizabeth Line station at Holborn?

[pyxbiz]

This has probably been discussed extensively elsewhere, but I can't find the info, so I'll ask here:

Why doesn't the Elizabeth Line have a station at Holborn, despite passing (as far as I can tell) directly underneath the existing Holborn stations for the Central and Piccadilly Lines?

I'm sure there must be a very good reason, as the route and the stops were bandied about for decades. But what is that reason?

Simply a desire to have fewer stops to make the cross-London passage quicker?

Some technical roadblock which prevents connecting the Crossrail tunnel with the tube tunnels here?

Some political or bureaucratic reason?

Some archaeological/historical/security reason?

I ask, because I've always wished that there was going to be a direct interchange between the Elizabeth Line and the Piccadilly Line, and Holborn would have been the perfect logical place to do it.

 

[3141]

Most likely the reason you give - a desire to have fewer stops to make the cross-London passage quicker. Therefore it cannot interchange with every existing line.

Possibly, though I doubt it, something to do with the extensive Cold War era communications tunnels, originally WW2 shelters, in that area.

To have a station at Holborn would have required demolition of some existing buildings in order to make space for it on the surface, as the existing Holborn entrance is cramped.

 

[Busaholic]

Assuming reasonable interchange at both Bond Street and Liverpool Street to the Central Line, why would you want one? It's not meant to be just a deluxe Central Line, which it could already be accused of coming close to resembling, especially before the Canary Wharf/Abbey Wood branch gradually attained more and more significance.

 

[thomalex]

I've certainly seen Holborn listed on earlier plans for Crossrail taking the place of TCR however it seems with the development of the Chelsea and Hackney line latterly Crossrail 2 this was switched for TCR to provide this key connection. Given the nature of Crossrail it would be too close to include both stations, it only 1 stop on the Central line of course.

 

[swt_passenger]

By not having an interchange with every line it crosses, or comes near, I think it forces some percentage of Central Line passengers to stay on their existing routes, it cannot act as an instant relief line for every other line, or it would become overcrowded. IIRC one of the published reasons why it doesn't interchange at Oxford Circus, is because it would overwhelm the interchange, and also probably overwhelm the local streets at pavement level as well. Hence the entrances at Dean St and Hanover Square - they’re completely new locations and will soak up people who'd previously walked to/from other busy stations.

 

[Starmill]

A remarkably similar question to this one:

Crossrail has now been built and is running as the Elizabeth line in passenger service. Upon looking at the maps, the line passes practically right underneath Limehouse station, albeit on a curve. Was any consideration ever given to building a station here and/or could one ever be built in future? Would it be a total waste of money? It's the same sort of length between stations as other stops on route and would provide a C2C connection which might have some benefit, particularly for westbound passengers.

Thought it was worthy of a discussion, and is quite speculative so here we are!

View attachment 115422

It was similar at Holborn. But at the end of the day, you can only have so many stations. Tottenham Court Road and Whitechapel are much better interchanges than Holborn and Limehouse respectively.

 

[swt_passenger]

A remarkably similar question to this one:

[Limehouse]
Hasn’t City Airport also been asked about a fair number of times? Which poses the question whether the surface section where it would have to be is actually straight and level enough for a station. Apparently there’s a position safeguarded, but there’s not a vast amount of room, and they’d have to build it round a working railway…

 

[Mikw]

I want a cross rail station built next to my house.

 

[Starmill]

[Limehouse]
Hasn’t City Airport also been asked about a fair number of times? Which poses the question whether the surface section where it would have to be is actually straight and level enough for a station. Apparently there’s a position safeguarded, but there’s not a vast amount of room, and they’d have to build it round a working railway…

Indeed. Plus that it's only around 5 minutes on the bus from Custom House station to London City Airport. I'm sure there will be plenty of people with cases using it for this Airport too.

 

[swt_passenger]

I want a cross rail station built next to my house.

I wonder what‘s the longest personal detour anyone can come up with. Maybe a very long passageway would bring a few places into scope…

 

[Mikw]

I wonder what‘s the longest personal detour anyone can come up with. Maybe a very long passageway would bring a few places into scope…

Good question! I live in the Midlands so my post was in jest, would need a long passageway for sure.lol.

 

[thomalex]

I wonder what‘s the longest personal detour anyone can come up with. Maybe a very long passageway would bring a few places into scope…

Given Crossrail's penchant for long connecting passageways I'm sure they'd happily oblige

 

[pyxbiz]

I want a cross rail station built next to my house.

Since we're talking fantasy lines, totally aside from Crossrail, what I've always dreamed of is a line that starts at London Bridge, then goes Bermondsey-->Rotherhithe-->then follows the southern side of the river all the way along Rotherhithe through the Deptford shoreline to the Cutty Sark, with new stations dotted a various intervals along the way, e.g. Lavender Dock, Old Nelson Dock, Greenland Dock, the big construction site next to Pepys Park, etc. I realize that there would never be much of a demand for this line, but that's the exact area and route that I'm always visiting and struggling with -- not only is rail transit very poor and disjointed here (the Overground doesn't intersect with Thameslink/Southeastern in any useful way, and the Deptford station is far inland, as is the Surrey Quays station), but the buses are awkward as well.

Another option would be to make the Thames Clippers/Uber Boats be integrated fully into the fare system for the tube at the same prices, and have smaller boats run every ten minutes to these various new stops.

Oh, and I also want a pony and a unicorn as well.