Information About

Orbirail





STATUS


Orbirail has no official status as a planned project. However, Transport For London 's existing plans for the new North London Railway (consisting of the ''North London Line'', ''West London Line'' and ''Gospel Oak to Barking Line'') and the extended ''East London Line'' (Phase 1) would allow for routes most of the way around London with only the southern section remaining to be connected to allow a full orbital route. The proposed Phase 2 to the ''East London Line'' extension project would link the East London Line to the South London line and complete the loop.


ROUTE


The most likely route (although not the only one possible) would run clockwise as follows:

  • Clapham Junction to Willesden Junction by the current ''West London Line''.

  • Willesden Junction to Highbury & Islington by the current ''North London Line''.

  • Highbury & Islington to Dalston Junction by the proposed ''East London Line Extension Phase 2''.

  • Dalston Junction to Whitechapel by the planned ''East London Line Extension Phase 1''.

  • Whitechapel to Surrey Quays by the existing ''East London Line''.

  • Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction by the proposed ''East London Line Extension Phase 2'' (incorporating most of the existing ''South London Line'').


This route is almost entirely within ''Zone 2''.


PROSPECTS


''Orbirail'''s proponents believe that it would be a relatively low cost project, involving only a small amount of new track, some 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.

Despite this, 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 is also planned to discontinue the orbital nature of the ''Circle Line'' and replace it with a spiral shaped route. 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 which join to entirely encircle London. ''TfL'''s current plans seem to point in this direction.


EXTERNAL LINKS