please empty your brain below

It's a funny sort of "gamble" that takes 37 years to pay off. My local disused power station is Battersea which has taken about the same length of time to re-develop.

Worth bearing in mind at the Mayoral hustings.
this area is a ghetto of the future
This is sort of what North Woolwich, Woolwich and the Isle of Dogs were like before all the redevelopment (you could also watch old episodes of The Sweeney, The Professionals and The New Avengers - most of the abandoned/derelict areas where they filmed were around there), the rail link goes in, then it all kicks off.

Luckily if you like post industrial desolate, there are large parts of the North of England to explore.
When I've zoomed along the A13 heading towards the Dartford River Crossing, I've often wondered what was over in the direction of the river. Now I know. And no, I'm not tempted to visit.
I believe - correct me if I'm wrong - but there's some debate about whether the station will be on a viaduct or not. Some want it underground to allow an extension under the river to Thamesmead - I think TfL may have mentioned on a consultation that provision should be made for this.
Having read the official planning documents (and there are a lot of them - see first link in post), the intention is for the new line and station to be on a viaduct. I saw no mention of potentially one day maybe continuing under the river to Thamesmead.
It has been a few years since I was last in Barking Reach but it did enjoy the services of a portakabin shop at that time. I don't even think any shop units went in with the first batch of homes.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nicohogg/4641660019/
Having looked a little closer again myself, I think that the Thamesmead idea was only discussed in the consultations and TfL decided not proceed any further with it.

It's a shame but perhaps it's unnecessary with Crossrail.
Crossrail will only serve the existing railhead for Thamesmead at Abbey Wood. Most of Thamesmead itself is still a long way from a station.

"This is what North Woolwich, Woolwich ...........were like before all the redevelopment: the rail link goes in, then it all kicks off. "

Both north Woolwich and Woolwich have been rail served, without interruption, since the 1840s.
Yep - Abbey Wood Crossrail will be on exactly the same site Abbey Wood station has always been. Only a small amount of Thamesmead is walkable from there. Much is cut off by dual carriageways and the southern oufall sewer. Abbey Wood has always had trains to zone 1 in just over 20 minutes (about 10 an hour in the peaks) and that hasn't solved Thamesmead's problems.

TfL really don't seem keen on LO extending over the river to Thamesmead then offering a quick connection to Abbey Wood Crossrail. The costs estimate given seems incredibly high when comparing to Woolwich's DLR extension in 2009 and Crossrail's tunnel and station box costs, even accounting for inflation. They seem to think buses alone will suffice, despite the obvious shortfalls seen over the past 40 years. And some issues they highlight, such as a lack of construction space, is bizarre, as currently there is decent space but housing plans planned over the next 10-20 will make it much harder.

Thamesmead looks like it will be overlooked yet again, despite thousands more homes in the vicinity.
Also, the Overground extension to Barking Riverside won't include an intermediate station to serve existing residents. Only new housing developments get the transport money these days.
All of Essex looks like this does it not?
Timbo

"This is what North Woolwich, Woolwich ...........were like before all the redevelopment: the rail link goes in, then it all kicks off. "

Both north Woolwich and Woolwich have been rail served, without interruption, since the 1840s.

I was referring to how derelict everything was, note how construction has got going after the extension of the Jubilee Line, and the DLR to Lewisham and Woolwich, with the extension of the Jubilee Line line, London Bridge station is itself better connected, no longer is there the unwanted change at London Bridge to go sideways on the Northern Line to Bank or Elephant & Castle to get the tube into Central London, or another train to Waterloo East or Charing Cross - then a long walk to the tube.

I always hated the change at London Bridge, if I'm going to South East London I now have the choice of Jubilee Line to North Greenwich, then the bus, or Canning Town, then the DLR, I'll use London Bridge if I'm doing a longer journey to Erith, Sidcup or Bexleyheath.

The important thing is not just accessibility - but the perception of accessibility.
Yes, of course Thamesmead is in desperate need of a rail link. But extending one from the other side of the here-substantial river, and one with only 4-coach trains that do not go to central London (and whose capacity will be needed over there), is not the way to give it one.
It is sad but inevitable that only new development seems to drive transport infrastructure these days. Developer finance always seems to trump social need. To me it would seem a no brainer to add an intermediate stop, as there is virtually no chance of a later fill-in station and it is an awkward area to otherwise get to.

Whilst extending to Thamesmead (and, ideally, Abbey Wood) might not be ideal for Thamesmead residents - as not direct to CL) it would at least be something for the town, and open up a number of new transport links. Historically I always thought it a missed opportunity that Crossrail did not curve after Abbey Wood to finish in Thamesmead (2 stops or even a loop route). A true 'new link' in the network, even if it later got converted to 'normal' suburban rail with Crossrail proper extended to Ebbsfleet/Gravesend/wherever.
@Chris. No
I visited the area in 2013 just after the EL1 was extended. My aim was to take the 387 extended route so I was sort of lucky, as I didn't know that it was about to be withdrawn. But I still had to try 3 times (over 3 days) before I found a driver that didn't just skip it entirely.
My mum died in January having lived in Beckton for over 30 years. She moved there before ASDA and the DLR. Her GP's surgery was housed in a portacabin. She moved there from Stepney when my dad died suddenly in his 50s and left some money which meant she could leave council housing and get a house with a garden which she had always craved. I was away at university when she made the move and was horrified by the isolated, unlovely spot she had chosen to make home. But I was wrong. She loved it there and made a community for herself - volunteering for local projects and making a special effort with the many different nationalities who peopled what had became a largely buy to let area. You couldn't visit her without being given Bulgarian sweets or Lithuanian cakes which neighbours had dropped in for her. When she developed dementia we had a network of support to call on that would rival anything in Willmot and Young's 'Family and Kinship in East London'. We can forget that these places, which look soulless and unenviable to those of us who get to live somewhere more established, are places where good lives are forged and lived.
As this isn't London Reconnections, I can safely unveil the crayons and display my lack of railway network design experience. *star trek door sound*

That curve back on the overground line is distressing, I want it straighter. Why not have the line go underground at the ingress to the housing development (near the ornamental lakes), and go underground to a station in the middle of the development - the clearly visible circus on the final picture. Simple cut and cover.

[Aside: Of course this disadvantages the Barking Reach residents further, it becomes a longer walk, although that Renwick Road is pretty bleak. I note that it's a 1 mile distance from Thames View Health Centre (about the centre of that development) to where that station will be sited, and half of that is that rather bleak post-industrial road. Still, a shuttle bus could solve that. Or just having their own stop - in Anerley and Penge West can have separate stops, then Barking Reach can have their own stop too.]

This would allow a future tunnel to Thamesmead that could then emerge in Crossway Park, bypassing the inner dense area of Thamesmead.

But ... Dagenham Dock station, with some work to the route, could be a better option for people on the east side of the riverside site - at least it's a direct District Line Link. Shame it would be through a vile looking industrial estate.

Anyway, too much Google Maps of Industrial Wasteland (two power stations!).
Thamesmead is not going to to get a direct link to central London, except perhaps the DLR which will trundle slowly west on the Beckton branch serving very little. So very few in Thamesmead would use it to cross the river north to go to central London when they could head south to Abbey Wood and take Crossrail.

LO would offer a fast link in 5 minutes to Abbey Wood station to the south and many options 10 minutes north at Barking, rather than DLR at Beckton. The DLR has the same benefit heading south but little heading north. And TfL now want a new Barking town centre station as part of a large rebuilding scheme.

Crossrail curving to serve Thamesmead would almost certainly mean no connection with the North Kent line at Abbey Wood and the links to Kent. LO at Abbey Wood would also facilitate far better Kent to North East London and Essex connections.
It's a shame that diamond geezer reviews Barking Riverside so negatively. As a resident of the area, this urban/rural borderland of east London is to me a far more interesting place to live and be involved with than other, more established places in London - and I have lived in several areas in east and north London. One fascinating thing is that the community is still being estabished and I very much feel a part of stamping my own mark in the land, and not just the land of my back garden. The residents want to make the area work, and after many years of being ignored and feeling abandoned, they see the train station as a huge benefit. Residents' meetings are lively and committed to solving the problems that any brand-new community faces. The open spaces are awesome (some river views are literally full of awe), the sky is huge and wildlife is everywhere. It has wonderfully vast spaces in which to let children roam free and I relish the fact that the area is relatively isolated at the moment.
I agree that there are some apartment blocks which could have been more fully realised and considered, but most of the house designs are often original, as far as I know, and often beautiful to contemplate as I walk through the streets here. Most of the landscaping is inspired. The pylons? Weirdly fascinating. The buses? Very frequent now that new timetables have been introduced recently. The so-called 'isolation'? Marvellously peaceful - I can sit in my back garden and see and hear herons, coots, ducks, geese, rabbits and dragonflies. I can't remember when I last heard a police siren round my way.
This is not 'grim' London; this is how London could be. And we are only a 10-minute drive from a Sainsbury's, an Asda or a B&Q, if you want that too.
DG, I'm disappointed to read how much you look down on developments like this. The regeneration of such a run-down area will provide homes and jobs close to London. So what if the property developers make some money out of it? Extending a train line is seriously expensive.
Seems I didn't get the tone on this right, sorry.

"the dark-timbered terraces to the north are more appealing, tall and narrow with steep solar-panelled roofs, and of a good size that a large family might enjoy."

"the developers have dug a balancing pond, surrounded by a wooden boardwalk and lined by bullrushes. From the right angle it looks gorgeous,"

"up one backwater creek I disturbed a heron, so all's not as sanitised as it seems"
Barking Riverside is probably one of the cheapest parts of London to live in, I suspect. Also it probably has the least polluted air, being far from central London, & is fairly quiet, being a long way from Heathrow Airport. I should imagine the sheer emptiness of the place would appeal to someone moving there from central London. As for transport links, like viable power generation from the Hadron Collider, they always seem to be promised for 20 years into the future..
"But ... Dagenham Dock station, with some work to the route, could be a better option for people on the east side of the riverside site - at least it's a direct District Line Link"

Dagenham Dock is a C2C station, not District - but it does offer a 20 minute journey to Fenchurch Street, 15 to Limehouse and 10 to West Ham.










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