Lea Bridge Station - update

Dear Masood,
Many thanks for sending me this update.
It is disappointing that the opening date is now December 2015, when originally we had been told it it would be completed during 2014. 
A number of questions arise:

• how will the station approach be combined with the Council's proposals on Mini-Holland cycling improvements for Lea Bridge Road for the benefit of all?
• do you agree that it is surely unacceptable to have an unstaffed station at that lonely location - no immediate housing or shops?
• are the crossroads at Lea Bridge Road and Argall Way still on the Council's list for improvement (alongside the improvements at Bakers Arms and Church Rd/ Markhouse Rd?) The Bakers Arms junction work has been completed but all seems to have gone quiet on the other two in our Ward.
• what public transport arrangements are being negotiated with TfL to improve access to the new station - eg extensions of the W19 or W!2 bus routes?
• will the proposed third line take in an assumption of the reinstatement of the Hall Lane curve?
• which service franchise will the services from Hertford East/ Bishops Stortford to Stratford be placed within? 
• Has the £5m already comitted by Waltham Forest Council on this project now been spent on the detailed design work you refer to? I read earlier that the initial plans were inadequate because the consultant had not actually visited the site and so didn't know that the platforms were infested with Japanese knotweed. Will the new contract imply further expenditure needed?

Sorry for so many questions, but as you know we have been waiting for some answers for months. As I have mentioned before the developments in Lea Bridge Ward are important and long-term and merit a properly-convened Ward meeting. I do hope that you might consider calling such a meeting and inviting some Council and TfL officers (as happened in 2013) to explain some of the detail.

Best regards,

Claire Weiss

Dear Councillors

Councillor Clare Coghill has asked me to update you on our progress in securing the reopening of Lea Bridge Station.  Detailed design work on the project is now nearing completion and the Council intends to enter into an agreement with Network Rail in December to enable construction to begin early in January.

The main construction elements of the scheme are to extend and refurbish the platforms, construct new stair ways and lifts (reusing the existing footbridge over the tracks by Lea Bridge Road), modify signalling and overhead line equipment and construct a new station entrance in Argall Way.  The station will be unstaffed initially, and the existing train services from either Bishops Stortford or Hertford East to Stratford will stop at Lea Bridge.  This means that there will be a train every 30 minutes from Lea Bridge to both Tottenham Hale and to Stratford, each with a journey time of 5 minutes, very much quicker than the existing journeys to these destinations by bus.  The programmed opening date for the station to passengers is in December 2015.

The reopening of the station will achieve significant benefits to the Lea Bridge area.  Approximately 5,000 jobs are located within a one kilometre walking distance of the station and the reopening will help to facilitate further employment growth.  Residents of the immediate and nearby areas would have greatly improved public transport access to the Westfield and Olympic Park developments at Stratford and to destinations northwards in the Upper Lea Valley.  The station will also improve access to the Walthamstow Wetlands and Lea Valley Park.

In the slightly longer term, Network Rail has approved a scheme to provide a third railway track from Lea Bridge to Tottenham Hale and this scheme should be completed by 2018.  This will enable the half hourly service at Lea Bridge to be improved to a 15 minute service in each direction.

Yours sincerely

Neil Bullen

Manager Transport Planning

London Borough of Waltham Forest

Sycamore House

Waltham Forest Town Hall

Forest Road

London E17 4JF

Tel:  020 8496 6779