Thursday 11 May 2006

Crossrail for Woolwich

Fancy getting to the West End quicker than a motorbike courier? Not possible? Well, show some support to the Woolwich Crossrail campaign and one day, you might just be able to.

And for those who don't give a damn about public transport, think about your property value if Woolwich gets Crossrail.

Thought that might interest you.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

For those people living in Plumstead, I'm wondering what the advantage of better rail links in Woolwich is? To take advantage would we catch the bus there? Walk? Drive and park? Surely none of those would make the journey into the west end any quicker than a train from Plumstead? Or am I missing something?

Doctor Pangloss said...

Woolwich is hardly any great distance to Plumstead. I regularly walk to Woolwich Arsenal to catch the train. Just because there's a station in Plumstead does that mean they can't use Woolwich Arsenal too?

There are more trains and buses at Woolwich which has always been the hub of the local public transport system. Adding to this existing hub makes sense.

If you look at the existing Crossrail proposal, the scheme bypasses Woolwich on to Abbey Wood. Does it make sense for a rail line to travel past (and not stop), at one of the main conurbations of South East London?

Anonymous said...

I'm certainly not against anyone who wishes to use Woolwich Arsenal, making their way there from Plumstead by any means, and I agree that the connections that they would use once there should be as good as possible.

Maybe I was unclear in my question, but I was only wondering if there was actually any advantage to do so time wise? To walk to Woolwich from where I live in Plumstead would take twenty five minutes, which means the train would then have to take under five minutes to get me into London more quickly than simply hopping on at Plumstead.

greenwich.watch said...

Having read the Petition put forward by the Council and the counter analysis done by Crossrail, it seems to us that the argument in favour of Woolwich is not particularly strong. It essentially rests on the view that Woolwich should have the station because... well.. it's Woolwich and it will create lots of jobs. The petitions gives little detail on those claims, in fact it is more a documenting listing lots of obstructive conditions for Crossrail to build in the Borough. In other words, lots of bargaining chips designed to get the station at Woolwich.

From reading the study by Crossrail there argument is one of cost. Crossrail in Woolwich is not commercially viable. Transaltion.. "you want a station in Woolwich, then get the local taxpayer to cough up". Given this is Greenwich Council we're talking about expect a massive hike in Council Tax next yeqar as there won;t be an election on.