Birse Metro celebrates handover of the new East London Line Phase 2

Retaining Walls, Millwall access road

The new East London Line Railway is nearing completion following the finishing of the civils and trackwork of the East London Line Phase 2 (ELLP2), by Birse Metro. ELLP2 has resulted in a south-western branch from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction via Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill and Wandsworth Road, creating a new orbital rail network for London. This will save significant journey times and provide an essential new strategic transport asset for the Capital to meet the twin challenges of growth and global competition.

Retaining Walls, Millwall access road

Birse Metro, working closely with Transport for London (TfL) , built the new 1.3km railway to link London Overground services at Surrey Quays with the existing railway near Old Kent Road. Construction of the new section of railway required large volumes of earth to be moved in preparation for the laying of the new track and installation of retaining walls and embankments along the route of the new line. A reinforced concrete structure to support the future construction of a station at Surrey Canal Road was also part of the works, which if funding is found will be built in the future.

As part of the new railway works, three additional subways were built on behalf of Lewisham Council. These were in addition to the underpass at Hornshay Street and will provide access under the railway at Rollins Street, Stockholm Road and on the north side of Surrey Canal Road. The extra subways will provide improved pedestrian access into Bridgehouse Meadows and support the regeneration of the area by providing a link between the future development sites either side of the railway. As they are being built for this purpose, they will not be brought into use until the development plans are completed, i.e. after the railway has opened.

Works to build a new junction connecting the existing London Overground services near Surrey Quays with the new section of track were also carried out and a new railway bridge was installed successfully over Surrey Canal Road in early October. Birse Metro completed the works and reopened the road ahead of schedule.

Birse Metro recycled 99% of the earth on site. Earth that had been stockpiled during the construction of the new railway is now being used in Bridgehouse Meadows to allow for the reinstatement of the Meadows and footpaths, once the plans have been agreed with Lewisham Council. The aim is to re-open them in Summer 2012, once the new planting and grass seed have been established.

Now that Birse Metro has completed the majority of the new railway works, Invensys and Balfour Beatty Engineering Systems will start work to complete the Power and Systems works for the new line. These involve building the signaling systems which will allow the new trains to run and supplying power to the new railway. This phase of the project will be concluded in Summer 2012.

The London Overground extension to Clapham Junction will deliver a direct and frequent service of four trains per hour from Clapham Junction via Denmark Hill/Peckham Rye to the City (Shoreditch High Street) and Docklands (Canada Water). It will serve Clapham Junction, Wandsworth Road, Clapham High Street, Denmark Hill, Peckham Rye, Queens Road Peckham and Surrey Quays stations (and then all stations to Dalston Junction).

It will offer increased journey opportunities to the population of south London, who currently have limited access to the Tube network. The extension line is estimated to increase usage of the passenger transit capacity from 10.4 million to about 35.4 million annually. About 50 million passengers are expected to use the line after the completion of the second phase.

Work is scheduled for completion by late 2012.