EASING THE NORTH LONDON JAM

This article reports on how Railtrack is assessing the options for alleviating congestion on the North London Line, whose passenger and rail freight traffic have recently been rising; it includes a route map. Although the closure of this line was once proposed, its problem now is how to fit in all its many trains. In January 1999, Silverlink raised the peak number of passenger trains over its core section to four per hour. English, Welsh & Scottish Railway (EWS) uses it for heavy flows of freight to and from the industrial areas to the north of the River Thames. Most of the railborne traffic from Britain's first container port, Felixstowe, uses its route to the Midlands and North of England. Some railway companies are interested in possible further passenger and freight services along its tracks. Although some parts of the track were modernised during the 1990s, there is a shortage of funds for upgrading the rest of it. Much of the line is elevated on arch bridges, whose strength is beginning to cause concern. As part of its quest to justify more spending, Railtrack's East Anglia Zone has been involved in demand assessment studies of the needs of existing rail users, and of five possible new services that could use them. One possible solution is to reroute more freight trains from Felixstowe away from London.