London Overground map courtesy of Time Out on Facebook .
Academics from the UCL Bartlett School of Planning have welcomed the completion of the final section of London's orbital railway in south London, which they first proposed in 1999 in a report commissioned by the London Development Partnership. Due to open on 9 December 2012, the London Overground orbital railway completes the circular rail system that links London's suburbs. By completing the final section of track between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction previously unconnected areas are now served by an integrated rail service with trains running directly from Highbury and Islington to Clapham Junction. The idea to connect existing sections of London's rail to form the orbital route was first proposed in a report entitled London's spatial economy: the dynamics of change by Sir Peter Hall and Michael Edwards from the UCL Bartlett School of Planning, in collaboration with an independent planner, Drummond Robson. In the report the authors highlighted the need for greater policy emphasis on the transport infrastructure of suburban London. They proposed that connecting the existing north London and east London lines with fragments of rail in south London would offer a much quicker and affordable alternative to building an entirely new track. Michael Edwards, one of the authors from the UCL Bartlett School of Planning, said: "We concluded that the suburbs of London had the potential to contribute far more than they had been doing.
TO READ THIS ARTICLE, CREATE YOUR ACCOUNT
And extend your reading, free of charge and with no commitment.
