Representatives from THST met with the London Borough of Haringey and Transport for London (TfL) on Tuesday 17 February 2015 to look at detailed proposals for White Hart Lane station. The station project is part of a wider Haringey proposal for north Tottenham known as ‘High Road West Regeneration’. This includes an allocated sum of money, c.£8.5 million, for the WHL station approach. The station itself is separate to that and is expected to cost c.£15m, with funding for that yet to be secured by TfL.
The plan is to move the station entrance & ticket office to midway along the current 200 metre platform with staircases going up both ways on both sides. There will be a pedestrian tunnel through under the arches, and this means they'll need to close the line for a couple of weeks at some point. This will also provide a public access tunnel for the Penshurst Road estate (behind the old Railway Tavern pub).
All parties recognise the need to keep good access from the station to WHL (the road) both for bus interchange and for the traders along WHL. We have learnt separately that the owners of the Railway Tavern, which has been closed for 10 years or more, have plans to re-open it as and when the new stadium is built.
More importantly, TfL recognise that trying to use a single point of entry for both southbound and northbound supporters after matches could cause problems so they are looking at providing a match day route for northbound around the north end of the station, effectively as it is now but with the added staircases to platform level at the midway point. This would deal with the current issue of congestion at the north end of the northbound platform caused by the single staircase at that end at present.
In terms of timing, although TfL is due to take over the line from Liverpool St to Enfield and Cheshunt this summer and incorporate it within the London Overground network, best estimates for station redevelopment are not until summer 2018 and even that could be dependent on the stadium development. TfL’s preference would be to do the work during the season THFC are 'away' but if not it would probably be c.July before the following season starts.
We also asked about Northumberland Park, that stays with Network Rail for now though there's clearly some interaction between the rail operators. The plan there is for a third track, a station upgrade at some point with a tunnel or bridge to replace the level crossing, hopefully Crossrail 2 in the distant future but TfL once again ruled out any possibility of running the Victoria Line there (and gave reasonably convincing operational reasons for that). Haringey would also like to regenerate the route from NP to the new stadium in due course.
We came away from an open and constructive meeting with a better understanding for what’s planned and the feeling that Haringey and TfL recognise supporters as key stakeholders they will come back to as things develop.
All parties recognise the need to keep good access from the station to WHL (the road) both for bus interchange and for the traders along WHL. We have learnt separately that the owners of the Railway Tavern, which has been closed for 10 years or more, have plans to re-open it as and when the new stadium is built.
More importantly, TfL recognise that trying to use a single point of entry for both southbound and northbound supporters after matches could cause problems so they are looking at providing a match day route for northbound around the north end of the station, effectively as it is now but with the added staircases to platform level at the midway point. This would deal with the current issue of congestion at the north end of the northbound platform caused by the single staircase at that end at present.
In terms of timing, although TfL is due to take over the line from Liverpool St to Enfield and Cheshunt this summer and incorporate it within the London Overground network, best estimates for station redevelopment are not until summer 2018 and even that could be dependent on the stadium development. TfL’s preference would be to do the work during the season THFC are 'away' but if not it would probably be c.July before the following season starts.
We also asked about Northumberland Park, that stays with Network Rail for now though there's clearly some interaction between the rail operators. The plan there is for a third track, a station upgrade at some point with a tunnel or bridge to replace the level crossing, hopefully Crossrail 2 in the distant future but TfL once again ruled out any possibility of running the Victoria Line there (and gave reasonably convincing operational reasons for that). Haringey would also like to regenerate the route from NP to the new stadium in due course.
We came away from an open and constructive meeting with a better understanding for what’s planned and the feeling that Haringey and TfL recognise supporters as key stakeholders they will come back to as things develop.
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