The extension of London Underground's East London line

The East London line extension project is an imaginative scheme, which creates part of a potential orbital railway for London by using abandoned railway infrastructure by the construction of a short link to existing London Underground and Network Rail lines. The final railway will run from West Croydon, Crystal Palace and Clapham junction to the south end of the existing East London line, where link bridges and new track will be constructed. The East London line will be linked at its north end by a viaduct and a bridge to the south end of the abandoned Kingsland viaduct, which is being refurbished. Finally the line will link to the Network Rail North London line and thence to Highbury and Islington station, an interchange station with the London Underground Victoria line. In phase I of the project, four new stations will be constructed. The service is to be operated by franchise operating over Network Rail tracks to New Cross Gate and London Underground tracks to Dalston junction. This paper covers the scheme, the historical development of the lines, the condition of the existing infrastructure, and the project civil works.