Hayes Line

Hayes Line
A Southeastern class 465 at Hayes
Overview
Type	Suburban rail, Commuter rail
System	National Rail
Status	Operational
Locale	Greater London
Termini	Lewisham Hayes
Stations	9 (Ladywell-Hayes)
Services	2
Operation
Owner	Network Rail
Operator(s)	Southeastern
Rolling stock	Class 376 "Electrostar" Class 465 "Networker" Class 466 "Networker"
Technical
No. of tracks	2
Track gauge	Standard Gauge 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in)
Electrification	750 V Direct Current third rail
Operating speed	60 mph (97 km/h) maximum

Hayes Line

Legend London Charing Cross River Thames Waterloo East London Cannon Street River Thames London Bridge Greenwich Line to Deptford New Cross St Johns To Nunhead Lewisham South Eastern Main Line Ladywell Catford Bridge Catford Loop Line Lower Sydenham New Beckenham -2nd station New Beckenham -1st station CML to London Victoria Beckenham Junction CML to Dover Priory Clock House Elmers End Ex-Addiscombe Line and Ex-W&SCR to Selsdon Eden Park West Wickham Hayes

A 1908 Railway Clearing House map of part of the Hayes Line, between Lower Sydenham and Elmers End, showing the now closed Addiscombe Line and W&SCR branches off the Hayes Line

The Hayes Line is the railway service in south east London, United Kingdom operated by Southeastern between Charing Cross or Cannon Street and Hayes in the London Borough of Bromley. Part of its route follows the Mid-Kent Railway.

The line was electrified with other SECR urban routes in 1926 by Southern Railway.

During the planning of the Fleet line, now the Jubilee line it was intended that the line would continue on from Charing Cross and then travel through Central London with stations at Aldwych, Ludgate Circus (City Thameslink), Cannon Street and Fenchurch Street then taking over the East London line continuing to Lewisham; a further extension envisaged from Lewisham to Hayes and Addiscombe was planned by taking over the Hayes line from the National Rail network. However, after many changes, the Fleet line was renamed the current Jubilee line and eventually took a completely new alignment from Green Park and today the Jubilee platforms at Charing Cross are no longer in use.

Description of the route

• Services commence at either Charing Cross via Waterloo East, or Cannon Street.
• London Bridge - North Kent Junction, Bermondsey: The pioneer London and Greenwich Railway opened its line on 8 February 1836. This section is built on a brick viaduct
• North Kent Junction - Lewisham: opened 30 July 1849 as the North Kent Railway, now called the North Kent line. Most of the railway here is in cutting with the four tracks passing through St Johns railway station, the two northernmost leading into Lewisham station.
• Lewisham - New Beckenham: opened 1 January 1857 as the Mid-Kent line. This opening created a junction at Lewisham.
• New Beckenham - Elmers End: opened on 1 April 1864 as part of an extension of the Mid-Kent line to Addiscombe
• Elmers End - Hayes: this section was built by the West Wickham & Hayes Railway, but was sold to the South Eastern Railway on opening day, 29 May 1882

The Strategic Rail Authority had proposed replacing the 2tph to Charing Cross services with Cannon Street services, therefore making it solely 4tph to Cannon St. However, following pressure from local groups it is understood that from December 2009 trains will still run to both Charing Cross and Cannon Street.

There is a limited service to Beckenham Junction.

More recently Network Rail's Kent Route Utilisation Strategy, published in 2010 envisages the ultimate incorporation of the Hayes Line into an extended Bakerloo Line. An alternative plan has also been put forward by the Brighton Maine Line 2 (BML2) pressure group to use the line as part of an alternative route from Sussex to London. This would involve re-opening the old link from Sanderstead to Elmers End and avoid the railway bottleneck at East Croydon.