Bellenden Residents' Group (BRG)

The East London line has been extended (phase 1) to New Cross and Croydon and opened fully in May 2010. In 2009, TfL decided to switch funding from the inner south London services to Victoria to build the East London Line Extension phase 2 (ELLX2) from Surrey Quays to Clapham Junction via Queens Road Peckham, Peckham Rye, Denmark Hill, Clapham High St and Wandsworth Road. This will start operating on 9th December 2012, and the South London Line, linking London Bridge and Victoria through these inner south London stations, will n he day before. TfL say that more people want to travel east-west in inner south London than to London Bridge & Victoria. The Save the South London Line Campaign welcomed the extra service east-west but disagreed that it should be provided by reducing services to central London.

The ELLX2 has been promoted as bringing the Tube to inner south London and especially Queens Road, Peckham Rye, and Denmark Hill. But the ELL is NOT THE TUBE. It is a suburban orbital Overground rail service run by TfL, linking with the North London Line, and running at 15 minute intervals. It is the rail equivalent of the road North and South Circulars, and not about getting people in and out of central London. If you want to get to east London or south west London, the ELLX will be a boon. But if you want to get to central London it will make the journey worse because it is replacing some of those services.

For explanation of the relationship between the South London Line, the East London Line extension, and the proposed Victoria-Bellingham/Bromley line, see here.