“Just 37 minutes to Shoreditch. I can't wait. What an improvement.

A further improvement would be a through service to somewhere useful, like Charing Cross, and maybe a few fast rush hour trains to London Bridge for those in Sydenham and Forest Hill. But that would mean getting rid of trains to such handy places as Dalston where everybody clearly wants to go. It says here.

Am I missing something, or is this just a vanity project for the boroughs along the line, so they can pretend they're on the "tube," and so that estate agents can con their more naive clients?”

“hello,

My name is Melanie Macleod, I am currently working as a journalist on the East London Lines website, a news site covering Croydon as a main area of interest. At present I am writing an article about the people of Croydon and their concerns about the "tube" arriving. The comments on this article will be very useful, and I am wondering if any of the posters would contact me for further discussion of the matter? If anyone would like to talk about this with me, my email address is melaniemacleod500@hotmail.com if you could email me your contact details i'd love to hear from you!!


Thanks,
Melanie”

“london road is a really rough and bad area, they are wasting their time and money because all the trouble will just be growing and growing and there will be more chances for muggers and that sort to get away easier and also to get more targets to bother.”

“I agree with many of the poster below.

The area is in need of a huge make over. A proper police prescence for a start is needed. The amount of down and outs hanging around the train station puts a lot of people off from venturing into that part of Croydon.

I prefer Croydonites. Croydonian is very last 1900s.”

“As someone who travels from West Croydon to Canary Wharf every day..... What a complete waste of time & money.

The original East London line just needed updating & it wasn't the end of the world changing at New Cross Gate to get on the ELL... Basically the service won't be any better than it was before the ELL was closed.

Hopefully the current rail services to London Bridge, stopping at New Cross Gate, will not be affected the extra trains on the line, just to justify the existence of the new 'service'.”

“Sorry to be negative but if the area surrounding West Croydon station is not regenerated then the tube will attract yet more undesirables to the town.
The money would have been better spent on expanding the tram network throughout the borough.”

“LT have been told before, its Croydonians, not Croydonites.”

“This is indeed great news, but lets not kid ourselves into believing that Croydon finally has the 'tube'. This is not a tube line. And it's a shame that TfL's shortsightedness means that the service will only be formed of 4-coach trains, even with the longitudinal seating this may prove a squeeze in the coming years - especially if the projected 27.5m passenger journeys increases.

Anyway, enough cynicism from me. The extension is great news for Croydon - lets rejoice that Croydon is finally on the tube map! Hopefully this new route through Docklands, East London and the outskirts of the City will prove popular, and West Croydon and Norwood Junction stations will be brought up to TfL standards as promised. Also, I agree with Arfur Towcrate, hopefully West Croydon will get that much needed makeover and TfL will maybe create a proper side entrance to integrate nicely with the tram stop and bus station!”

“It will be very handy for me - but I hope that West Croydon station gets a makeover, and that they open the side entrance onto Station Road.”

“Wonderful news.”