M26 motorway the M26 at that time formed part of Ringway 4 and would have been designated as part of the M25. Construction of the first part of the M25 began in 1972 but before it opened, plans for the "London Orbital" motorway were modified to combine the southern and western part of Ringway 4 with the northern and eastern part of Ringway 3. To connect the two separate routes, which together were numbered as the M25, an additional section of road needed to be planned and the M25 route was diverted northwards from junction 5 to meet Ringway 3 at Swanley
West London Orbital sections: The Dudding Hill Line, the North London Line and the Hounslow Loop. The Dudding Hill line itself has had no scheduled passenger service for over a century. It has no stations, no electrification and a 30 miles per hour (48 km/h) speed limit with semaphore signalling, and is lightly used by freight and very occasional passenger charter trains. It is roughly 4 miles (6.4 km) long. Near the site of Old Oak Common the West London Orbital would connect to the existing North London Line, and then further south at Acton, use the link down to the Hounslow Loop