The Anonymous Widower

Interchange at Stratford

Yesterday I took a friend down the North London line to take a train to her home in Ipswich. The interchange there is now very good and it is just down one set of steps, a short walk and a climb up between trains.  Both climbs can be avoided by lifts, if you have limited mobility or heavy luggage.

The only problem is that the proper Ipswich trains have non-sliding doors and this is a slight problem for some with less than perfect hands.  It’s exacerbated by the fact that no-one gets out of an Ipswich train at Stratford, so these trains need to have a better door mechanism, when they are refurbished next time.

Stratford is going to be a major interchange during and after the Olympics. If say I was travelling from Ipswich to say Oxford Circus on the Central line, then now it is better to change at Stratford rather than Liverpool Street. Other journeys may also be better with a change at Stratford.  For example.

1. Ipswich to Gatwick, by changing to the Jubilee at Stratford for London Bridge.
2. N**wich to Southampton, by changing to the Jubilee at Stratford for Waterloo.

The interchanges are much better than using the Underground or buses in central London.

You can make a list of places, that are directly connected to Stratford, but not to Liverpool Street.

1. London Bridge, Charing Cross and Waterloo
2. Canary Wharf, Greenwich and the O2.
3. Camden Town, Kentish Town, Hampstead and the Heath.

When Thameslink is completed at London Bridge, many more places will be easier to get to, after a short trip from Stratford.

Chiltern are also threatening to connect at West Hampstead to the North London line, so this would mean East Anglia or Essex to Birmingham or Oxford would be a simpler journey in new trains all the way.

And then in 2016 or thereabouts there’s CrossRail.

July 22, 2011 - Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Crossrail, Ipswich, North London Line, Thameslink, Trains