A Walk Along Oxford Street
From Portals To The Past, I decided to walk along Oxford Street to Marks and Spencer, to see if they had any short-sleeved shirts.
It is not the easiest of walks and after the exhibition, I wondered what effect Crossrail will have on this walk.
One of the guides at the exhibition had told me, she’d walked one of the new stations a few days ago and because of the 200m length of the Class 345 trains for Crossrail, the stations have very long platforms. So one problem, Crossrail will get when it opens, is that passengers will complain about the endless walks. But as you can walk inside the trains, as they are effectively one coach with lots of segments, you will align yourself with your exit, when you do a regular journey. I do this walking along the train regularly on the Overground, as I’d rather walk in a warm train, than a cold platform.
I do wonder that as Crossrail gets used more and passengers learn how to use it, they will find there best and quickest routes and especially in bad weather will walk underground, thus taking a percentage of walkers away from Oxford Street.
The double-ended stations may also end up as rat-runs for those, who know their London and have Oyster Cards or Freedom Passes to bypass large sections of crowded pavements.
Hopefully too, Crossrail will take passengers from the Central line, so that walkers will use that if going from say Tottenham Court Road to Marble Arch.
I did get my short-sleeved shirts and after exiting the shop, the heavens opened with a vengeance.
Summer came on Sunday, as the pictures of the Thames Barrier showed and now it’s gone!
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