A Design Crime – Crap Station Design In Kassel
Some parts of Kassel’s urban tram system might well have been good, but these images of some of the stations, show the crap level of some of the design.
One thing that surprised me was the crudeness of some of the stations I visited, which just had steep steps and no lifts. This certainly wouldn’t be acceptable in the UK for a new station and I’m surprised that German disability rules allowed such a station design.
I nominate their stations as a Design Crime.
The Trams And Tram-Trains Of Kassel
Kassel’s urban tram system mixes both regular trams and larger tram-trains on lines that cross the city. I took these pictures as I sat in a cafe on the Königsplatz in the centre.
The smaller generally blue ones are trams, whereas the larger silver ones are the tram-trains, which have routes that reach far into the suburbs.
The passengers could be seen alighting, boarding and transferring between the various trams, very much as they do in Piccadilly Gardens in Manchester, East Croydon and Fitzalan Square in Sheffield. It is interesting to note that the current Sheffield Supertrams are more the size of Kassel’s tram-trains, rather than their trams. Comparing Sheffield to Kassel, it is a bigger city, but its tram network, is nowhere near the size of that in Kassel, which is about six times as large.
After sitting for half-an-hour or so, I decided to explore the outer reaches of the system on a tram-train.
One thing that surprised me was the crudeness of some of the stations I visited, which are shown separately in this post.
There also only seems to be a train in places only once every thirty minutes.
On the core section of the East London Line near where I live it’s sixteen trains per hour, and limbs of the line to places like West Croydon and Clapham Junction, there are four trains per hour. Like much of the transport in London, these trains are also step-free from the platform, which I think a modern transport system should be. As the picture shows there was a protected gap in Kassel, which would have been difficult in a wheel-chair.
Kassel seems to have about half London’s frequencies. This low frequency and the poor street access probably explains, why in the middle of a Monday, there wasn’t a large number of passengers about.
DAM – German Architectural Museum
The Deutsches Architektur Museum was recommended in my guide book.
It cost me nine euros to enter to see a presentation of photographs of the main modern buildings of Frankfurt with descriptions.
There is no directly similar museum in London, although Crossrail have recently put on some excellent free displays of both their archaeology and architecture.
I wouldn’t return to this museum, unless I was travelling with an architect, who thought it a must-see!
A Hauptbahnhof But Not As The Germans Know It!
Hauptbahnhof, which is often abbreviated to Hbf, is the German equivalent of Central.
But Kassel Hauptbahnhof is a station that the high speed line from Hanover to Wurzburg, ignored to call at a new station of Kassel-Wilhelmshohe. So as it now gets only a few trains, and has been transformed into a culture station, with a tram-train station underneath.
It struck me that the people of Kassel could find a better use for it, although the tram-train station appeared to work well.
According to Wikipedia it is the only Hauptbahnhof, that is not the main station for the town or city. So when you book a hotel in Kassel and you’re coming by train, make sure the hotel is by Kassel-Wilhemshohe station
My Hotel In Kassel
I stayed in the Golden Tulip Hotel Reiss, by the Hauptbahnhof.
On my checklist it scored three negatives.
The worst failure, is that although it is close to the station, the Hautbahnhof is now no longer the main station for Kassel. So I arrived at the other one and needed a taxi to get between the two.
Perhaps, this explains why the hotel wasn’t very busy.
My Hotel Checklist
I have started using a checklist by which I judge hotels.
- Is the tea and coffee facility in the room adequate? There must be at least two proper tea-bags, milk or creamer and a kettle that is obvious to use.
- Can a 67-year-old man, who needs glasses and has a gammy left hand, run the bath or shower without glasses?
- Are the towels numerous and big enough? I’m only small, so big for me in small compared to say Eric Pickles
- Is the wi-fi free and doesn’t require a complicated password or your e-mail address?
- Is the security good but not obsessive? You shouldn’t need a card to work the lift.
- Is the hotel by the station or on a simple tram or bus route from the station or airport? Taxis should be unnecessary.
- Does the television have BBC World or even better BBC1?
- Is the bed comfortable? After all that’s the main reason you booked the hotel.
- Does the hotel have a friendly bar, that might be showing some important football?
- Are the staff knowledgeable and helpful?
- Is the room temperature sensible and controllable? I’ve stayed in a couple of top floor rooms, that were unbearable.
- Is the lighting adequate? In too many hotels, candles would be brighter.
- Does the hotel insist on giving you a paper bill?
- Does the hotel give out a good map of the city centre and the area around the hotel?
- Can you walk from the hotel to the city centre?
- Does the hotel give you complimentary soap and shampoo? I never take any.
- Is there a table or desk, where I can lay out a paper or work flat under a light?
- Is there anything that means you will never go there again?
I’ll probably add a few more to this list. I haven’t put in anything about value for money, that is covered by 18.
Other people will have their own pet hates.
London To Kassel
When I left the UK, my aims were to travel to Kassel, Karlsruhe and Strasbourg and a few other cities, I’d not visited before as a tourist.
I was also intending to see and ride on some of the tram-trains that seem to be used in the area.
I started my journey on a 73 bus and finished it in a taxi. More on why I used a dreaded taxi later.
These pictures tell the story.
In some ways it was an easy but boring journey, which because of the extremely dull weather past Liege there wasn’t much to see.
Personally, I can’t wait for a direct London to Frankfurt train, which would make trips like this so much easier.
Match Thirty-One – Fulham 1 – Ipswich 2
This was a strong performance, that gained all three points at Fulham.
We were all seated in the Putney End and you can see from the pictures that we were low down.
I’ve been to Craven Cottage a couple of times before, usually walking from Putney Bridge station. Today, I took a bus from Hammersmith station and it was easier. Going back I walked to Fulham Palace Road and then got the first bus going west, ending up at West Brompton station, from where I got a train home.
Judging by the small numbers of fans on the buses I would suspect that most home fans either live locally, drive or have their own short cuts to the ground.
Craven Cottage will always be one of those grounds, where watching football is a pleasure.
It Looks Like This Class 319 Scrubbed Up Well
After a quick glance at the picture of Northern Rail’s first Class 319 train in a piece in Global Rail News, it looks like it’s scrubbed up well.
But then anything based 0n a Mark 3 coach, as are the 319s, are like well-respected actresses, who with a bit of make-up, TLC and some well-made clothes can outperform their younger fellows.
I’m looking forward to riding one from Liverpool Lime Street to a fully-rebuilt Manchester Victoria in a few weeks time.
Poetry In Walthamstow Bus Station
I was greeted by these poems and words on the shelters in Walthamstow bus station.
They are simple and different and even the supervisor was enthusiastic.
Transport for London now need to get the closely related Walthamstow Central station up to a similar standard.
The Anonymous Widower 