The Connection From Waterloo East Station To Southwark Tube Station Is Only For The Young, Fit And Agile
My mother’s advice as a Ponders Plonker (her words) from North London, advised me never to go South of the Thames as you’d get lost or have trouble.
Today, I wanted to do a bit of shopping, as one does, and thought I’d go to Bluewater for a change, as I needed a John Lewis, a big Marks and Spencer, and preferably a Carluccio’s for a pit stop. Westfield doesn’t have a John Lewis, Eastfield is a gluten-free desert and Oxford Street is often crowded.
So Bluewater seemed a good idea at the time! It was as I got all I needed and the Shopping Centre was very quiet.
For Bluewater, you go to Greenhithe station and get a bus, but today there had been a derailment on the North Kent Line at Charlton as reported in this article in the Standard, so my preferred route to Greenhithe via the Overground and the DLR to Greenwich or Woolwich Arsenal was blocked. So I had to go to Charing Cross station to get a direct train to Greenhithe via Sidcup or some such place in the wilderness that is South London.
I got to Greenhithe and Bluewater with just the odd delay and after a successful shop, I returned to Greenhithe with a bag from M & S, to be told that there were still delays, but a direct train to Charing Cross would be arriving in six minutes.
So I took it and was treated to a tour of places I didn’t know. I had hoped the train would stop at Lewisham, so I could cut off the corner using the DLR to Shadwell and then the Overground to Dalston Junction for a bus home.
But it didn’t!
So I decided that as Waterloo East station has an interchange with Southwark station on the Jubilee Line, that it would be easier to change there and go to Canada Water for the Overground.
Southwark station was built for the Jubilee Line Extension in 1999, so I assumed that it would be an easy modern connection with a full spectrum of stairs, escalators and lifts.
First, I had to walk to the far end of the platform and then descend a long flight of fairly steep steps to a concourse below. I’ve certainly been on worse flights of steps in the Underground, but it didn’t prepare me for what I would encounter. Instead of an escalator from the concourse to the Jubilee line platforms, I found that the down escalator was under repair and I would be expected to descend a set of steps you’d more likely find in the Swiss Alps.
There wasn’t even a warning like there is at Hampstead tube station, but it was certainly more difficult than the steps there.
So I turned back and asked the guy on the gate, where the Way Out was. But there isn’t one! He told me, you had to go back to the platform and then use the bridge to Waterloo. So I had to climb back up the first set of stairs and in the end got a train to Charing Cross to come home by means of the District Line and the Overground.
My company, Metier Management Systems supplied Artemis software to do the project management for the Jubilee Line Extension. I have heard some odd stories about this project which had to be finished before the Millennium, so that the Great and Good could get to the Dome.
The guy on the gate did tell me that Transport for London tried to get an entrance to the concourse, but the residents objected. Whoever heard of a train station without a Way Out to the street?
At the present this interchange is an accident waiting to happen and there are no signs discouraging those who are not of a supreme fitness level from taking the route.
There are signs pointing to the Jubilee Line on the platforms at Waterloo East and after going through the barriers for those at Waterloo East, you are opposite the barriers for Southwark Tube station, which is only accessible by the extremely steep stairs.
Something needs to be done!
I could have probably managed it, if I wasn’t carrying my bag from Bluewater.
But I am a person, who doesn’t take unnecessary risks.
Bluewater Shopping Centre By Train
Out of curiosity, and because I needed to go shopping, I went to Bluewater Shopping Centre by train.
It probably wasn’t the best day to go, as there had been a freight train derailment at Charlton and I did have a terrible journey home, with a dreadful change at Waterloo East. Without the train derailment, I would have gone using the DRL to Woolwich Arsenal and then getting a train direct to Greenhithe, but I had to go via the dreaded Charing Cross, which was built in the wrong place for East London. After London Bridge station is complete, that will also be another easy route. One thing that would make trips to Bluewater easier for me, is if it was Freedom Pass territory., which only extends to Dartford two stations away.
Greenhithe is a interesting station, in that it was built in 2008 using a modular system, that has been used elsewhere.
I have included a picture of the excellent bus terminal at Bluewater, which is by the enormous Marks and Spencer.
The shuttle bus is the usual rigmarole of a paper ticket, rather than a siple touch of my bus pass. When will those outside London realise that you do ticketing with a contactless card these days and not the same technology my great-great-grandparents would have recognised from the nineteenth century. The journey is only short as this Google Map shows.
Greenhithe Station And Bluewater
Note that Greenhithe is the more Easterly of the two stations at the top of the map, which are both on the North Kent Line.
I do think that in the future, Greenhithe Station to Bluewater could be one of those places, where a spectacular high-tech people mover could be an attraction in its own right. I estimate the as the crow flies distance at under fifteen hundred metres.
By comparison the Emirates Air Line cable car in London is a kilometre, so this would be a virtually off-the-shelf solution. This Google Map show there is plenty of space around the station.
Greenhithe Station
It probably won’t happen, but I wouldn’t bet against it, especially if Bluewater goes in for a large expansion.
I Like This TfL Proposal
Transport for London have proposed changes at the junction of Stamford and Kingsland Roads near where I live. The changes are detailed in this page on their web site. This image shows the proposed junction.
Proposed Kingsland Road Stamford Road Junction
And this is a Google Map of the area.
Kingsland Road Stamford Road Junction
Note the inevitable truck parked outside Tesco, gumming everything up. Why is it that Tesco do this more than other supermarkets? Or they seem to do it in my opinion! As the crossing has been moved to allow buses to turn left out of the bus station, the loading bay has been moved further south, so I suspect that trucks won’t be able to park there and cause other vehicles to block the crossing that I regularly use. So that is one reason I like it, as it will make it easier for me to cross the road to get into Dalston Junction station. As buses will be able to turn left out of the bus station, I do wonder if TfL have got plans for more bus routes from Dalston, which of course I would support. I don’t think others will be so supportive. Look at these pictures of the junction and Tottenham Road.
Note that the Tesco store is quite a way up towards the Balls Pond Road and after the changes are made, they will have a cycle lane in front of the shop. My heart bleeds for them! – I don’t think! There are quite a few businesses in Tottenham Road, who might find movements of vehicles rather difficult. Especially, as the Cycle Superhighway will soon cross the road in the middle. I also think that some residents of Tottenham Road will be objecting, as effectively unless they do a three-point turn, they will have to go a long way round to get out, as they’ll be a dead-end at one end of the road and the Cycle Superhighway across the middle. As I don’t drive, I don’t care!
Overground Customer Service At Work
You may ask, what this London Overground Customer Service Agent is doing on his knees at Hackney Downs station.
Overground Customer Service At Work
He’d spotted a raised man-hole cover and was taking a photograph to report it. He’d put a one pence coin by the hole.
A Raised Man-Hole Cover
Apparently, that is the standard for a hole being too big.
That is a very good practical way of measuring it.
Where Next For The Overground?
After the launch of the Overground on the Lea Valley Lines, which has probably gone ahead with just a few minor glitches and quite a lot of enthusiasm from staff and passengers, where next will the orange spider stretch its tentacles?
Passengers will have a big effect, as going Overground has some large benefits for passengers.
1. Transport for London’s fare structure is lower than that of National Rail.
2. Freedom Passes now have no annoying restrictions and this will generate traffic for the Overground, as I reported in The Chat On The Overground.
3. Overground likes to run at least four trains an hour all day every day.
4. Overground has station staff from when the first train arrives until the last one leaves.
So passengers in places, where perhaps one line is Overground and the other is Great Northern or Abellio Greater Anglia, may well go on the more affordable line with better service. This will be an argument that the better fare and service model will win.
These lines in North London must be prime candidates for Overgrounding.
Liverpool Street to Hertford East
One line that must be at the top of the list, is the remaining Lea Valley Line to Hertford East station, that is not currently under Overground control.
As this branch, is down as becoming part of Crossrail 2, surely to make it part of the Overground first would get all the stations up to a decent standard before they are incorporated into the new line.
Operationally too, having all of the shorter distance services from Liverpool Street must make sense.
The Northern City Line
The Northern City Line from Moorgate desperately needs development and new trains.
When Govia were awarded the Great Northern franchise, there were a lot of commitments, as detailed in Wikipedia. These included new trains for the Northern City Line to replace the elderly Class 313 trains and reading the details, it sounds very much like the Great Northern services will be run on Overground lines with at least four trains an hour at all times to very much improved stations.
Personally, I would also like this line to become a full seven day a week service, as it would ease travelling to places like Alexandra Palace on a weekend. A quality service on the line would also give me better access to Thameslink.
The big question with this line, if it is taken over by the Overground or TfL Rail, is how far you take the TfL-managed service; Hadley Wood, Welwyn Garden City or Stevenage.
Thameslink
It is well-known that TfL have their eyes on taking over at least the central part of Thameslink, especially as after it starts to operate in 2018, it will work almost like an Underground Line from between numerous places in North and South London with a high-frequency service and Londoners, commuters and frequent visitors will see it as part of the Underground/Overground/Crossrail network.
The Reaction Of The Other Train Operating Companies
The TOCs may or may not like running the short distance commuter services out of London. I have read comments like they make more money on long-distance services and if they need to cancel a train because of problems, it will be a commuter service.
But whatever they think, where there is an Overground or in the future, a Crossrail, alternative, they will lose revenue, if they don’t run to the Overground rules.
The Overground is taking a big stick to the TOCs and they will have to repond positively.
Using Zopa To Manage Cash Flow
Over the next couple of months, I have some moderate-sized bills to pay, like my Tax Bill and also some works to my house including the handrail. My pension will cover most of them, but I’m still a few grand short until the end of July, which is the last day, I can pay the Tax.
Normally, most people would liquidate an investment to make up the shortfall. And there’s always some extra charge from a middle-man, who presses the buttons, but does nothing.
But I have a sum of money invested in Zopa, which because of the nature of the site, generates a guaranteed amount of money each month, from repayments and interest from loans. Normally, these repayments peak around the first few days of the month, so until the end of July, I shall have two peaks, with a third due around the third or four of August.
Normally, I reinvest the repayments back in Zopa, but all money I receive until the end of July will be quietly moved out to my current account, so that I can pay my bills.
And then on the 31st of July, any surplus will be returned to Zopa.
The various transfers to and from Zopa will cost me a big fat zero.
The New Tube Map
This report on CityLab says that the new tube map is getting some serious hate.
I think that TfL aren’t that pleased with the new Tube Map, as on the newly-added Overground stations, the new Tube and Rail map is more common. As all London’s railways get more and more connected by better stations, it’s probably going to be the more important map in the end.
One thing I’d like to see is a much larger Tube and Rail map on the wall in strategic places, like perhaps in the entrance hall to a station or on the often blank wall you face, when you come down the escalator.
A Virgin customer service guy at I think Coventry, told me that he’d like to see all London connected stations have the Tube and Rail Map, as he was always being asked difficult questions, that customers could answer from such a map.
The Anonymous Widower 