Will The Elizabeth Line Have Wi-Fi And 4G?
This page on the TfL web site is entitled Everything You Need To Know About The Elizabeth Line, where this is said about Wi-Fi and 4G.
WiFi access within the tunnels will be introduced later in 2022. Customers on both trains and platforms will have access to 4G connectivity this year too.
Will passengers be more likely to take a route through London with Wi-Fi and 4G?
I very much feel they will and that this could draw more passengers to use the Elizabeth Line.
And once, they start to use it, they’ll keep with it, so long as they’re happy.
Elizabeth Line – A Convenient Bus Stop
One of my ways to get to the Elizabeth Line to go to the West, is to take a 73 bus to the Dean Street entrance of Tottenham Court Road station.
These pictures show the last part of the journey.
Note.
- The 73 bus is convenient for me, as it goes close to my house and through the Angel.
- The stop at Dean Street is only perhaps twenty metres from the entrance to the station.
- The escalators must have one of the largest advertising screens in London above them.
- It is probably only about a hundred metres from the bottom of the escalator to the platform screen doors for the trains.
Many people will have a bus route that is their best way to the Lizzie Line
Elizabeth Line – Moorgate Station – 27th May 2022
I took these pictures as I walked between the Northern Line and the Moorgate entrance to the Liverpool Street station on the Elizabeth Line.
Note.
- There is a lift and stairs at the Northern Line end.
- I would estimate that the tunnel is about two hundred metres long.
- There are resting bars at intervals.
- There are two help points along the tunnel.
- There are two lifts to get to the Elizabeth Line ticket hall, at the other end.
I was able to walk it today, but when my damaged knee is playing up, I will not use this route.
However, the rat-up-the-drainpipe route to the surface, that I described in Up From The Depths At Moorgate Station is still available.
But this route is not wheel-chair and buggy friendly.
In this route, a single escalator is taken from the Northern Line platforms to the National Rail platforms, from where there is a double escalator to the ticket hall level.
Conclusion
The rat-up-the-drainpipe route is acceptable to me, but I don’t feel the step-free route via the long tunnel will be acceptable for all those, who need to use it.
It’s just too long to walk for many!
Perhaps the addition of seats for a rest would help.
Step-Free Access Between Train And Platform On The Elizabeth Line
Any new railway with new trains, should have step-free access train and platform.
I know that this has not always happened in the last few years, but how does the Elizabeth Line match up.
I’ve taken these pictures in the last couple of days.
On this evidence, it certainly seems that the access between train and platform is step-free, between at least Woolwich and Paddington stations.
Offshore Wind Champion Appointed As £160m Floating Offshore Wind Fund Opens For Expressions Of Interest
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Kwasi Kwarteng.
These three paragraphs describe the policy.
Ambitious plans to expand offshore wind around the United Kingdom to power homes and businesses with cheap, homegrown energy received a further boost today with the appointment of a new government champion and a multimillion-pound manufacturing fund opening for expressions of interest.
The appointment of Tim Pick as the first UK Offshore Wind Champion was confirmed by Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Business and Energy Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng today.
The Floating Offshore Wind Manufacturing Investment Scheme (FLOWMIS) will provide £160 million in government funding to boost floating offshore wind capability around the UK at sites in Scotland, Wales and elsewhere by supporting manufacturers and giving private investors the confidence to back this emerging sector which is expected to rapidly expand in the years ahead.
Floating offshore wind needs the following components.
- Wind turbines, which are the same as those used onshore.
- Floats, which are generally made from steel, but concrete can also be used. There are a few proven designs, like the Windfloat from Principle Power.
- Mooring systems for the turbines.
- Electrical substations and cables.
There is also a need for deep water docks, with large cranes to assemble the systems, prior to towing the turbines into position.
Floating offshore wind is a new industry and there will be new ideas coming through from innovators.
I feel that the strategy could help bring new ideas through.
The Story Behind The Concrete Panels On The Elizabeth Line
These are a selection of the pictures I took yesterday inside Elizabeth Line stations.
Note.
- The walls and ceilings appear to be covered in light grey panels with holes.
- The material appears to look like concrete.
- Every one is a totally different shape, so how were they manufactured?
This article on Ian Visits is entitled How Crossrail Is Using 3D-Printing To Build Its Stations.
This is the two opening paragraphs.
When you start to use the new Elizabeth line stations, among its many achievements will be the first large scale use of 3D-printing in concrete.
The use of 3D printing has made possible one of the more distinctive features of the future Elizabeth line stations — the curved concrete panels that will line the inside of the passenger tunnels and some stations, and sinuously glide around corners in a way never seen before in a tube station.
There will be a total of something like 36,000 of these panels and although printing each in concrete is possible, Crossrail would probably have been delivered in the 2040s or 2050s.
The contractors used an innovative process called FreeFAB, which had been invented by an Australian architect.
- The process creates a wax mould for each panel using 3D printing.
- This mould is then used to create the actual panel.
- After each panel is cast, the wax is melted off and recycled.
- The panels are made in a factory in Doncaster.
We will see a lot more of this technique used in the construction industry.
Elizabeth Line – Abbey Wood Station – 24th May 2022
I took these pictures at Abbey Wood station on the Elizabeth Line.
Note.
- Abbey Wood station has four platforms, three bridges and six lifts.
- In Abbey Wood Station Opens, there are pictures from when the station opened in October 2017.
- The interchange between the North Kent and Elizabeth Lines seemed to be working well.
It will be interesting to see how this station changes to accommodate more Elizabeth Line services to Kent.
Elizabeth Line – Custom House Station – 24th May 2022
I took these pictures at Custom House station on the Elizabeth Line.
Note.
- The station was built in a factory and the concrete beams were assembled on-site. Traditionally, the concrete structure would have been poured on site.
- The quality of the columns is excellent and an engineer I spoke to a few years ago, said that the methods used at Custom House station ensure a high quality building. Look at the last two pictures.
- The two escalators are in-line, rather than side-by-side and it looks like this was done to squeeze in the station.
- There were signs up for toilets, that are visible in picture 4. Are they going to be installed?
The ideas used to create Custom House station, will be borrowed by architects and builders all over the world.
Elizabeth Line – Riding The Underground Roller Coaster At Liverpool Street Station – 24th May 2022
In London’s First Underground Roller Coaster, I published this cross-section of the double-ended Liverpool Street station, which I have christened an underground roller-coaster.
Note.
- Moorgate station is on the left.
- Liverpool Street station is on the right.
- In the middle looking like a giant juicer is the ventilation shaft in Finsbury Circus.
- The Crossrail tunnels, which consist of two running tunnels and a pedestrian walkway between them are at the deepest level.
- There are escalators and lifts all over the place.
Today, I walked between Liverpool Street and Moorgate.
As I walked I took these pictures.
Note.
- It is two down escalators and two up escalators from end to end.
- The passageway is wide, with cross passageways linking to the platforms.
- It is all step-free.
- I used a down inclined lift.
I feel it was probably easier than a walk on the surface.
But as it was raining, I didn’t get wet.
Elizabeth Line – Whitechapel Station – 24th May 2022
I took these pictures at Whitechapel station on the Elizabeth Line.
Note.
- The step-free access between platform and train in two pictures.
- I wrote Whitechapel Station – 23rd August 2021, when the rest of the station opened.
- There are certainly a large amount of concrete panels.
- I have called Whitechapel station the Jewel In the East and now the Elizabeth Line has opened, I think we’ll see a lot of passengers changing trains at the station.
- Passengers reversing direction between the two Eastern branches of the Elizabeth Line, when they are going say between Woolwich and Ilford stations.
- The Hammersmith and City and the District Lines will give Elizabeth Line passengers access to the North and South of Central London.
- The Overground will give Elizabeth Line passengers access further out in North and South London.
Whitechapel station will effectively give easy passenger access to over another eighty stations, not on the Elizabeth Line.
The Anonymous Widower 