Whitechapel Station Is The Preferred Interchange
In this article on Ian Visits, which is entitled Elizabeth Line Links Up The Core Tunnels To Heathrow And Beyond, there is this extract.
On board, the trains, tannoy announcements when approaching Whitechapel station from the east now tell you to change there for trains to Reading and Heathrow, and when approaching Liverpool Street from the east no longer tell you to change for trains to Shenfield.
Whitechapel has been chosen as the station to recommend changing at, as it’s the more convenient one due to its layout and has more side passages to get between the two platforms.
Apart from the obvious timetable change, the biggest change, already noticeable is in how passengers use the line.
It certainly appeared to me from some staff, I spoke to, that some passengers were getting rather lost.
Taking A Train Between Abbey Wood And Ilford Stations On The Lizzie Line
The Elizabeth Line will open up a large number of new routes for Londoners, those who visit and those who live close to the tentacles of the new line.
One of these routes is between South East London and East London or South Essex.
You could take two trains in and out of central London, with the Underground in between, but the easiest way is to drive.
But then the Dartford Crossing hasn’t the needed capacity.
But the Elizabeth Line, which opened today, gives you an alternative with a simple cross-platform change at Whitechapel or Liverpool Street stations.
I took a trip today between Abbey Wood and Ilford stations, changing at Whitechapel to assess the feasibility of a route like this as a daily commute, taking these pictures along the route,
Note.
Between Abbey Wood And Ilford stations took 39 minutes.
Google says a car will take 45 minutes.
The Hour Change Has Completely Knocked Me Out
Last Saturday, the 29th of October, the clocks went back and I’ve not had a totally good week.
On Tuesday, I couldn’t get dressed, as my gammy left arm and hand didn’t work.
- I also felt a bit unsteady, as if I’d had a couple of whiskies. But then, I never drink anything more alcoholic, than 0.0% real ale.
- As there was no-one else, I dialled 999.
- An ambulance came and took me to the Royal London Hospital, where nothing was found.
- But as my body responded to the hospital’s superb air-conditioning, I was allowed to go home.
- T think the hospital thought I took a taxi, but in reality I took the Overground to Dalston Junction station.
They had suggested, that I should take my planned trip to Doncaster. Which I did!
- I took a Hitachi Class 800 train to the North.
- And I took an InterCity225 train home.
Both have air-conditioning that only affects me positively, unlike Class 390 trains, which have put me in hospital before.
On Thursday, I wrote up my trip, or at least the ticketing in An Affordable Trip To Doncaster.
On Friday, I fell asleep on the floor and missed a friend bringing round my washing.
On Saturday, I woke late, went out for lunch and then watched the television.
In the evening, I was tired so went to bed at nine, which is unusual for me.
I got up at nine and did my trip on the Elizabeth Line, which I wrote about in Taking A Train Between Abbey Wood And Ilford Stations On The Lizzie Line.
As a Control Engineer, I tend to believe that the loss of the hour a week ago, has been the cause of my erratic sleeping.
- I should also note, that as a child, I dreaded the clock changes.
- I was also a strong supporter of the Daylight Saving Bill and wrote a post called An Open Letter to my MP About Changing to Central European Time.
I’ve also got a strange skin that I wrote about in My Strange Skin.
Blackpool Needs A Diamond
Every year there are more and more depressing reports about Blackpool and there was another today.
Something dramatic needs to be done.
One of the successful scientific weapons that has been deployed on any number of problems, including the Covid-19 and malaria, has been the impressive Diamond Light Source at Harwell.
When I talk to researchers at universities in the North, they would love to able to use it more, but it is fully booked and getting access is difficult. There is also the travel problem.
I believe that the solution is to build Diamond 2 in the North. And what better place to build it than Blackpool. The city has good rail and tram links and plenty of accommodation.
Now, that’s what I call levelling-up.
An Affordable Trip To Doncaster
If you want to get a train, the way to not get a cheap ticket was to turn up at the last minute and buy a single ticket to your destination.
But not any more.
On Wednesday, I needed to go to Doncaster.
- I knew that the latest train, that I could catch to get me to my meeting on time, was the 13:03, so I arrived at Kings Cross about 12:30.
- I tried to buy on the ticket machine, but I unable to complete the transaction.
- In the end, I got an Advance Single ticket with my Senior Railcard for £22.60 from the Booking Office.
- I had two backward-facing seats to myself, as the train, which was going to Leeds wasn’t very full.
- Coming South later in the day, I repeated the exercise in the Booking Office at Doncaster for £23.85.
- The train was full, but I did have a seat with a table.
I consider just under fifty pounds to be good value for the return journey.
I’m fairly sure, that this is a method being used by LNER to fill seats. as after all, forty tickets at an average of £25 a time is a grand.
I think we should applaud, what they are doing.
It should be remembered that LNER are facing increasing competition on the route, including against planes to Newcastle and Edinburgh.
I went to King’s Cross this morning and had a play with the ticket machine. I could have bought tickets as follows.
- Edinburgh – £52.10
Hull – £27.05
Leeds – £32.90
Newcastle – £51.50
All trains included a seat reservation and left within half an hour.
Note that the Hull ticket was a direct one on Hull Trains, that I could have bought on an LNER machine.
Orders For The Eviation Alice Pass US$ 2 Billion
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from Eviation.
This is the first paragraph.
Eviation Aircraft, a manufacturer of all-electric aircraft, today announced that the order book for its world-leading nine-seater all-electric Alice airplane has passed a total value of US$ 2 billion.
$2 billion is a tidy sum and I suspect it ensures that they can now concentrate on its certification program on the way to completing Entry into Service (EIS).
It looks like the day, I will fly in an electric aircraft has come closer.
Homerton Hospital Is Bottom Of The List
In The Times today, there is an article, which is entitled Ambulance List Shows NHS Trust With The Worst Delays.
My local hospital is Homerton and it gets a very honourable mention.
At the other end of the scale, four trusts accepting patients by ambulance reported no delays of more than an hour, led by Homerton University Hospital in east London.
It is interesting that Homerton is down as one of the best.
My GP reckons it has improved greatly in the last few years. He also says, that they seem to have more spare capacity, than the other hospitals in the area.
The hospital removed my gallstones using endoscopy and I walked out to a waiting car. I could have taken the bus, if required.
I also had a knee X-rayed, where the GP gave me a chit and told me to just turn up unannounced in one of two specific three-hour periods. I was in and out in just over ten minutes.
Homerton seem to be thinking hard about their organisation and methods.
Could this be why they are the best on the list?
So what is our South London Mayor doing to improve transport to this much improved hospital?
He’s cutting out, one of the major bus routes to the hospital.
Government Boosts Hydrogen Buses With £26m
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Energy Live ~News.
These are the first two paragraphs.
A Northern Irish bus company is receiving £26 million in funding to build electric and hydrogen buses.
Wrightbus built the world’s first hydrogen double-decker bus in 2020 and is now looking to export its zero-emission buses worldwide to Australia, Germany, Italy, France and Spain.
Other points from the article include.
- Wrightbus are aiming to build 3,000 zero-emission buses.
- Jobs could increase by 300.
- They would like to increase exports by 40 %.
It looks like there’s a future in zero-emission buses.
Cummins Is Charging Towards Green
If ten years ago, you’d asked any green activist to name companies, that would be ruined by or fail to adjust to global warming by decarbonising their product line, I’m sure most big diesel engine manufacturers, like Cummins, would have been on their list.
But Cummins have successfully moved on as their latest press releases about their technology show.
- October 13th – Cummins Drives Gigawatt Electrolyzer Manufacturing Plant Forward in Spain, Expanding Its Global Clean Energy Footprint.
- October 10th – Cummins Drives Domestic Green Hydrogen Economy Forward With First U.S. Electrolyzer Manufacturing Facility.
- October 6th – Atura Power Selects Cummins To Design, Manufacture 20 MW Electrolyzer System For Niagara Hydrogen Centre.
- October 5th – Cummins’ Second Largest Solar Farm Goes Live at Rocky Mount Engine Plant.
- September 22nd – Destination IAA: Cummins Unveils New Technology For Zero-Emissions Power Solutions.
- September 20th – Cummins QSK95 Engine Proven Fully Compatible With Renewable Diesel.
- September 15th – Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) Supports Mobile Grocery Markets in Communities Across the U.S.
- September 15th – Destination IAA: Cummins Debuting Electrified Meritor Powertrains For The First Time Since Acquisition.
- September 8th – Cummins Advocating for Racial Equity (CARE) Invests in a Sustainable Future Through Private Equity Partnership.
- September 8th – Cummins Scaling Belgium Electrolyzer Manufacturing Capacity To 1 Gigawatt Through IPCEI Support.
- September 7th – Werner Enterprises Signs Letter of Intent Planning to Secure 500 X15H Engines from Cummins.
- August 31st – Transport Enterprise Leasing Planning to Integrate Cummins’ X15H into Heavy Duty Truck Fleets.
These can be summarised as follows.
- Green Solutions – 4
- Electrolysers for green hydrogen – 3
- Decarbonisation of diesel engines – 3
- Community Support – 2
- Electric Powertrains – 1
- Solar Power – 1
According to Google, the Cummins share price has risen thirty percent in the last five years.
They must have done something right!
Bank’s New Moving Walkways Seem Busy
I have used Bank station’s new moving walkways a few times now and they seem to be busy.
Note.
- These pictures were taken at 14:00 on a Sunday afternoon. I wouldn’t have thought that would be a busy time.
- I’m fairly certain, that I’ve only seen one person walking in the middle.
- Perhaps, the wide moving walkways encourage walkers to walk on the moving surface and save more time?
- There were no travellers coming towards me, as I timed the pictures, so no-one could be easily recognised.
The number of users makes you wonder, if some travellers are taking this route for the novelty?
Or do travellers just like to go as fast as possible?
The Anonymous Widower 