Just Before The First Rush Hour At The New Bank Station Walbrook Entrance
I took these pictures just before four this evening.
One station guy told me that the low levels of passengers were to be expected and predicted that Tuesday would see a large increase of passengers, as word spread that the entrance was open.
The Bank Station Walbrook Entrance Opened Today
I was there at ten o’clock this morning to see the new Walbrook Entrance to Bank station open.
There are various features of the design that are excellent.
- It looks like the entrance has been designed to be able to handle the full capacity of the uprated Waterloo & City Line, running higher capacity new trains with a higher capacity and possibly a higher frequency.
- The stairs are wide and built to a standard, that will tempt fit people to use them at busy times.
- They will also be very safe in emergencies.
- The route from the pedestrianised Walbrook to the gateline is clear and level, so it should handle very large numbers of passengers in safety.
It should be noted that those I spoke to, liked the entrance.
Conclusion
London and other cities need more entrances to subways and underground railways like this.
It must be one of the best in London, ranking alongside these stations on the Jubilee Line.
- Canary Wharf
- Canada Water
- North Greenwich
- Westminster
And the new entrances at Bond Street, Kings Cross St. Pancras and Victoria.
Big Names Chase £50m Crossrail Office Job At Bond Street
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Building.
This is the first two paragraphs.
Scheme is one of a dozen planned for central London link of rail route
Three firms are in the race to build a new £50m office block above the Crossrail station at Bond Street.
It just shows how much is being pumped into London to develop office and housing complexes.
Bank Station Walbrook Entrance – 28th November 2018
I took these pictures this morning.
Note.
- Judging by the dates on the poster, which says that there will be a closure of the Waterloo & City Line on the weekend of December 1/2, so that work can be done on the passageway, I wouldn’t be surprised to see the entrance opened in early December
- I also had a good look at the white board and it looks like a TV screen. Rather upmarket for the London Underground!
- Looking through the open door, I could see that the lights on the ticket machines were on!
On a second visit, I was told that the entrance opens at 10:00 on Friday.
Crossrail – Northern – Northern City Interchange At Moorgate Station
In New Bank Tube Station Entrance In Final Stages Ahead Of Opening, Mrlvyn said this in a comment.
I visited Moorgate Station recently and noticed the new lift of the Northern Line behind the hoarding. I then used escalator to go up to the Northern City Line which is directly above the Northern Line but there is no sign of work for the lift to stop at this level !
I have discovered from another site that Line will not be going step free due to arguments between DFT and TFL when Boris Johnson was Mayor and who should fund a hole in the wall for lift to stop!
Plus ca change! My company provided the planning computer and software for the Jubilee Line Extension. We heard stories of bad planning all the time and it certainly wasn’t a happy project.
But look at this image, I’ve clipped from this large visualisation of the massive Liverpool Street-Moorgate Crossrail Station.
The image shows the Northern City Line coming into Moorgate station.
Colours are as follows.
- Blue – Northern City Line
- Yellow – Circle and Hammersmith & City Lines
- Black – Northern
- Turquoise – Crossrail
Details to note.
Existing Northern City Escalators
The escalator shaft to the existing ticket hall is shown in white by the letter M of Moorgate.
Existing Northern Line Escalators
The double tunnels from the stairs leading to the platforms to the escalators are shown in white underneath the Northern City Line.
The escalators to the existing ticket hall are clearly shown.
Circle And Hammersmith & City Lines
When Crossrail opens, passengers would seem to still do, as they do now to interchange between Norther/Northern City and the Sub-Surface Lines.
The only problem now, is if you need a lift, there is none to the deep lines or in the subway under the Sub-Surface Lines.
I am sure that the Crossrail reconstruction will address these problems.
The New Crossrail Station
The big turquoise block is the new Crossrail station and Ticket Hall.
This image shows a cross-section through it.
It will be two escalators down from street level to Crossrail. But then rhen Crossrail is deep.
A New Tunnel
In the visualisation, there is a new tunnel from around the centre of the Northern and Northern City Lines to the new Crossrail station.
I am not sure of where it joins the new construction over Crossrail, but assuming that the visualisation is to scale, the tunnel is larger than a typical Underground tunnel.
This size will mean that it will attract a lot of passengers.
At the Crossrail end, if would probably connect by a level route to an interchange floor, where the following would be possible.
- Take an escalator or lift to and from Crossrail.
- Take a level connection to the Westbound platforms of the Sub-Surface Lines.
- Take an escalator or lift to street level.
I suspect that would handle all connections except for step-free access to the Eastbound Sub-Surface Lines.
At the other end of this tunnel, it would need to have large capacity and step-free access to the Northern and Northern City Lines.
Conclusion
It looks like the Northern and Northern City Lines are being given a second route to both the surface and other lines through Moorgate.
I shall go and have a look this morning.
I took these pictures.
A few observations.
- The two escalators connecting the Northern and the Northern City Lines are in good condition with refurbished walls and tiling.
- There are no tell-tale blue walls on the platforms for the Northern City Line, which still retains its Network South East livery.
- There are two blue walls on the opposite side of the cross passages to both escalators on the Northern Line platforms
- The blue wall, facing the up connecting escalator is wider than that facing the down escalator.
- There doesn’t seem to be any works for a lift to take passengers to and from the existing tickey hall.
It looks like it will be a tight squeeze fitting in all the access stairs, escalators and lifts between the Northern Line platforms and the new tunnel, that is shown connecting the Northern Line platforms to Crossrail.
I come to one or more of these conclusions.
- There will be other passages dug in the future.
- Passengers will continue to use the existing escalators.
- I’m missing something obvious.
As Moorgate station is one of the busiest and will get even more so, there must be a sensible plan.
The only thing I can find on the internet is this page on the Acanthus Architects web site.
The New Entrance To Bank Station Underneath The Bloomberg Building
It looks like everything is now ready on Walbrook for the new entrance to Bank station to be opened, with all the barriers cleared away.
I couldn’t work out, whether the white screen was a video display or just a picture frame for a tube map. It was certainly quality and not one of the the usual.
There is still nothing on the Internet about when it opens.
Bollard Advertising
I took these pictures at London Bridge station.
The adverts wrapped around the steel security bollards are for Thameslink.
Will Trains Run Bi-Directionally On The New Third-Track Through Tottenham Hale?
I ask this question, as a station-man at Tottenham Hale station, said this is what will happen, when the third track is commissioned and there are four trains per hour (tph) between Stratford and Meridian Water stations.
As there is no passing loop between Lea Bridge and Meridian Water stations, only one train can run on the third track at any one time.
Currently timings on the route are as follows.
- Lea Bridge to Angel Road – 10 minutes
- Stratford to Angel Road – 16-18 minutes
- Angel Road to Stratford – 16-18 minutes
- Angel Road to Lea Bridge – 9 minutes
If I assume that it takes six minutes to change ends at Meridian Water and that journey times are a minute shorter due to the shorter distance, this means the following.
- A train would take twenty-three minutes to do a round trip between Lea Bridge and Meridian Water.
- A train would take thirty-eight minutes to do a round trip between Stratford and Meridian Water.
I am led to the following conclusions.
- A twenty-three minute round trip from Lea Bridge means that four tph isn’t possible using the third track bi-directionally.
- Thirty-eight minutes for the round trip from Stratford would probably mean only one extra trip in an hour is possible.
I am very certain that running a four tph service between Stratford and Meridian Water, using the third track in a bi-directional manner would be very difficult, if not impossible.
Cross-Platform Interchange Between Crossrail And Central Line At Stratford
Crossrail and the Central Line have a cross-platform interchange at Stratford.
I turned up today, with trains in both platforms.
There needs to be more interchanges like this between different lines, around the UK.
I can’t think of many.
- Acton Town – District and Piccadilly Lines
- Barons Court – District and Piccadilly Lines
- Euston – Northern and Victoria
- Finchley Road – Metropolitan and Jubilee Lines
- Finsbury Park – Victoria and Piccadilly Lines
- Hammersmith – District and Piccadilly Lines
- Highbury & Islington – Northern City and Victoria Lines.
- Mile End – Central and Hammersmith & City Lines
- Oxford Circus – Victoria and Bakerloo Lines
- Ravenscourt Park – District and Piccadilly Lines
- Stockwell – Victoria and Northern Lines
- Turnham Green – District and Piccadilly Lines
- Wembley Park – Metropolitan and Jubilee Lines.
I don’t know of one outside the London area.
Northumberland Park Station – 26th November 2018
Northumberland Park station is now open for business.
The pictures are in sequence as I walked from the Northbound platform, across the bridge and out the other side of the station.
- I used the steps on the Northbound platform.
- One lift is almost ready to use.
- The ramp on the Southbound platform is ready.
- Currently, there are three tracks, with space for a fourth.
- There is still a lot of finishing to do.
The station has been designed to be simple and won’t have a Ticket Office or entry gates.
The Anonymous Widower 
