Increase In Hate Crime Against Disabled Rail Users
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the introductory paragraph.
New figures published by the Department for Transport have shown that hate crimes toward disabled people traveling on the rail network have risen by 24% in the last three years.
I don’t think the abuse has just been on trains either.
I rarely see any friction over the use of the wheelchair bay on buses in London, but my feeling is that I see it more often than I used too!
- Perhaps six months ago, a mother was not very pleased at having to get off the bus so that a disabled guy in a wheelchair could use the space.
- Some people think possession of the space is all important.
- I’ve also heard arguments over who takes precedent.
I wonder, if it is worse in other parts of the UK, where wheelchair access to buses is not as easy,as in London and there are fewer buses.
Are Some Passengers Annoyed At Being Delayed?
I’ve certainly seen moderate annoyance on buses and trains, when there is a delay caused by a disabled passenger getting on or off a bus or train, with sometimes some very offensive words being said.
So What Should Be Done About It?
Obviously, we need to do all the usual personal things to make sure that things run smoothly and serious abusers should be prosecuted.
But I also think, that we should aim for the following.
Every train must have a level platform and train interface.
The picture was taken from literature about the South Wales Metro and shows a visualisation of one of the Flirts, that will run on the routes in South Wales.
We should ban the ordering of trains, that don’t meet this criteria.
All routes between street and platform should be step-free.
It would be an expensive program, but there would be a lot who’d benefit.
- People in wheelchairs
- Babies and toddlers in buggies and their pushers.
- People dragging large cases.
- Cyclists with bicycles
- Older people with mobility issues.
There will be collateral benefits.
- Trains would be speeded up, as they would not have to wait so long in stations.
- More people will use the trains and not just the disabled.
- If the program were properly managed, it could create work for local construction firms all over the UK.
It might even encourage inward and stay-at-home tourism from those with mobility issues.
Have I Got Thrombophilia?
I was chatting on-line on The Times last night with a guy or even a girl, as their nick didn’t indicate gender.
I had said that a Danish study had shown that there were links between coeliac disease and blood clots. I wrote about this study in A Danish Study On Links Between Coeliac Disease And Blood Clots. Two of my on-line friends have since responded to that post with stories of coeliacs and blood-clots.
I got this reply from the person, I was chatting with.
There are some studies linking coeliac condition and the Factor V Leiden thrombophilia mutation. Several members of my family have (or had, since some have passed away) both conditions. I have the Factor V Leiden, as have both of my children. I do a lot of family history and have traced the Leiden mutation through triangulation of DNA matches and shared chromosome matches (via Family Tree DNA which goes into such detail) and I believe this is pointing to my Swedish ancestry.
I replied and asked if the person had coeliac disease.
This was the reply.
I had some tests and a biopsy about 30 years ago to see if I had inherited the coeliac condition which had cut a swathe through my mother’s side of the family. It was negative, but I do suspect that I may have passed it on to my son. He’s not keen on getting tested although he did get a Leiden Factor V test and he is heterozygous for that. My mother, aunt, grandmother and cousins have coeliac and Leiden. Some have both and some have one or the other.
My mother was young enough to get proper advice, but my grandmother had a terrible time. She just literally faded away. Her treatment was eating raw liver and having injections of liver which left lumps under her skin. Awful.
I then looked up thrombophilia on Wikipedia. The picture of a red leg in the entry could have been of me, except that with me, It’s the other leg.
The NHS web site also gives useful information.
I need to see an expert urgently!
But at least, I’m already on the likely medication – Warfarin.
So it’s hopefully just a case of keep taking the tablets.
I must admit, I’m slightly annoyed with the medics. I have never been told, that there is a link between coeliac disease and blood clots, when evidence from the Danish peer-reviewed study and people I’ve met on-line clearly shows there is a link!
Given, all the arguments about the AstraZeneca vaccine and blood clots, more research needs to be done.
Approaching Kings Cross – 2nd April 2021
I took these pictures approaching Kings Cross.
Comparing these pictures to those in Approaching Kings Cross – 19th February 2021, show that work is progressing.
It should be finished by the Summer.
Battersea Power Station’s Glass Elevator To Open Next Year
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
It sounds like it will give a reason for some tourists to visit the area and it will be a balance to the cable-car in the London Docks.
Ian gives more details about what could be a new experience for Londoners and tourists.
Finsbury Circus Appears Fully Open
I bought my breakfast yesterday in Leon on Moorgate and ate it in the nearby Finsbury Circus Gardens.
It is now fully open.
This picture shows the gardens during the construction of Crossrail.
Note.
- The bandstand can be picked out amongst the trees.
- The shaft towards the bottom is forty metres deep and was used to get men and materials to the tunnels.
Comparing the pictures shows that the gardens are now able to used for their original purpose.
Orsted In Gigawatt-Scale Offshore Wind To Green Hydrogen Plan With Steel Giant ArcelorMittal
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Recharge.
The title says a lot and at the heart of the plan is a 1 GW electrolyser.
Now that is enormous.
Will it be made in Rotherham by ITM Power?
The article is a must read.
West Ealing Station Goes Step-Free As Part Of Crossrail Upgrades
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
The title says it all.
These pictures, which were taken on the 31st March 2021, show West Ealing station.
Note
- It is fully step-free.
- As at Acton Main Line station, the lifts are very disabled-friendly.
- The terrible staircases of the old station have yet to be demolished.
- There is just a small amount of work to finish.
It is a fine addition to London’s portfolio of stations.
But one thing is not covered in the article – What is going to happen to the Greenford Branch?
- Currently, it is only hourly.
- Will it be going to four trains per hour (tph) ? It certainly needs this frequency to be a feeder line for Crossrail, which could have as many as six tph stopping in the station.
- Will it be run by battery electric trains.
- Will three-car Aventras work the route, as I wrote in Could Three-Car Aventras Run Services On The Greenford Branch??
- Will it be going to an automated shuttle, as I wrote in An Automated Shuttle Train On The Greenford Branch Line?
- Will it be run by Class 230 trains, as I wrote in Will The Class 230 Trains Be Coming Home??
- Will the management of the route go to Transport for London?
I think I would favour the automated shuttle! But then I’m a trained Control Engineer.
- Two-car battery electric train.
- Option of being lengthened to three cars.
- I suspect Alstom, CAF, Stadler and Vivarail could all provide trains.
- There would be level access between train and platform to reduce station dwell times.
- Automated like the Victoria Line, where when ready to depart, the driver presses a button to close the doors and then the train moves automatically to the next station.
- The driver could sit in the middle of the train with screens to see front and rear, so they wouldn’t even have to change ends, which wastes time.
- Or they might choose to sit in the front cab or even use a sophisticated remote control, developed with gaming or military drone experience.
- Charging would be automatic at both terminals.
- One train would run a continuous service with a timetable, which just said services would be a service approximately every fifteen minutes
- Trains would have wi-fi and passengers could view front and rear camera images on their devices.
- Trains would be stabled at night in one of the two terminal platforms and could have a spruce up each night from a mobile or the station cleaning crew.
- Trains might need to have sufficient performance to run a service into and out of Paddington, at the beginning and end of the day. But if Crossrail services were reliable and six tph, this feature could be superfluous. But other services might need a main line capability at say 60 or 70 mph to relocate to and from the main depot.
- On the Greenford Branch, signallers and/or the driver would need the ability to park the train in the next terminal station, when a freight train is passing through.
Get this automated branch line right and the technology could be used in several places around the UK.
The New Step-Free Entrance At Euston Square Station
This map from cartometro.com shows the Underground Lines in the Euston station area.
Note.
- The Northern Line is shown in black.
- The Victoria Line is shown in light blue.
- The sub-surface lines are shown in yellow and mauve.
- The Northern and Victoria Lines are deep underneath the station, whereas the sub-surface lines are under Euston Road.
This Google Map shows the area and the positions of the station entrances.
Note.
- Warren Street station in the South West corner of the map at the Northern end of Tottenham Court Road.
- Euston Road running South-West to North-East across the map.
- University College Hospital is on the South side of Euston Road between Tottenham Court Road and Gower Street.
- There is a subway under Euston Road almost in line with Gower Street, that gives access to the Western ends of the platforms at Euston Square station.
- There is a lift to the station from the South side of Euston Road on the Eastern side of Gower Street.
- The Western end of the platforms at Euston Square are probably just to the East of Gower Street.
The next road across Euston Road is Gordon Street, where the entrance to a new subway under Euston Road to Euston station will be located.
This Transport for London visualisation shows the entrance to the subway looking towards Euston station.
This diagram of the subway. is from Ian Visits,
Note the platforms at Euston Square station appear to be shown in red and end to the West of Gordon Street.
I took these pictures at the Eastern end of Euston Square station.
Note what look like bricked off areas at the end of the platforms for electrical and other gubbins. I suspect they could be removed to create more space.
Conclusion
I don’t think that connecting the platforms to the subway will be the most challenging of projects, if they can dig easily behind and over the walls of the Victorian tunnel and behind the platforms.
A Danish Study On Links Between Coeliac Disease And Blood Clots
I am a coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet.
I am worried that the covids might prey on people like me, so I am researching hard to find out the truth.
Note that in much of Europe, North America and Australasia, coeliacs are at least 1-in-100 of the population and could be higher. The NHS quotes the 1-in-100 figure on this web page, which also says reported cases of coeliac disease are higher in women than men.
This morning I found on the Internet, a peer-reviewed Danish study which was entitled
Coeliac Disease And Risk Of Venous Thromboembolism: A Nationwide Population-Based Case-Control Study
The nation in the study was Denmark.
This was the introductory paragraph.
Patients with coeliac disease (CD) may be at increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), i.e. deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and its complication pulmonary embolism (PE), because they are reported to have hyperhomocysteinaemia, low levels of K-vitamin-dependent anticoagulant proteins, and increased levels of thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor.
One thing in this summary screams at me. The mention of vitamin-K!
Ten years ago, I had a serious stroke, that because of modern clot-busting drugs failed to kill me.
I am now on long-term Warfarin and know I have to eat a diet without Vitamin-K.
Given that in a nation like Germany with a population of eighty-three million, there could be nearly a million coeliacs, many of whom will be undiagnosed, this Danish study should be taken seriously, as it should be able to predict the number of clots down to coeliac disease in Germany. But I’m just an engineer and statistician and no medic. Although after the medical troubles of my family, I know a lot more medical knowledge than I did twenty years ago.
An article in The Times, also says that all but two who suffered clots after having the AstraZeneca vaccine were women.
It should be noted that the NHS states on its web site, that women are more likely to suffer coeliac disease than men.
I am absolutely certain, that more research needs to be done.
Blood Clots In Young German Ladies After AstraZeneca Vaccine
There have been various reports that young ladies in Germany have suffered blood clots after having the AstraZeneca vaccine.
I am coeliac on a long-term gluten-free diet.
The UK, Ireland and Italy are generally fairly good at identifying coeliacs, as they suffer from so many side effects, one of which is strokes.
I had a stroke and a cardiologist thought it could have been because I wasn’t diagnosed until fifty, so my diet damaged my heart muscle causing atrial fibrillation.
My father, who I now believe was coeliac, died of a series of strokes.
I do wonder, if Germany doesn’t look for coeliacs, as they should, partly because it is a Jewish disease in their minds. Certainly finding gluten-free food in Germany can sometimes be difficult.
It should also be noted that the NHS says that there are three times as many coeliacs who are female.
Conclusion
This adds to the circumstantial evidence that coeliac disease is the alligator in the swamp of Covid-19.
The Anonymous Widower 