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.
Preparing For A No-Deal Brexit
I am doing a few things to make sure, that I survive a no-deal Brexit, as unscathed as possible.
Savings
I keep all of my spare cash in Zopa, moving it in and out as required. Effectively for about seven or eight years now, I have used the first peer-to-peer lender as a high-interest, thirty-day access deposit account.
It has probably paid around five percent before tax in that time and it has safely ridden the peaks and troughs of governments and financial instability.
Today, I calculated how much cash, I need in my current account to see me through to end of the year, and the spare money was tranferred to Zopa. It was a fast painless transaction and now it is available to lend to Zopa’s customers.
Warfarin
Warfarin stops me having another stroke.
As it only comes from Eastbourne, I suspect supply of this comment drug.
But I have enough to last me to until Summer 2019.
INR Testing
I test my own INR, which determines the Warfarin dose.
Today, I ordered enough test strips to get me through to Summer 2019.
Beer
Every time, I go walking around London, I take a large bag, that can hold up to eight bottles of my favourite beer from Marks and Spencer.
Supplies from Adnams in Suffolk seem good at the present and I usually liberate a few from a boring life on the shelves on every trip.
As with other products, I aim to have enough to last me through to Summer 2019, at a rate of three a day.
EDF Energy Targets Solar Homes With Discounted Battery Offer
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Solar Power Portal.
The title shows the way things are going. Although, I doubt, I would use EDF, as they are one of the companies who have ripped us off for a long time.
I have said that I will fit a battery in this house to go with the solar panels on my roof. I will also fit an electric car charging point in the garage, so that when I sell the house in a few years, the house will have more buyer appeal.
At around seven thousand pounds, the 8.2 kWh battery mentioned in the article, would be within my price range, but I suspect that price will decrease.
A Tailpiece To An Obituary
Yesterday, The Times finished their obituary of Baroness Trumpington, with this sentence.
On another occasion she was invited by a magazine editor to a lunch where Nicholas Soames praised Viginia Bottomley as “one of the chaps”. The editor found this offensive and said that a woman cannot be a chap. Trumpington took the cigarette out of her mouth, put down her gin and simply said “Balls”
As her son said in announcing her death on Twitter – “She had a bloody good innings!”
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.
The Anonymous Widower 
