New Escalators At Bank Station To The Docklands Light Railway – 18th October 2022
In New Escalators At Bank Station Between The Northern Line And The DLR, I indicated that construction could be almost finished of the escalators that will connect the two lines.
The escalators have now opened.
Note.
- At the top of the escalators, you are delivered to a plaza, where the cross-tunnel between the two Northern Line platforms and the moving walkway to the Central Line meet.
- At the bottom of the escalators, you are in a wide passageway between the two DLR platforms.
- At the other end of the passageway, there are a pair of escalators that lead to Circle and District Line platforms and the Monument entrance to Bank station.
The escalators certainly open some faster pedestrian routes through the station.
Florescent Lights On The Circle Line
These pictures show a selection of florescent lights on the Circle Line.
The pictures were taken at Monument and Temple stations.
In Seeing London Underground’s Bakerloo Line Trains In A New Light, I talked about fitting LED lighting on Bakerloo Line trains.
As LED replacements for florescent tubes seem to exist, are these tubes up for replacement?
HS2 Completes First Tunnel Cross Passages
The title of this post, is the same as that of this press release from High Speed Two.
This is the first paragraph.
As the tunnelling machines under the Chilterns approach the four-mile mark, HS2 completes the first of thirty-eight underground connections between the northbound and southbound tunnels.
This video from High Speed Two, shows the construction of the cross tunnels.
There appears to have been a resurgence of traditional tunneling methods, albeit it with the assistance of modern mechanised tools.
In London recently, these tunnels have been dug without the use of expensive tunnel boring machines.
- The running and station tunnels for the Bank Station Upgrade.
- The tunnel for the Paddington Bakerloo Line Link.
I suspect there will a lot more dug traditionally in the future.
Bank And Moorgate
The map from cartometro.com shows the plethora of lines at Moorgate and Bank stations.
Note.
- Moorgate station is served by the Circle, Elizabeth, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan, Northern and Northern City Lines.
- Bank station is served by the Central, Circle, District, Northern and Waterloo & City Lines.
- Bank station is also one terminus of the DLR.
I believe it would be possible to dig a long pedestrian tunnel with a travelator, between Moorgate and Bank stations under Moorgate, which connects the two stations.
City Thameslink Station And St. Paul’s
I discussed this in A Pedestrian Connection Between City Thameslink Station And St. Paul’s Tube Station.
The Lizzie Line And Circle/District Line Interchange At Paddington – 1st July 2022
This morning I wanted to go between Moorgate and Victoria stations.
It is a journey that can be done in any number of ways.
- Circle, Hammersmith & City or Metropolitan Line to King’s Cross St. Pancras and then change to the Victoria Line.
- Northern Line to King’s Cross St. Pancras and then change to the Victoria Line.
- Northern Line to Euston and then change to the Victoria Line. This can be a cross-platform interchange.
- Northern City Line to Highbury & Islington and then change to the Victoria Line. This is not an easy interchange.
- Northern Line to Bank and the change to the Circle or District Line.
- Circle or Hammersmith & City to Paddington and then change to the Circle or District Line. This interchange involves a walk all the way across Paddington station.
- 21, 43 or 141 bus to Monument and the change to the Circle or District Line.
If you’re lucky and time it right, you can get a direct Circle Line train, which run at a frequency of six trains per hour (tph).
The Elizabeth Line has opened up another way.
The Elizabeth Line is taken to Paddington and then you walk up the side of the station to the Circle/District Line entrance on the other side of Praed Street from the National Rail station.
These pictures show my walk at Paddington station.
Note.
- It is an immaculate step-free climb out of the Elizabeth Line station.
- Once at station level, it is a walk up a gentle incline the the Circle/District Line station.
- There are shops; including Boots, M & S and Sainsburys, and toilets just inside Paddington station, as you walk beside the station.
- There are stairs to walk down to the Circle/District Line platforms.
I walked the transfer in under ten minutes. From Moorgate to Victoria took 38 minutes.
I feel that this route has advantages for many travellers.
- The Elizabeth Line currently has 12 tph through Paddington.
- When the Elizabeth Line is fully connected up in Autumn 2022, there will be 22 tph, through Paddington.
- The convenient shops and toilets will be welcomed by many.
- It is an easier route, than accessing the Circle/District Line station from inside the main station.
The Lawn, which has shops and cafes, would also be a good place to meet friends, family or a business colleague or client.
Moorgate And Victoria Via The Circle Line
I did this route on the 5th of July, after waiting ten minutes for a Circle Line train. It took me 23 minutes.
Moorgate Station’s Facade At The New Entrance – 17th June 2022
These pictures show, the new facade of the Moorgate station’s new entrance.
This entrance is in addition to the original entrance on Moorgate and it has stairs and lifts to the Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan Lines and a giant escalator and a lift to the Elizabeth Line.
It does look as though, the construction of the offices on top of the entrance is coming to a completion. Two escalators will be fitted in the space guarded by the green hoarding to give access to the offices and the walkways, that will lead to the Barbican.
London Underground: Safety Checks Cause Metropolitan Line Disruption
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
These are the first three paragraphs.
Urgent safety checks are being carried out on trains running on the Metropolitan line section of the Tube, Transport for London (TfL) has said.
TfL is warning of severe disruption as engineers check over the entire fleet of trains – which also run on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.
The trains were only introduced in 2010, but TfL said a fault had been identified on some of their wheels.
Obviously, safety is a priority and it will take some time to check all of the trains.
I have used these trains several times in the last few days and there are extended intervals between services.
Could Crossrail Come To The Rescue?
Consider.
- Crossrail has interchanges with the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and the Metropolitan Lines at Whitechapel, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Farringdon, Paddington and Ealing Broadway.
- Crossrail trains have been running between Paddington and Abbey Wood for a few months.
- Crossrail has good connections to the Central and Jubilee Lines.
Perhaps, opening Crossrail at a lower frequency may take the pressure off the system?
London Underground Trains Are Getting Faster
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Ian Visits.
A long-running signalling upgrade on the London Underground is starting to show results as the latest timetables show faster journeys on some trips. The four lines modernisation project is replacing antiquated signals across the entire sub-surface part of the Underground – that’s the District, Circle, Metropolitan, and the Hammersmith & City lines.
Iam then goes on to detail some of the timing improvements.
In Between Liverpool Street And Wimbledon Park Stations, I note that I think station dwell times are getting shorter.
Echoes Of The Past At South Kensington Tube Station
South Kensington Tube Station has been through many changes, since it opened in 1868.
This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the layout of the lines at the two stations.
Unusually for the Circle/District Lines, both these stations are island platforms. But note how there used to be platforms on the outside of the lines we see today.
These are some pictures I took today.
There certainly quite a bit of space and abandoned infrastructure in the station.
In the Wikipedia entry for the station, under Future Proposals, failed plans for developing above the station are detailed.
It’s certainly puzzling, why the space isn’t used better, as it is a site of 0.77 hectares.
It might also be a space large enough to put in an extra platform, if that were needed.
Changing Between The Circle/District Lines And Victoria Line At Victoria Tube Station
This is not a change, I do regularly, as I have direct access to the Circle/District Lines at Whitechapel station, but it must be a change that some passengers need to do.
For example.
- Sloane Square to Kings Cross St. Pancras
- Temple to Kings Cross St. Pancras
- Monument to Pimlico
In these journeys a good interchange at Victoria could speed up the journey.
One thing that helps is the upwards of thirty trains per hour on the Victoria Line, where you only have to wait under three minutes for a train on that line.
I did this the District/Victoria change this morning and took these pictures.
The new passages and escalators certainly speed up the change.
The position of the passages may be more obvious from this map from carto.metro.free.fr.
Note that the escalators to the Cardinal Place entrance are the more Northerly of the three sets and I think it is reasonable, that they start between platforms 3 and 4 and rise to the surface in line with the platforms.
The divided passage connecting the two lines would appear to be underneath the Circle/District platforms and lines and after aligning Northwards it links up with the middle set of escalators between the two platforms of the Victoria Line.
In some ways it looks like the space underneath the Circle/District Lines has been dug in a similar manner to the traditional mining method of room and pillar. There certainly seems to be tunnels going everywhere, but I suspect the methods used were more sophisticated than the traditional mining ones. I suspect that there may even have been a fair bit of hand digging.
At the top of the escalators connecting the Cardinal Place entrance to the Victoria Line, there would appear to be another blocked off passageway leading off to the west.
Could behind the blue be future-proofing for another exit on the West side of Bressenden Place close to the Victoria Palace theatre?
I have found this visualisation on the Internet in this PDF document on the TfL web site.
The Passenger Link Between North And South Ticket Halls At Victoria Tube Station
So it would appear to be a passenger link, allowing passengers to enter the station at the Cardinal Place entrance walk underground to the South Ticket Hall and from there into the main line station.
Passengers entering the station at the Cardinal Place entrance, in the top right of the visualisation,would take the following route.
- Go down the escalators after the ticket gates.
- Take the cross passage, that also leads to the second set of escalators for the Victoria Line.
- Go straight on into the connecting passage.
- The passage turns left and goes over the Victoria Line platforms and under the Circle/District Line platforms.
- After crossing the platforms, the passage turns right to run parallel with the Victoria Line platforms.
- A set of new escalators, then brings passengers to and from the South Ticket Hall.
It’s a bit round the houses, but I suspect it was the best that can be done in the grand scheme of things.
- The Terminal Place entrance, has its own routes to all four Underground platforms.
- The Cardinal Place entrance, has direct access to the Victoria Line platforms and indirect access to the Circle/District Line platforms.
- There is a short route between the Circle/District and Victoria Lines.
- There is a walking route in the dry between the Cardinal Place entrance and the main line station.
I wonder when the scheme opens will there be other features to improve routes and accessibility.
The Start Of Change At Victoria Tube Station
On the early-evening BBC London News last night, the BBC showed preview pictures of the new entrance to Victoria tube station, which they indicated is on Brettenham Place.
The station certainly needs more capacity, as this extract from Wikipedia indicates.
Victoria is currently the fourth busiest station on the London Underground, after Waterloo, Oxford Circus and King’s Cross St. Pancras, with nearly 85 million using the station (not including interchanging passengers) in 2013, of which around 60 million (including interchanges) use the Victoria line platforms. The station was not built for this number of passengers, which results in severe overcrowding. To prevent any dangerous situations like crowds pushing people off the platforms onto the track, crowd control measures are in place at the busiest times. This effectively means closing all the entrances to the Underground platforms and operating as an exit-only station until the overcrowding is relieved. These measures can last anywhere between a couple of minutes (when minor delays are occurring) up to several hours (during major incidents).
As to the layout of lines through the station, Victoria tube station is fairly simple, as this map from carto.metro.free.fr shows.
Note.
- The Circle and District Lines have a typical Victorian layout, with two platforms on the outside of the tracks.
- The 1960s designers of the Victoria Line at least left a lot of space between the two tracks.
- The Victoria Line also incorporates two full sidings, numbered 22 and 23 between the tracks.
As nearly all trains throughout the day run run between Walthamstow Central and Brixton, the use of these sidings must only be for purposes like overnight stabling and parking failied trains.
According to Wikipedia, currently each set of lines have their own ticket offices on different levels and built over a hundred years apart.
Walking between the Circle/District Lines and the main line station is not for the faint-hearted or those with need for step-free access. The 1960s designers at least made walking between the Victoria Line and the main line station a bit easier, but there is still a flight of steps to be overcome.
If I go to Victoria station with a wheeled bag, which is not often, I take the easy route of a 38 or N38 bus from around the corner, direct from around the corner from my house.
So what is happening over this weekend?
This Google Map shows the area to the North of the station.
Note.
- North of Victoria Street is a massive building site.
- The rows of white-roofed red buses on the station forecourt..
Wikipedia says this about the current upgrade.
To provide a lasting solution to this problem preparatory building work has begun on major upgrade of the station. This will include a new northern exit/entrance on the north-west corner of Victoria Street which will be accessible via a new additional ticket office under Bressenden Place that will lead to both the Victoria line and the Circle and District line platforms.
I will go and do some more digging.
The Victoria Line Platforms
Currently, the Victoria Line platforms have two sets of escalators.
- The original set of three, that so up into the Victoria Line ticket hall under the bus station.
- A second set of three, that go from the platforms into a series of passages underneath the Circle and District Line platforms, to which they connect with short sets of stairs.
These pictures show the Victoria Line platforms, various passages and works.
It looks like there are two new sets of works.
One set could just be an extension of the current lobby at the bottom of the original escalators. This would increase the capacity between the Victoria Line and the main line station.
Judging by the sign saying Cardinal Place on the other works at the Northern End of the platforms, it would appear that these works are a new entrance from Cardinal Place.
The Cardinal Place Entrance
On the surface, the Cardinal Place Entrance is clearly visible, outside the Cardinal Place development.
According to a personable member of the station staff, The new entrance will open sometime after ten on Monday morning.
At Cardinal Place, the overall design would appear to be simple, where an escalator shaft has been dug between the Northern end of the Victoria Line platforms and a new entrance hall beneath Bressenden Place, which then has the simple pop-up entrance shown in my pictures
The constructure, appears to have been carried out, without massive closures of the Victoria Line platforms.
The surface building also looks very similar in concept to the new standalone glass and steel entrances at Kings Cross St. Pancras and Tottenham Court Road stations.
So I wonder how many new entrances can be created at existing stations, by using a similar design and building method.
Walthamstow Central Station
Walthamstow Central station suffers very bad overcrowding , with only two escalators and no lifts having to cope with the passengers from over 40 trains per hour.
This map from carto.metro.free,fr shows the layout of platforms at the station.
Note how there is a wide lobby at the Eastern end of the platforms underneath the Overground lines, which is used to accommodate the escalators and the waiting queues of passengers.
The crossover to the West of the station was installed in August 2015 and I suspect that this work didn’t compromise any of Transport for London’s thoughts of improving capacity at Walthamstow Central.
It could be tight to dig a shaft for three escalators into this area, but at least the area on top is mainly grass, market stalls and not the best of buildings, with the exception of the Library.
If you look at the length of the current escalators at the station, they indicate that the Victoria Line is not deep. So that would help.
I suspect we could see a very innovative and simple solution to create a new Western entrance at Walthamstow Central station.
I would also be possible to build the entrance without any disruption to either existing train services or passengers in the existing station.
The Anonymous Widower 