Improving Safety On Stations
Some of London’s stations have stairs down to the platforms as this picture taken at Hampstead Heath station on the North London Line shows.
Hampstead Heath is a fully-rebuilt station.
- Each platform has a set of stairs and a lift.
- The stairs are also divided into two by a central double handrail.
Transport for London have posters everywhere, that say that passengers shouldn’t rush and to hold the handrail.
But accidents do happen, as I witnessed a few days ago at Manor House station.
So would it be safer, if at the top of the stairs, there was a display showing how long it was to the next couple of trains?
It might just encourage people to slow down, if they knew they had eight minutes before the next train, or it wasn’t for their destination.
A Pit Stop At Hampstead Heath Station – 12th May 2018
I went for breakfast to a convenient Le Pain Quotidien near Hampstead Heath station.
In addition to the Heath, the station is within walking distance, to a large number of eateries and shops, including a very large M & S Simply Food.
There is also the Royal Free Hospital.
When I go to Hampstead Heath, I tend to go to Hampstead station in the High Street, then walk down the hill and go home from the London Overground station.
A Station For The Chattering Classes
A few years ago on the North London line, some of the stations were a tribute to the ingenuity of British Rail’s maintenance and their hard-working contractors, with poor lighting, dangerous stairways, pot-holed platforms with little shelter.
But look at these pictures I took of Hampstead Heath station today after the station’s reopening after a full makeover.
There is now a lift on each platform, lots of shelter, bike racks, a coffee stall, extra handrails on the stairs and perhaps most importantly extended platforms for the new 5-car Class 378 trains.
Some might questioning, this rebuilding of the station, but the passenger usage figures tell an interesting tale.
From just 334,000 passengers in 2004-2005 they had grown to 858,000 in 2008-2009, by which time the line had become part of the London Overground. The last figures quoted in the Wikipedia entry for the station is 2,718,000 for 2012-2013. So in just four years, passenger usage has more than tripled.
Hampstead Heath Station Gets Upgraded
Upgraded might be to soft a word for the work going on at Hampstead Heath station. Demolition and rebuilding might be better.
Lifts are being installed, a new ticket office is being constructed and the platforms are being lengthened to take the five-car Class 378 trains, when they arrive after the end of this year.
Sadly, not everybody would appear to be happy, according to this article in the Ham and High. But then, when the station is finished, it will be a lot better for access than most of the stations on the Victoria line, which handle a lot more passengers.
I think too, we often forget what happens in reality. Yesterday coming back from IKEA, I needed to get on the Overground at West Croydon for Dalston Junction. I had an awkward bag with me and I ended up on the wrong platform at West Croydon by my mistake. To get across, I needed to go up a ramp and down two sets of stairs. So I was asked if I needed help and I said that I didn’t! In the end a member of staff escorted me down the steps to the train.
So provided they are trained and helpful, surely one part of a disabled access strategy, is extra staff on the station. After all, one group who need assistance in unfamiliar surroundings are those who are blind or partially-sighted. I’m no expert, but surely a trained human guide is the best solution to their problems in these circumstances.
Hampstead Heath Station
I went to Hampstead Heath station on the North London line yesterday.
It has been updated with some original artwork. The work is entitled Evenings’ Hill and it is by Clare Woods.
Whilst I was waiting, two freight trains passed through in opposite directions. Not unusually on the North London line, but it did seem a bit strange. One was full of new Ford vehicles.
All the station needs now is a pair of lifts. But it’s a big improvement on the station I first used about ten years ago.
The Anonymous Widower 