Crossrail Works In Front Of Liverpool Street Station
The archaeologists at Liverpool Street station have departed and work is getting on with the Crossrail works.
I’m glad to see that Crossrail have left the observation gallery.
Archaeology At Liverpool Street
Liverpool Street, just outside the station of the same name, is home to a large archaeology project.
The pictures of the actual dig was taken from a publicly accessible walkway on the South side of the Street.
Liverpool Street To De Beauvoir Town
I regularly do this journey both ways to get to and from the main line station, which I regularly use to get a train to and from Ipswich.
Getting to the station has now got a lot better as the 21 and 141 buses that are the simple way now stop in Eldon Street by the station.
But coming back is getting to be an increasingly variable and difficult journey.
Take last night!
As I was watching Murray’s progress on my phone and the train from Walthamstow Central to Hackney Downs didn’t have any working announcements, I missed by stop in the dark and ended up in Liverpool Street at about nine o’clock. My normal route from the station these days is the reliable one taking the Metropolitan Line to Whitechapel and then getting the Overground to Dalston Junction, from where I get any of a number of buses to my house.
But last night the Overground wasn’t working due to Crossrail works and the last time on a Sunday night, I had walked to Moorgate to get a bus, I’d ended up walking all the way to Old Street to get one and then I’d waited for perhaps twenty minutes.
So I took the Central Line to Bank and luckily a 21 arrived in a few minutes to get me home.
Crossrail and the lengthening of platforms on the Overground, has made the last two or three years difficult, as you never know what you’ll find when you make the journey. Hence my going via Whitechapel, as on most days that is the most reliable.
It would help if Transport for London provided one stop that was never closed, especially as the only one that seems to be there all the time is the one by Bank, which requires a long walk or a one-stop Tube trip.
After Crossrail opens it will get better, as not only will Whitechapel-Liverpool Street be a fast one stop, but surely the 21 and 141 buses will be an easy and perhaps underground and covered walk from Liverpool Street.
Look at this Google Earth map between Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street stations.
Liverpool Street And Shoreditch Stations
Liverpool Street station is in the bottom left, where all the indicated Underground lines join and Shoreditch High Street is in the top right on the orange Overground line.
Surely something could be done to create a better walking route between the two stations.
An Idea For A New Station At Shoreditch High Street
I read today in The Sunday Times, that Network Rail are looking to create some new terminal platforms for Liverpool Street.
One of the ideas was the obvious one to add some extra platforms at Liverpool Street. but I know the station well and can’t think where they would be fitted in, unless they were do away with the taxi ramp or put the platforms in tunnels underneath the current ones.
Another idea mentioned in the Sunday Times, is to build a station at Shoreditch High Street on a site owned by Network Rail, next to the current Overground station. The idea is described in the Architect’s Journal.
Terry Farrell’s contentious proposals for Bishopsgate Goodsyard could be sent back to the drawing board after plans emerged for a major new station on the east London site
A report by Network Rail outlining options for rail upgrades on the Anglian Route suggests the City fringe plot could house the first new rail terminus in the capital since the completion of Marylebone in 1899.
The currently uncosted option – part of a document prepared by Network Rail for its future railway investment period CP6 – explores the ‘creation of an additional terminus to the north of London Liverpool Street’ on Network Rail-owned land next to Shoreditch High Street station.
It strikes me that this could be a good idea. Although, it won’t be plain sailing, as there was so much aggravation, when they wanted to demolish the Braithwaite Arches to build the East London Line through the area. This article from Spitalfields Life gives some of the history of the area.
I think if a station gets built alongside or under Shoreditch High Street station, it will be nothing like any ideas, thatr might get talked about in the media now. One of the Foster/Farrell/Rogers fraternity could probably do something extraordinary here.
This map shows the site.
Shoreditch High Street Station
The orange line defines the route of the East London Line and the red line is where the Central line goes underneath. The site itself is the green area between these lines. It would appear that there is quite a bit of space to put in a decent sized station with perhaps four main line platforms, which would be linked to the East London and Central lines.
But it would be a lot of work and money for a station, that would only have limited connection to the Underground/Overground compared to Liverpool Street.
However, look at this wider map of the area.
Old Street To Shoreditch
The first thing to notice is the size of the site, when compared to Liverpool Street station, which lies to the West of Spitalfields Market.
Also note the black line going North-South, which is the Northern line, fom Moorgate to Old Street. The latter is highlighted. Somewhere in the same direction from Moorgate northwards is that relic of previous expansion plans for the Underground; the Northern City line.
I think that if a main line station is built at Shoreditch High Street, it might also connect some of the lines into Liverpool Street to the Moorgate suburban services.
Consider.
1. Railways hate terminal platforms with all their restrictions and much prefer two lines linked end-to-end as Thameslink links Brighton and Bedford via St. Pancras.
2. So could say some of the Lea Valley services be diverted from Liverpool Street to the new station and then onto the Moorgate suburban lines? Not only would it link Silicon Fen with Silicon Roundabout, but also it could be used for the Stansted Express. At the new station, there could be cross-platform interchange between the through lines and the Central line.
3. Original plans showed Crossrail 2 stopping at Essex Road station, which is on Northern City line.
I have only listed three of any number of possibilities, but a new main line station at Shoreditch High Street providing extra capacity for Liverpool Street might be feasible.
On the other hand, it might annoy a lot of the passengers, by giving them inferior onward connections. Remember that many who commute into Liverppol Street, just walk to their place of work.
Something will happen, as Liverpool Street doesn’t have enough capacity, but in my view the first thing to do would be to see how Crossrail affects traffic.
To take one example in a frivolous manner, think of all those Essex boys going to their desks in Canary Wharf, How much will all the other routes possible after Crossrail opens, take the pressure off Liverpool Street?
I think the most likely scenario will be a mixture of all current ideas and proposals together with some no-one has thought of yet.
At a minimum, the addition of two platforms in the cab rank at Liverpool Street .will happen.
I also wouldn’t be surprised to see a couple of platforms on the Lea Valley lines at Shoreditch High Street giving an easy and quick interchange to the East London and Central lines. If nothing else it would link the curremt Overground to the Lea Valley lines and give it a much-needed connection to the Central line.
Why Is Liverpool Street In London So Named?
I pass through Liverpool Street station in London several times a week. As I have strong educational and connections to Liverpool, I’d started to wonder why the street that gives the station is so named.
Liverpool Street is the street that lies in front of the main south entrance to the station and you cross it going between the heart of the City of London and the station.
It is obviously, a road that doesn’t go or point anywhere near Liverpool.
So it is either a name chosen by some developer in the mists of time or perhaps it is named after a historical figure.
The obvious candidate is one of the Earls of Liverpool. According to Wikipedia, it was named after the Second Earl of Liverpool, who was Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827.
Wikipedia doesn’t record if he visited the city after which his title was named.
Returning From Liverpool Street Station
I can walk from Liverpool Street Station at a push, but as the weather was bad with heavy rain and I had no coat or umbrella, I decided it would be better to brave public transport despite the strike, as usually you don’t get wet on the Tube or in a bus.
The best dry route home for me is to go to Barbican station on the Circle line and then get a 56 bus up to my house, but that station was closed because of the strike. So I thought, I’d take the other easy route, which is to go the other way and change to the strike-free Overground at Whitechapel.
As a train was at the station, I got it and it dropped me at Aldgate, as that was as far as it was going. But never mind, I could get a 67 bus from there to the other end of my road. But for some reason, there were no bus maps at the station and I didn’t fancy the heavy rain, whilst looking for one.
So I got back on the Circle line and went back to Liverpool Street.
At Liverpool Street, I did the sensible thing I should have done in the first place and that was take a train to Hackney Downs and get a 56 bus back the other way to my house.
Luckily the rain was kept off by the railway bridge and after waiting for two minutes I got a bus home.
I must get myself a new coat today!
The Smoking Shelter At Liverpool Street Station
It isn’t that, but it seems to be used as such. There were a couple of people puffing away, in it, as I walked past.
I’m not sure if the artist intended the sculpture be used the way it was this morning. Incidentally, Richard Serra, who designed this sculpture called Fulcrum, also designed a lot of those, I didn’t warm to in Bilbao.
New Buses For London Arrive At Liverpool Street
New Buses for London are now operating out of Liverpool Street station.
What better way is there now to show children Central London, if Liverpool Street is your London terminus? You just take the escalator up to the bus station and go to stop C, where you board one on route 11. Wikipedia says this about route 11.
The bus route passes many tourist attractions such as Westminster Cathedral, Westminster Abbey, Methodist Central Hall Westminster, St Margaret’s, Westminster, Churchill War Rooms, The Cenotaph, Downing Street entrance, Banqueting House, Horse Guards Parade, Admiralty House, Trafalgar Square, Royal Courts of Justice, Prince Henry’s Room, St Dunstan-in-the-West, St Bride’s Church, St Martin, Ludgate, St Paul’s Cathedral, St Mary Aldermary, Mansion House, and Bank of England.
it will get even better when the route gets its full compliment of new buses and they finish the works at the station for Crossrail.
Will this updating of route 11, help to solve one of London’s worst cross-London transfers between Liverpool Street and Victoria, as this route goes very close to that station for journeys to the south of London? At a quieter time, I would certainly take the bus, but that is always the best way to get round Liverpool Street station’s lack of Underground lines going south!
How Does Liverpool Street Shape Up?
I needed to get my ticket for Ipswich for later in the day, so I travelled S Class to one of London’s busiest stations; Liverpool Street.
It was fairly quiet, but the litter levels outside were worst than at Kings Cross.
Note the clock on the front of the station, which is placed so you can see it, as you walk from the City.
When they talk about good stations, they always seem to forget Liverpool Street, as it was created in its present state in the 1990s when few were interested and it is very much a commuter station. It’s also effectively my local terminus and I often use it for shopping and collecting tickets.
you might do a few things differently today, but in many ways it was a very good updating of a Victorian station. You notice how good it is, when you arrive in the station at a far from busy time. Like at the New Kings Cross and St. Pancras stations, you walk in natural daylight to the barriers and onward to your destination or bus or Underground to get there. Compare liverpool Street to the dreaded Eusless.
A Taxi From Liverpool Street
I don’t often take taxis from Liverpool Street station to home, as there are quite a few convenient buses. But on Tuesday night, it was very cold and late, so I decided to use one.
Since I last used a taxi from inside Liverpool Street station, they’ve moved the taxi rank to be alongside Platform 10, so the first problem was finding one.
There was only one there, which probably shows how few people coming into the station actually use them.
The driver was very apologetic, as he said he’d have to go round the houses a bit because of traffic restrictions behind the station.
He got me home quickly, talking as ever about football.
And then he refused any tip, because of the delay in getting out of the station.
The Anonymous Widower 