The Crossrail Bypass Is Getting There
Over the last few weeks, I’ve travelled quite a few times on the Hammersmith and City branch of the Metropolitan line.
It used to be very much a line, that was past its best, with elderly C-Stock trains and dark and dingy stations.
But it is getting so much better, and I think now half the journeys I do on the line are in the new air-conditioned S Stock trains. In fact in this hot weather, I will use this line to avoid the deep tunnels, just like my father used to do.
We’ve also seen improvements to the stations, especially at Farringdon, Kings Cross and Paddington.
When Crossrail opens, it will link to the Hammersmith and City branch, at Whitechapel, Liverpool Street, Moorgate, Farringdon and Paddington stations, effectively giving Crossrail users, easy one-change access to a lot more stations.
It will truly be a Crossrail by-pass.
Canal Moorings With Their Own Station
When I came back from Reading into Paddington station yesterday, I walked to the back of the Inter City 125 train and took the bridge to the Metropolitan line station. Before catching my train to get home, I ventured outside to look at the new entrance, which has just opened.
As you can see the entrance is by the canal and the Paddington Basin. It’s obviously not finished yet and won’t be until Crossrail opens in a few years.
It is an area, that is crying out for a decent cafe, restaurant or bar.
Getting To The Madejski Stadium At Reading Is Getting Easier
I last went to the Madejski stadium at Reading a couple of years ago and it wasn’t an easy journey!
But today’s trip was a lot easier.
As the new Metropolitan line station at Paddington s now almost complete, I go to Paddington using that line, by getting a bus to either Barbican, Kings Cross or Euston Square stations. It’s then just a matter of walking over the bridge to the requisite platform.
I got a train direct to the new Reading station and then walked a couple of hundred metres to get one of the umpteen buses to the stadium.
The journey will probably get better, as the two stations are completed in a few years time.
Crossrail should also improve the journey, but I’m not sure how at present, as I’ll still have to do part of the journey by bus.
It’ll be interesting to see how I do this journey in a few years.
Barbican Station
I have some happy memories of Barbican Station and on Saturday, I passed through on the way to the Anniversary Games.
Barbican Station
I can particular remember pushing our youngest son in his buggy along the central platform, from where the picture was taken, sometimes with C and our two sons and sometimes without.
Sad to think, that C and the baby in the buggy have both died from cancer.
Is This The Way To Develop Railways?
It has been announced today that the government has fully approved the Croxley Rail Link. This report on the BBC gives full details. Here’s their summary.
An extension to the London Underground’s Metropolitan Line to serve the centre of Watford has been given the final go-ahead.
The government gave the £118m Croxley Rail Link the all-clear through the Transport and Works Act Order.
The line will be extended to Watford Junction via Watford High Street and two new stations will open, including one near the town’s football ground.
This seems to be a scheme that has a lot of merits.
Personally, it will mean that when I go to see Ipswich play football in Watford, I will avoid the long walk across the town. I think that because of this ease of access, Watford FC will be one of the bigger beneficiaries, as ease-of-access always brings in more visitors to any venue.
This fairly small scheme will have all sorts of benefits. This paragraph is lifted from Wikipedia.
When the Croxley Rail Link is built, direct services into Watford Junction from Amersham would also be possible, thus linking the commercial centre of Watford to the new developments in Aylesbury, as well as providing the Chilterns with transport connections, via the Junction, to the North and other destinations.
I’ve always thought that Watford should be more of an interchange when going north to take the pressure off Euston.
i think we can honestly say that the £118 million that this development will cost, will return an awful lot more in benefits.
But then we’ve got a bit more clever with some of the schemes we’ve started recently.
The Hitchin flyover will take a few minutes off the times for trains on the East Coast Main Line for £47 million. It will be fully open in a few weeks.
Improvements to the Felixstowe branch line and its junction with the main line north of Ipswich, aren’t the biggest of developments, but they will take significant numbers of trucks off the road.
If you go to the Network Rail web site, you’ll find lots of these smaller projects.
I think we should complete all of these before we decide on the detailed route of HS2.
The Queues In The Underground At Kings Cross St. Pancras
I came through Kings Cross St. Pancras Underground station on Friday afternoon and the queues at the ticket office, were enormous, as they often are at that time of the week.
The Queues In The Underground At Kings Cross St. Pancras
I suppose one problem is that many people off the Eurostar from Paris or Brussels don’t have any British money or an Oyster card. But as this page says, you can buy Oyster cards on Eurostar.
Did They Build This Hideous Church To Match The Underground Ventilation Shaft?
This church just has to be seen to realise how awful it is.
Perhaps they built it to match the ventilation shaft for Warwick Avenue station?
An Island In All This Heat
Yesterday on my way to and from the Truscott Arms, I took Hammersmith and City branch trains on the Metropolitan line.
I rode both ways in new S Stock trains.
These are fully air-conditioned and it makes life a little better. It would appear there’s only the Circle and District lines left to re-equip.
Chaos at Highbury And Islington Station
I was going to Broadstairs today, by taking the high speed train from St. Pancras. As I’d got a parcel to post before, I decided to take 38 or 56 bus to Essex Road Post Office and then get a 73 bus to the station after dropping the parcel. But for some reason, the 38 and 56 were in short supply, but there were two 277.
So I took one to Highbury and Islington station, with the intention of using the Post Office there and then taking the Victoria line to St. Pancras.
But unlike other post Offices locally, the one at Highbury and Islington station didn’t open until nine, rather than eight-thirty. As it was twenty minutes before the hour, I decided to take the Victoria line, so I could use the Post Office by Kings Cross station.
But then I got stuck in the jam of those getting into the station for fifteen minutes. Transport for London haven’t seemed to have organised the escalator servicing in the best way possible. I should have taken my own advice.
Free Travel For Children Cuts Road Injuries
This story in the Standard tells how in London, giving children and teenagers free Oyster travel cards, has cut the number involved in road accidents. The research was performed by the reputable London School or Hygiene and Tropic Medicine and as it is published in a learned journal, it surely is to be trusted.
Just as those over a certain age get free bus transport, this research surely says that all those under a certain one should too! In London the eligibility is stated here for what is called a Zip Oyster. it also gives child fares on the Underground, Overground and the DLR
The Anonymous Widower 