The Anonymous Widower

Ian Publishes Details Of Future Developments At Euston And Euston Square Underground Stations

This post on the Ian Visits blog is entitled A New London Underground Entrance To Euston Station.

The Underground Lines In The Euston Station Area

This map from carto.metro.free.fr shows the Underground Lines in the Euston station area.

Note.

1. The sub-surface lines run underneath the busy Euston Road.
2. Platform 2 at Euston Square station has no lift or escalator.
3. Platform 1 at Euston Square station has a lift, which also serves the subway.
4. To connect between the sub-surface lines at Euston Square and the deep lines at Euston means a walk on the surface.
5. Euston station only has two up and two down escalators and no lifts for the six deep-level platforms.
6. To connect between the Bank and Charing Cross branches of the Northern Line is often along a very crowded passage.

This interchange has not been fit for purpose since the Victoria Line was built in the 1960s.

A Second Entrance To Euston Square Station

One of the key projects to unlock the interchange, is to create a subway from the current Euston station.

It will lead to a new entrance placed in the middle of Gordon Street.

The subway will have stairs, escalators and/or lifts to connect to the Eastern ends of the current Euston Square platforms.

Ian showed this diagram of the subway.

Note.

1. It serves both platforms at Euston Square station.
2. It looks to be reasonably wide and level.

These are some pictures I took on a walk round the area.

This is a possible future visualisation from Ian’s site.

The new Gordon Street entrance appears to be opposite the porticoed building, which is part of University College London.

• The view is looking North, like the first three of my pictures.
• Gordon Street appears to be at least part-pedestrianised.
• Escalators are visible.

It looks to be a London version of Bilbao’s fosteritos.

Fosteritos are named after Norman Foster, as he or his practice designed the Bilbao Metro.

• The escalators in Bilbao are longer than would be needed at Gordon Street.
• I don’t think that fitting in a slimline lift would be difficult.

I like the fosterito concept and I feel a similar approach could be used to add step-free access to a lot of stations on the London Underground.

The Design Of The Updated Euston Underground Station

Ian showed this visualisation of the updated Euston Underground station.

At a first look, it appears to be a very similar concept to the entrance to the Underground in front of St. Pancras station.

Click on the image to show it large and you can pick out the following.

• West is to the left and East is right.
• Much of the construction appears to replace the original car park and taxi rank.
• The upper level looks like where passengers enter and leave the station.
• The subway to Euston Square station and the new Gordon Street entrance joins to the upper level towards the Eastern end.
• There is grade access between the upper level and the High Speed Two concourse.
• There are lots of escalators to travel between levels. The square orange columns could be lift towers.
• The lower level is the Interchange/Ticket Hall level.
• The lower level is not much higher than the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.
• The design seems to make clever use of levels to make changing easier.
• The access between the lower level and the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line at the Western end of the station, appears to be comprehensive and step-free.
• The access between the lower level and the Victoria Line and the Bank branch of the Northern Line, appears to use the current route, which will probably be upgraded to be fully step-free.

This second image shows the design from above the platforms of the convention section of Euston station.

Click on the image to show it large and you can pick out the following.

• The complicated passages, escalators and lifts of the existing four platforms serving the Bank branch of the Northern Line and the Victoria Line.
• The cross passage connecting these lines to the platforms of the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line.
• The two up and two down escalators leading to the existing ticket hall.
• The Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line curving in and away from the station. See the earlier map of the Underground lines.
• The eleven High Speed platforms on the West side of the station.
• The thirteen Classic platforms on the East side of the station.
• The new Northern entrance to the Underground between the two sets of platforms. How convenient!
• There appears to be a wide passage between the Northern and Southern entrances, with connections to the lines branching off.
• The subway to the new Gordon Street entrance is shown at the top of the image.

The design seems to have separated access to the two branches of the Northern line, by creating a new high-capacity route to the Charing Cross branch.

I also think, that the design allows the station to be built without disrupting passengers using the Underground and the current Euston station.

• A large hole for the station can be excavated, without touching existing access.
• It could then be fitted out section by section.
• Once the new access to the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line is complete, the current access to the Northern and Victoria Lines can be refurbished.

Arriving At Euston

Imagine you are a passenger arriving from the North, who knows the Underground line, you need to take, you would then enter the Underground station using the new Northern entrance.

• For the Bank branch of the Northern Line or the Victoria Line, you would go through the existing ticket hall and down the escalators, much as you do now! Except that you’d enter the ticket hall on the other side from the East side of the passageway connecting the two entrances. New lifts appear to be shown.
• For the Charing Cross branch of the Northern Line, you would take the passages, lifts and escalators on the West side of the passageway connecting the two entrances.
• If you wanted the sub-surface lines, you would just keep going and take the new subway, which connects to the Eastern ends of the platforms at Euston Square station.

It will certainly do me fine, if I arrive at Euston, as I’ll walk through the subway and get in the front of any Eastbound train for Moorgate station, where being in the front is convenient for the exit and the nearby bus stop to my home.

This route will surely be one of the ways arriving passengers at Euston will get Crossrail to Abbey Wood, Canary Wharf and Shenfield stations. In Crossrail – Northern – Northern City Interchange At Moorgate Station, I show some visualisations of Moorgate station and the connectivity.

Conclusion

I certainly think, that the new Underground station is a good design.

May 6, 2020 Posted by AnonW | Transport/Travel | Bilbao, Euston Square Station, Euston Station, Fosterito, London Underground, Northern Line, Step-Free, Victoria Line | 6 Comments