It’s Common Sense To Build New Stations
Network Rail has announced a list of six stations it will probably build. These are in addition to some already on the stocks like Cambridge Science Park and Coventry Arena.
I’m a great believer in adding stations at strategic points to existing lines, as often it is a sensible way to generate traffic and the corresponding revenue.
An Alternative London End To HS2
This plan called Euston Cross, was first aired in the railway press and is a serious alternative to what is currently proposed. it’s described detail in this post in a blog.
I think it should be taken seriously, as it would appear to have a few cost advantages and it would require less demolition at Euston.
As an engineer, who helped to develop the methods and software to build large projects, I believe that we can’t ignore the lessons of the biggest and most intelligent beast in the jungle; Crossrail.
Crossrail is setting new records for tunnelling proficiency, depth under London and project management. But as we experienced in the North Sea Oil industry in the 1970s, today’s big machines are dwarves compared to what will be available in a few years.
So the idea of linking HS2 to HS1 by means of tunnels and an underground station might be easier, than anybody would dare think using today’s technology. It could also go a lot deeper and just as Crossrail is diving under the Underground, it could probably dive deeper still.
Summing Up Lisbon
Lisbon was as I remembered it, when I came here with C twenty or so years ago.
The trams still have their old charm and are sticking up two fingers at the modern age, just as their bigger cousins do in Hong Kong.
Perhaps, I should fly to Portugal and come back by train via Madrid, Barcelona and high speed train back to London.
What A Mistaker To Make!
The phrase borrowed from Hello hello, was a phrase that C and myself used to use, when we did something, which we construed as stupid.
When I come home from Canary Wharf, I usually use one of three routes.
1. I take the Jubilee line to London Bridge station and then get a 141 bus from the bus station.
2. I go just one stop on the Jubilee line to Canada Water station and then get the Overground to Dalston Junction station.
3. I get a 277 bus all of the way.
When I arrived at Canary Wharf, I ascertained the the bus station at London Bridge was still not working, so route one was not one to try, as I would have shopping with me and was in walk-avoidance mode.
The bus takes a few minutes longer, so I took the Canaqda Water route.
But I’d gambled without the knowledge that the Overground was shut at Whitechapel because of CrossRail.
On Sundays, you should always check and my mistake wasn’t to do this.
So I was turfed off the train at Shadwell station and advised to get the DLR to Bank. Which is what I did, taking the Northern line from there to Moorgate, from where I got the 141 bus, that I should have been able to get from London Bridge station.
In the grand scheme of things, it’s not a great inconvenience, but I’ll be glad when CrossRail is finished and lines are not shut down at the weekend.
Tunnelling Through Black Death
Crossrail has come across some unusual going on its tunnelling throuygh London. According to this article, they have hit a Black Death burial pit. Here’s a couple of paragraphs.
A burial ground was known to be in an area outside the City of London, but its exact location remained a mystery.
Thirteen bodies have been found so far in the 5.5m-wide shaft at the edge of Charterhouse Square, alongside pottery dated to the mid-14th Century.
Analysis will shed light on the plague and the Londoners of the day.
You have to admire the way that Europe’s biggest project is handling the archaeology.
Strangely, I can’t remember any of the excavations finding any unexploded ordnance from the Second World War.
Manchester Comes To Liverpool
I’m fairly certain, although I could be mistaken, that the Class 390 Pendolino, I took back from Liverpool on Saturday was named City of Manchester.
But it was the second train south in the morning.
Times When I’m Glad I Don’t Own A Car
Today, according to this article on the BBC web site, the Dartford Crossing has been closed to traffic for seven hours. This article doesn’t say why, but it was a man threatening to jump. In the end according to this article after four hours of negotiating he jumped and later was pronounced dead in hospital.
I’m not going to question the man’s motives or suggest that the police should have taken more radical or forceful action, but why is it, it’s inevitably men, who climb on buildings and bridges and threaten to jump? I can’t remember an incident, where it was a woman, who was the prospective jumper.
I’m just glad though, that I’m a non-driver, as I can’t remember this sort of incident with trains. Perhaps, the men who threaten to jump are frightened of getting smashed into small pieces by something like a Class 66. Thinking about it, most suicides on the railway seem to be with passenger rather than freight trains. I wonder why? I have travelled on passenger trains with freight drivers and they have told me that many that get killed by freight trains are thieves nicking cable and other things in the middle of the night.
Hooton Station
To get to Leahurst I needed to go to Hooton station and get a taxi.
It is a charming little station, with very much a country feel about it.
I had asked the train staff how you get a taxi and they told me to ask in the Booking Office and get one of the girls to do it. Very country! The system worked well!
Although the recently opened new bridge with lifts was not what you would get in rural East Anglia. It was built under Network Rail’s Access for All program.
Liverpool’s Underground Railway
Liverpool has its own Underground railway and I took the Wirral line from Liverpool Central station to get to Liverpool University’s veterinary campus at Leahurst.
Central station has recently been refurbished to a good standard. You do wonder if Manchester’s chaotic transport system would be better, if they’d tunnelled under the city, like they did in Liverpool.
Liverpool’s network has been talked about as a candidate for years and this section in Wikipedia, shows what could and might be done.
Where Is The Lift At Highbury And Islington Station?
I have been impressed with some of the lifts put in at stations like Camden Road and Hackney Central recently.
So I thought I’d have a look to see, if any stations, I use regularly were being updated with lifts or step-free access. Network Rail are managing the work across the rail network and the project is called Access for All.
I looked at all the stations to be upgraded and found an entry for Highbury and Islington. Click this link and then go down a bit.
The entry says that one lift is provided to the Great Northern and City line and that it was completed in Autumn 2010.
I’ve used the station extensively for the last few years and I’ve never found this mythical lift. To check, I asked the station staff tonight, when I came through the station on my way home. They’d not seen it and were a bit worried if someone turned up in a wheelchair looking for access to the deep lines.
As I said here, it is not the best station for step-free access, although that to the Overground is excellent. But the single lift mentioned on the Network Rail web site, would be a welcome addition.
The Anonymous Widower 