Disabled Non-Friendly Train Doors
I don’t travel south of the river that often. But it was only today, that I noticed how bad the doors are on some of the trains. Here’s a selection of some of the doors I found.
I would suspect, that it’s not just in this area of the country, that they are bad. Obviously, to get all doors to accept a wheel-chair user on their own without assistance would be a difficult objective to achieve. But these are difficult for a mother with a buggy and are vastly inferior to 99 % of London’s red buses, which most wheel-chair users are able to enter and leave easily.
London Bridge Bus Station Opens on Monday
Over the last few months, getting a bus at London Bridge and especially the 141 that gets me home, has been difficult to say the least. But not as of Monday, when the new bus station on the forecourt opens.
As you can see from the pictures, it will be a great improvement on what is there now and what was there before the Shard put its enormous feet all over the place.
This is the bus spider map that shows the routes from London Bridge. It is a bit out of date at the moment and let’s hope that it links to the new map on Monday. I hope to that the temporary stop shown in the picture has been replaced by a permanent one.
By the way, there is no sign up to say that the new bus station opens on Monday, but a member of staff with the right helpful, intelligent and cheery attitude, who gave me the information. People like him, are one of Transport for London’s big strengths and they’re always there to help. The same can’t always be said for most bus and metro companies outside of the capital.
Trying To Get To Loughborough Junction
Yesterday, I had rather a wasted journey, as I was trying to get to Loughborough Junction station, so that I could see the bridges there for the London Overground. I started by going to St. Pancras station, but Thameslink wasn’t running, so I was advised by staff there to go to London Bridge station. But there were no trains there either, so I just came home and watched the football on the television.
In the evening, I had dinner with my son near Liverpool Street and he had difficulty getting in from Walthamstowe, as the Victoria line wasn’t running. I know engineering work needs to be done, but why is it always on the same day?
Today will be just as bad, so maybe I’ll try on Tuesday!
A Return to Brixton Station
When I went to Brixton in the week, I felt that a return visit might be in order to see Brixton station. So yesterday I went and took these pictures.
Note the picture I took of the underneath of the bridge that will carry the Overground to Clapham Junction over the station. It all goes to emphasise what a complete mess the railways in the area are.
In the next few days, if not today, I shall visit Loughborough Junction station, to see the mess the Victorians created there.
At least the artworks improve the station, which is not one of the UK’s finest. But integrate the three lines at Brixton properly, with perhaps a shopping centre and you might be able to create an interchange of which everybody could be proud.
Wot No Bins
I bought a drink in Marks and Spencer at Brixton and it wasn’t until I got back to Waterloo on a train from Clapham Junction did I find anywhere tro put it, as South West Trains, don’t seem tom believe in rubbish bins either on the stations or the trains.
In the end, I put it in a cart, which was being used by a cleaner.
I hope that when they finish Waterloo, they at least put in somewhere to discard your rubbish.
The New London Overground Platform at Clapham Junction
The new platform 1 at Clapham Junction station to accomodate both ends of the main circular London Overground route is nearing completion, as these pictures show.
The train in the picture will use the West London Line to get to Stratford.
It would also appear, that when the extension to the East London Line opens in December this year, that there will be a new station entrance.
Could the London Overground Call at Brixton?
The London Overground extension of the East London Line to Clapham Junction station goes on a viaduct across a lot of South London and before flying right over the top of Brixton tube station to reach its destination by way of Clapham High Street and Wandsworth Road stations. This picture show the two bridges that cross Brixton Road to the north of the tube station.
The Two Rail Bridges Over Brixton Road
The high bridge in the foreground will carry the London Overground, whereas the one just visible behind takes the main line trains to and from Victoria. The picture was actually taken from the entrance tro the tube station and you can see how difficult it would be to get passengers between the two levels.
Turn the corner into Atlantic Road and you see how difficult the problem is.
The Overground Flies Over Brixton Station
The track that will take the Overground extension, now flies over Brixton railway station. It is almost as if, the designer of the rail lines in the area, went out of his way to make connecting them difficult, To further complicate matters, there used to be an East Brixton railway station on the line that the Overground will use. This was closed in 1976 and demolished soon afterwards.
If the East Brixton station was to be rebuilt, it does give some interesting connection options, albeit with a bit of a walk.
I tend to think that the only solution would be to spend millions to create a proper interchange station, that connects all of the three lines; Victoria, East London and main line together. But in the present financial climate that is impossible.
One point is that today, after seeing Brixton, I took a 35 bus to Clapham Junction station. It is obvious, that one of the UK’s busiest stations needs a proper connection to the Underground network. It is possible the Northern Line extension will eventually deliver this. At present the best you can do is to take a train to either Waterloo or Vauxhall stations and get the Underground from there.
The Felixstowe Ipswich Rail Route
It is reported in the latest Modern Railways, that work has started on a new rail terminal at Felixstowe. It will be able to handle trains of 30 wagons carrying 90 x 20 ft. containers.
It also appears that the port would like some passenger trains on the branch replaced by buses. As the port had agreed to double-track the branch to increase the capacity, this is a bit of a cheek.
I used to live in Felixstowe and as a teenager, getting back from Ipswich after about five was impossible, due to the appalling bus and train services, which stopped around six or seven.
So do Hutchison Ports want the people of Felixstowe to return to those dreary times I had to suffer. At least, now the last midweek trains leave Ipswich at around 22:30.
There is a petition on the Government’s e-Petition site to get the line dualled.
Cambridge to Finally Get a Bigger Station Hall
This article details how, the size of the hall at Cambridge Station is going to be increased in size substantially.
Having used the station a lot in recent years, I can’t say it’s not before time.
The New Deptford Station
To me Deptford is summed up by a picture of Peter the Great working in the Royal Dockyard at Deptford, that was in one of the school history texts I read.
I’d never knowingly been until today, when I went to look at the new Deptford station, which is just a few months away from being finished.
To my untrained eye, they have done a good job in creating a station with full step-free access, using ideas and components that could also be used in other places, where new or rebuilt stations are desperately needed.
I particularly liked the treatment of the brickwork in the tunnel under the tracks.
The Anonymous Widower 