A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
The image above is from June 2019: London Underground unveils a Johnston font memorial
London Underground
South Londoners back plans to extend Northern line to Clapham Junction London News Online
Disabled campaigners have said the decision to not make Kentish Town tube station step-free while it is closed for up to a year is “embarrassing” and “confidence shattering”. Camden New Journal
An RMT union reps’ meeting on 30 May produced a strong consensus for further strikes in the long-running London Underground dispute over jobs, pensions, and conditions. Workers Liberty
Elizabeth line
Elizabeth Line thrown into chaos by a swan as trains suspended for hours Standard
Mainline / Overground
The c2c rail network which connects London and Essex is set to go ticketless by the end of the year. Romford Recorder
Arriva Rail London says that its concession to run London Overground services has been extended by another two years by TfL, and will now expire in May 2026. ianVisits
Can we really afford to splurge £100bn on a high speed rail link that will serve no useful purpose and may never be finished? Daily Mail
An ambition to double the number of trains on the railway between Sutton and Belmont stations in south London is progressing after funding was allocated to Network Rail to design the upgrade. ianVisits
RMT general secretary Mick Lynch has warned ministers and train companies that his union will ‘vigorously oppose’ ticket office closures after rumours they could be shut imminently. Left Food Forward
Brent Cross West station passes safety tests ahead of opening ianVisits
Eurostar has reported turnover of €1.53bn for 2022, two and half times higher than the figure for 2021. Rail Journal (£)
Catford station lifts closed less than a month after opening Local London
The first of a £1bn fleet of trains will not enter service until the end of 2023 – four years behind schedule, BBC News
Adieu Mickey Mouse: Eurostar’s shrinking ambitions seven years on from the Brexit vote The Guardian
Two years of permanent construction completed at HS2’s Old Oak Common Station site BDC Magazine
Miscellaneous
Sloane Square: Huge police presence at London Tube station as man dies of ‘serious, self inflicted injuries’ i news
TFL ‘appalled’ at anti-trans stickers on London Underground over LGBTQ+ inclusive adverts Pink News
A man who collapsed on a train has been reunited with the off-duty hospital staff who saved him – and thanked them for his “second chance at life”. London News Online
Facing the Fear: A Guide for Disabled Travellers Exploring London Newswires
Network Rail lands Urban Pubs & Bars’ first station venue at Waterloo CoStar (£)
Tickets Alert: Ride a heritage tube train through central London next month ianVisits
And finally: A woman has thanked a woman who came to her rescue on the London Underground, but was left feeling ’embarrassed’ about the whole situation Mirror
The image above is from June 2019: London Underground unveils a Johnston font memorial
Looking at your diagram of Kentish Town https://www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/3d-maps-of-every-underground-station-hijklm-14683/ it does rather look like there are indeed two unused lift shafts.
And as there was never any over-station development, it does seem like a reasonable request to put a lift back in use. Clearly the connection with the lifts and the southbound platform used to be steps which is a non-trivial problem to solve.
The London transport museum did a hidden hangouts video a few months ago on that station.
Whilst it does have a disused lift shaft I suspect like many stations the escalators may have been partially built over them, or at least the current escalator position makes it impractical to reinstate the lift. Additionally, by the current bottom of the lift there are still stairs up & down to the platforms.
Shepard’s Bush station is a similar example, where when rebuilding the station building (around 2010?) they wanted to make it step-free, but found to their embarassment it was would be too expensive to achieve. That station has escalators built over one of the disused lift shaft & original emergency stairs shaft. The other disused lift shaft I suspect is in the wrong position, and also from those lift entrances there’s still steps down to the platform.
One could also argue that at Shoreditch with all the work they’re doing around the station they should have added a lift down to the platforms. Especially as there will now be a lift from the surface down to the shopping area outside the station entrance, and most of those units have been gutted.
Ref the swan halting Elizabeth line trains for up to an hour this is precisely why they should have at least one accessible toilet on board. I’m slightly surprised they managed to get away without having any, particularly with the disability discrimination act. Maybe if/when the trains are extended by two carriages one could be added in the centre.
Don’t Liz trains wait in stations when there is a delay: all Liz stations have toilets. https://content.tfl.gov.uk/toilets-map.pdf
I hope that the union’s opposition to ticket office closures translates into making them super good at what they do and indispensable, rather than walkouts. The latter will just prove that life can go on without them.
1. Defacing ads because they are objectional is vandalism. I don’t condone the theme of the ads, but I totally reject the vandalism.
2. I deal with posts showing virtue signalling on woke topics by “snoozing” the poster for 30 days (Facebook) or scrolling past. Generally, the subject (usually some vinyl wrap) has had its day after a month. There are many woke topics, “pride” being just one. Those sharing the current “campaign” have every right to do so, and I exercise my right to not be offended by scrolling or snoozing.
3. It would help the case for those affected by past prejudice if they avoid stereotyping others who are not in their cohort – the very thing they have suffered from. I regard the piece about the opposition to the “pride” campaign as having content that is potentially highly offensive to sensitive folk – many of whom work voluntarily to support their wider communities. Past hurts does NOT justify inflicting pain and criticism on others.
Exactly, well said.
Re the possible Northern Line extension to Clapham Junction (and the Bakerloo one to Lewisham which you have also featured), I fear all this is for the birds in the current political and funding climate. It’s really sad but public money is scarce and – worse still – helping London is way down the list of national priorities. Not sure a change of government will make much difference either.
A direct descendant of Edward Johnston gave me an 1890 railway carriage body to restore. That was almost 16 years ago and it is now on wheels and nearing fruition – another couple of years should see it done.