The Elizabeth line station at Woolwich is to trial a new way of managing the crowds at the escalators from next week, according to a sign in the station.
Mid afternoon crowds (c) ianVisits
The station has proven a victim of its own success, and is far busier at rush hours than had been expected, leading to large crowds building up at the bottom of the escalators in the evenings to get up and out of the station.
With three escalators, in the evenings, two are set for exit mode and one for entry, and even that leads to bunching up of crowds at the bottom of the steps to leave the station.
The station was nearly not built, but was added when developer and council funding was found to cover some of the cost. The fact that it’s now very busy shows the value of adding public transport to an area, as while it has reduced traffic at the nearby Woolwich Arsenal station, the decline is less than the rise in passenger numbers on the Elizabeth line. Opening the station has increased public transport use in the area.
Now though, it’s almost straining to cope with demand.
Part of the difficulty is that the station was built on a fairly tight budget so funds were only available for one entrance, which at the time was also thought to be sufficient. As a result, it’s going to be hard to increase station capacity without a major rebuild of the other end of the station to add in a second entrance. That’s theoretically possible as the oversite development that would occupy the second entrance hasn’t been built, but the cost would be substantial and likely not affordable.
An interim idea could be for the Elizabeth line trains to stop a bit further along the platform – there’s space for them to stop one carriage further along, which may help reduce a bit of the crowding at the escalator end of the train.
In the meantime, the Elizabeth line will trial a queuing system for the escalators from Monday 15th January to see if that reduces the bunching up at the bottom of the escalator.
An unusual sight these days (c) ianVisits
From day one, I’ve always wondered why isn’t there a second entrance at the eastern end. Now I know why from the article, but I still hold out hope for one to be built someday.
The clue is in the words “likely not affordable”. That’s code for we can’t spend any significant amount of money on south east Londoners as they are not affluent enough, on average, to merit subsidy. As with the original decision not to build the station at all, it’s got nothing to do with what’s needed and everything to do with what city hall thinks of Woolwich.
Ideally the new east entrance should include an underpass beneath the A206, a facility sorely lacking at the existing entrance because of the DLR cutting.
There needs to be another entrance to Whitechapel too at the Eastern end.
Even if were a non-interchange one, that would help a lot.
Sorry Ian. What is this ‘queuing system’?
It can only be that they put-up barriers on the approach to the escalators so that a queue forms as opposed to a crowd?
Is this going to be a re-hash of the “stand on both sides” pilot at Holborn LU station several years ago, which proved to be a flop (i.e.: the instructions to stay still on the left as well were roundly ignored) because we all prefer the “stand on the right, walk on the left” system, even if it does mean that the left side of the escalator is slightly underutilised (although the modelling for such underutilisation exaggerated the inefficiency, inasmuch as it assumed there had to be empty steps between each person walking on the left, an absurd premise that does not reflect how close together people can walk on the left when lots of people are motivated to walk rather than queue for the “stand on the right” option).
As for the “likely not affordable” argument for a 2nd entrance, the solution is simple: planning permission for any oversite development is conditional upon the developer covering the cost of a 2nd entrance IN FULL. Until then, no oversite development… better to leave the space developed for 50 years than to close-down the possibility of a 2nd entrance forever.
“… better to leave the space developed for 50 years…” Did you mean “undeveloped”?
If Grenwich Councils Planning Committee did try and put such a restriction in a planning approval it would be challenged by the developer as unreasonable.
Far better to work with the developer to get these things done by agreement rather than imposition.
I think the best hope would be to require any developers to put in box for a second entrance. It would then be up to TFL to make the connections from there to the platform, and fit it out.
I believe this is sort of what’s happening at Elephant & Castle, so more realistic. Chances of a developer paying for it in full are very small in my opinion.
If the trains direct to Charing Cross still ran on the Woolwich line there would be less congestion at the Elizabeth line station. The majority of passengers are looking for a quick ,reliable way to reach Central London.
Woolwich line used to provide this before it was shut ….with no consultation!
Look what a shambles this is!!!
I would have thought the difference in pay and go fares would be quite an influence, especially if changing to tube services. Along with the convenience of a turn up and go service, the station being underground in winter and air conditioning in the summer.
YET AGAIN:
“the station was built on a fairly tight budget so funds were only available for one entrance, which at the time was also thought to be sufficient.”
Look at Walthamstow C & Highbury, both on the Vic-line, with insufficient escalators – stuck with this, still, after 50+ years, because of penny-pinching.
Are we going to get a second entrance exit at either of those places, or will it be another 50 years of crowd crushes?
Echo all the above commenters on the restrictions at Woolwich, too.
Without the developer funding the bulk of the cost of the station in the first place there wouldn’t be a Lizzie Line stop at Woolwich at all.
I don’t think anyone thought one entrance was a good idea but l believe the choice was a station with one entrance or no station.
Precisely. Especially when it was a relatively late addition to the scheme (though not as late as Lizzie going to Heathrow) and virtually all developer funded and working to their timetable for the housing development.
I really think some people underestimate the amount of public infrastructure such as stations that is funded by developers via S104 or CIL contributions.
It’s a good idea but no toilets at woolwich Station which is unfair
It’s a good idea but needs toilets at woolwich Station
In the photo, the problem seems to be caused by only a few people. On the centre escalator it’s the person next to the red emergency stop button (possibly also the one with the yellow bag). On the right escalator, it’s the person in the beanie a bit lower down.
Another potential culprit is the person on the down escalator holding the handrail but staring intently at their phone.
A queueing system would undoubtedly be irritating and probably as ineffective as the predictable failure of the Holborn trial.
A very quick, cheap and simple solution would be to change the big stickers to “WALK UP on the LEFT” and to have more of them.
The photo was taken in the middle of the afternoon – come back in the evening rush hour to really appreciate the problem.
I always thought having a second exit close to Plumstead station end would make a massive difference
Agree. And it would appear to be in Berkeley Homes’s interests to contribute towards it: they’re building a ton of new homes at Lombard Square that would benefit from a closer entrance.
Nobody is realistically going to get a train from Plumstead to Woolwich and then walk across to the Arsenal. Although there’s still the horrible underpass and bit round the back of the bus garage for anyone wanting to walk. I guess people will probably Uber, clogging up the main road some more.
Most likely route to a second entrance is the developer agrees to build the structure/undertake civil works before development and TfL and Council fund fitting out. This approach has been tried a few times before, hence why I think it’s the probably route to a second entrance.