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Tottenham Court Road Lifts

Are the lifts at the new Tottenham Court Road almost ready? It would seem to be that way, as a brand new wide barrier gate has been installed and is on view in the ticketing area at the station, to allow access down to what we think is the Northern line platforms.

We haven’t worked out yet where the lift is down to the Central line.  There’s also (obviously) another lift still currently behind blue hoardings next to escalators to take you from street level down to the ticketing area.   Looks like it could open soon though, and the Tube will get another step-free station added to its list.

Wide gate by the new lift

Wide gate by the new lift

18 May 16

Gospel Oak to Barking Overground Closures

The Gospel Oak to Barking (GOBLIN) Overground line is about to have some major work done to it so that instead of it being diesel, it will be an electric line, and then longer electric trains will run on the branch.

In order for this work to happen though, there is a staggered closure taking place, and we don’t think the way that the publicity has been done is here is very clear.  It focuses on what is closed rather than what is open, meaning that your brain has to stop and think harder to work out the reverse of what they’ve told you (what’s not working) for you then to realise what is working.

Here’s what the TfL page shows you:

GOBLIN Closure

GOBLIN Closure

See how quickly you can work from that what is open, and not closed!

Similarly confusing signs appear at stations along the line itself, as well as on the new June 2016 Tube Map which is about to come out where the dreaded ‘daggers’ make an appearance and you have to refer to the key to try and figure out what it means.

Instead, we’ve come up with our own simple graphic showing what is open which we think is much easier to understand at a glance.

Any chance TfL, of doing something like this in future?

Easier to Understand

Easier to Understand

 

12 May 16

South Tottenham Step Free

Just in time for the line to be … closed for several months whilst it’s electrified, step-free access has come to South Tottenham station on the Overground with the addition of two new lifts.

The ticketing area has been improved too with a new gate line, ticket machines, a bike rack and even a nice garden is being built.  But as from June of this year, trains will only run to Gospel Oak, and then from September the whole line will be shut whilst it is converted so that longer electric trains can run upon it, and not the two-car diesel ones that are there at the moment.

Updated 3D map to follow!

Lifts at South Tottenham

Lifts at South Tottenham

06 May 16

Mexico Tube

Love this photo we were kindly given permission to use from a reader who recently, when on holiday to Mexico City, took several snaps of their metro system, including this one at Insurgentes station. Except you’d never know it because it’s been made to look like a Tube station!  For some reason (the brickwork, we think) it really reminds us of Bayswater on the Underground.

Insurgents Station

Insurgents Station

04 May 16

Departing East Putney

Admittedly, we haven’t got out at East Putney for a while – after all, we pass through a lot of stations around the network, but it’s only when we get out of them that we always take the time to check and look if anything has changed to that station so we can update Station Master’s information. We like to think that it’s an-always-evolving App that keeps up to date with things as they subtlety change.

One such subtle change that we did notice here was this sticker – an arrow pointing to the left – covering up the fact that you could possibly get an eastbound train departing from platform 2 as well, that started here in the terminating platform.

We don’t know when it changed, but it seems that those days have gone and all trains are now through trains that started at Wimbledon, and you can no longer get a train that now starts from here.

Platform 2

Platform 2

02 May 16