Train-related stuff going on in and around London in January 2015
• Gold Card zone (Friday 2 January) I mentioned this last year, but the one-third discount zone for those of us with annual travelcards now extends across most of the West Midlands and the whole of Norfolk and Suffolk. Terms and conditions apply, but hurrah, and I've made good use of it twice already.
• Tottenham Court Road (Saturday 3 January) The Central lineplatforms at Tottenham Court Road closed yesterday, and won't reopen until the last day of November. That's eleven months without an interchange with the Northern line, and eleven months that Central line users in the vicinity will have to walk to Oxford Circus or Holborn instead - two already very busy stations. The platform closure is part of the station upgrade in readiness for Crossrail, four years hence, and involves the cutting of new passageways and the installation of lifts.
• Tottenham Court Road (Monday 12 January) But a week later, subject to official confirmation, there's excellent news at Tottenham Court Road. The brand new entrance on the corner with Oxford Street opens for public use, and you'll be able to glide down the escalators into a proper 21st century station to catch your Northern line trains. You probably saw Londonist's behind-the scenes preview peek, yes?
• Tottenham Court Road (Friday 9 January) And this means that this Friday is the last day you'll be able to enter Tottenham Court Road station via the old twisty staircase from Oxford Street, and the last day in use for the old ticket hall. No great loss, I think you'll agree, especially given that almost all of the Eduardo Paolozzi mosaics are being preserved for reuse in the new station. Expect the station to be completely closed next weekend to prepare for the changeover, and then nu-TCR is born (presumably without a ticket office). They knocked the Astoria down for this - it had better be worth it.
• London Bridge (Monday 5 January) Above ground, tomorrow's the day that Southern's access into London Bridge reduces from six to three tracks. This means several cancellations, premature terminations and retimings, continuing until 2018. In particular no Thameslink trains from Bedford will travel via London Bridge, and far fewer Thameslink trains from Brighton. Passengers who normally change at London Bridge for Charing Cross will be able to use their season tickets to open the turnstiles at selected Tube stations, but only if they get their paper tickets updated by the end of today. I foresee mild chaos tomorrow. [furtherdetails]
• London Bridge (Monday 12 January) And then things get serious. For at least 18 months a) no Southeastern services to/from Charing Cross will call at London Bridge, b) Southeastern services from New Cross, St. Johns, Deptford, Greenwich, Maze Hill, Westcombe Park, Woolwich Dockyard, Plumstead, Belvedere and Erith will operate to Cannon Street rather than the more useful Charing Cross and Waterloo East. Expect the Overground and Jubilee line to be rather busier as a result. [furtherdetails]
• Circle line (Sat/Sun 17/18 and Sat/Sun 24/25 January) Something highly unusual happens to the Circle line over these two weekends - it runs to Barking! The tracks between Baker Street and Liverpool Street are closed for maintenance, so instead Circle line trains will run from Edgware Road to Barking via Victoria (and H&C trains will run from Baker Street to Hammersmith). Expect to see some confused faces and several lost souls (more details at District Dave's Forum)
• District line (Monday 19 January) This is the day that D Stock trains start to be removed from the District line and replaced by air-conditioned S stock trains. Expect a) a replacement a week, b) to see S Stock trains anywhere from Richmond to Upminster, c) the entire set of rolling stock to have been exchanged before the end of next year.
Also this month, three cheap rail ticket deals
• c2c: Half price fares when you book a Super Off-Peak Online ticket, 7 days or more in advance, for travel in January. [details]
• Greater Anglia: £5 tickets for travel on the Norwich line into London, from January 5th to February 27th inclusive (but not including weekends in February). Offer ends today at midnight. [details]
• London Midland: 15% off all advance fares bought between 1-31 January 2015, for travel until 28 February. [details]
And then next month...
• ...the first tube ticket offices start to close. Almost all will have gone by December, and the whole lot by next April.
