Opened: 24th October 2022 Status: The final Crossrail station Delay: Five months late Actual delay: Almost four years late
Brief summary: Bond Street is perhaps the purest Crossrail station of all. A pair of long straight platforms, several crosspassages with curvaceous walls, an exit at each end, escalators leading up and out.
Change here for: Central line, Jubilee line, Oxford Street West.
Main entrance: Davies Street (just behind the shopping centre containing the tube station entrance) Building on top of entrance: Architecturally undistinguished, not yet complete. Ticket hall: A long ribbed box to funnel passengers to the gateline at the far end, three ticket machines. Upper concourse: huge space (mostly empty), somewhere to double back to the top of the escalators, access to lift, temporary giant glowing purple roundel.
Artworks above escalators (by Darren Almond) Top of top escalator:'Horizon Line' - a large grid of fragmented numbers cast in aluminium made up of 144 individual hand-polished tiles. Artiest of the three. Bottom of top escalator:'Time Line' - four words on separate nameplates (FROM UNDER THE GLACIER) intended to remind us 'how our journey through this network of tunnels has literally cut through geological time itself'. Top of bottom escalator:'Shadow Line' - four words on one nameplate (REFLECT FROM YOUR SHADOW) intended to 'evoke a sense of departure and leaving something in your wake'. Bottom of bottom escalator:No. Darren only created three artworks.
Other entrance: Hanover Square (not as close to Oxford Circus as you'd like) Building on top of entrance: Architecturally undistinguished, complete. Ticket hall: A functional slot, three ticket machines, a shorter walk to the gateline. Leading directly to: The longest Crossrail escalators (60m long). Artwork? Hell no. Captive audience for well over a minute, so twin ribbons of digital adverts.
The platforms: Two. Parallel. Very long. How long? So long that the trains stop in the middle of the platform with a carriage-length gap at each end. Blimey that's long: Yup, 255m each. I counted 165 light panels along the length of the westbound platform.
Where are the platform exits? Yet again, front and back. For a fast exit you need to be either at the front of the train or the back of the train. Do the exit arrows lie? Only slightly. If you arrive in the front or back carriage, exit via the passageway closest to you. If you arrive in any other carriage, follow the arrows.
Davies Street
Hanover Square
Abbey Wood →
9
1
1
9
← Paddington
Platform level layout: Very symmetrical. Each platform has crosspassages adjacent to carriage 1, carriage 2, carriage 5, carriage 8 and carriage 9. The central passage links only to the other platform, while the others lead to a concourse at the foot of the escalators. Walk to the far end of each platform behind the escalators to find another passage with access to the lifts. Anything novel? Nah. If you've been to any other central London Crossrail station, you'll recognise how Bond Street looks. It looksgood though.
What about signage? On the eastbound platform the line diagrams show you may have to change at Liverpool Street. This is true for the next two weeks. But on the westbound platform the line diagrams show you don't have to change at Paddington. This is not yet the case. The line diagrams facing the lifts already show the final configuration. And the tube maps? Unique, I think. The tube map posters show the new station interchange at Bond Street but no connections yet at Paddington and Liverpool Street. They'll be out of date in a fortnight but they're correct right now. They also show the new name for the cable car (which is still red, not IFS purple).
Did you get your stopwatch out? Hell yes.
Platform to street level (Davies Street): 2½ mins Platform to street level (Hanover Square): 2 mins Full walk-through (Davies Street → Hanover Square): 6 mins
Oxford Circus crossroads to Hanover Square entrance: 3 mins Oxford Circus crossroads to Crossrail platform: 5 mins
How about changing to the Underground? Simple. But long. Explain: Whether you're changing to the Central line or Jubilee line, aim for the Davies Street exit. After the first escalator a passageway bears off the right. It's bright, bendy and goes on a bit. It took me almost two minutes. A bench has been provided halfway along in case you get tired. The passage leads to the original Bond Street tube station, landing on the concourse between the escalators. Follow the winding corridor to the Central line or head down the escalators for the extended hike to the Jubilee line.
Interchange times Crossrail → Central line: 3 minutes 15 seconds. Crossrail → Jubilee line: 3 minutes 45 seconds. The important thing to know: It's not a quick interchange. But it's quicker than changing at Tottenham Court Road.
And by lift? Step-free access to the Jubilee line takes two lifts. Step-free access to the Central line takes three lifts.
Finally: let's answer the big questions.
Liverpool Street to Bond Street (Central line): 11 mins Liverpool Street to Bond Street (Crossrail): 7 mins Canary Wharf to Bond Street (Jubilee line): 16 mins Canary Wharf to Bond Street (Crossrail): 14 mins
So: Crossrail is the quickest route to Bond Street But: Don't change specially, because changing takes longer than the time you'd save.
