In case you're missing Tube Week, here's some tube news blending seamlessly into some Crossrail news.
A new entrance opened at Knightsbridge station last week.
It's a twisty white-tiled passage. It connects the northern ticket hall to the top of Brompton Road. It replaces a previous entrance lost during redevelopment. It's oddly featureless. It starts with two flights of stairs, then three bits of corridor. A separate step-free entrance will be opening next year. Ian Visits has the full backstory with more photos.
This is the westbound Next Train Indicator at West Ham. It's incredibly slow at spotting next trains. It doesn't photograph very well, sorry.
When the time of the next train ticks over from [3 mins] to [2 mins], you might think the next train would be 2 minutes away. Not so, it'll be in the platform in 45 seconds time. Those 45 seconds go like this...
00 secs[2 mins] The display ticks down from 3 to 2 15 secs[2 mins] The next train is already clearly visible, heading towards the station 25 secs[1 min ] The display ticks down from 2 to 1 35 secs[0 mins] The display ticks down from 1 to 'Stand Back Train Approaching' 45 secs[0 mins] The next train reaches the platform
2 mins is only on display for about 25 seconds. 1 min is only on display for about 10 seconds.
It's like the Next Train Indicator suddenly catches up with reality. It's been doing this for several weeks, it's not a new thing.
There are several Next Train issues along this section of the District line, from the utter gobbledegook at Bow Road to 'Check Front of Train' appearing repeatedly on display screens. These problems should all be sorted early next year when Migration Area 6 of the Four Lines Modernisation project comes into effect. In the meantime it seems the underlying system doesn't know where the next trains are, so isn't telling us, hence the ridiculous speeding up of time at West Ham station.
Have you noticed that all the tube maps in all the tube carriages across the entire tube network are incorrect? They all show TfL Rail terminating at Paddington and Liverpool Street, with a purple gap across Central London where the Elizabeth line ought to be. And yet the line diagrams in tube carriages across the tube network are all correct. They've all been replaced and now show interchange with the Elizabeth line at all relevant stations along the line.
Slipshod inconsistency or cunning efficiency?
It's the latter. We're living in a six month interregnum when passengers have to change at Paddington and Liverpool Street, a double disconnect that'll end in three weeks time. No point slapping up a new set of maps for six months when you could wait until November and replace them just once. But the interchange stations were all correct back in May (Bond Street excepted) so it made sense to update the line diagrams right from the start.
Expect all the in-carriage tube maps to be replaced next month with the purple line threading straight through (and just one change on the line diagrams, on the Central and Jubilee lines, with a sticker slapped across Bond Street). One staggered change of maps and diagrams, a tidy sum of money saved, and a travelling population that probably never noticed the difference.
TfL published the new timetable for the Elizabeth line yesterday, a 47 page document for the period Sunday 6th November to Saturday 10th December. You can peruse the whole thing here, but it's just like I told you last week - a high frequency on the central section, fewer trains through Canary Wharf and a late start on Sundays.
But be prepared for engineering works six days after the full line opens. The Shenfield branch will be closed for engineering works on Saturday 12th November, so only the Abbey Wood to Heathrow and Reading bit will be running.
Further purple closures are as follows...
19/20 November: the Heathrow branch 26/27 December: the entire line 28 Dec - 2 Jan: the Shenfield branch 4/5 February: Paddington to Abbey Wood and Shenfield 11/12 February: the Shenfield branch 18/19 February: Paddington to Abbey Wood and Shenfield 25/26 February: the Shenfield branch 4/5 March: the Shenfield branch 11/12 March: Paddington to Abbey Wood and Shenfield 7-10 April: Paddington to Abbey Wood and Shenfield
So don't make plans to ride purple at Christmas or at Easter, and be prepared to give the line a miss at weekends in February and March.
