Tuesday, April 04, 2023
Barking station switched to using a completely new gateline last week. It's not where the old one was. It's part of a massive lengthy upgrade to update the Grade II listed building and improve passenger flow. I went along to have a look.
I shouldn't have bothered. It's a new gateline, it's nothing exciting. It has modern barriers and a row of display boards above it. The only interesting thing about the new gateline is that you can no longer bypass it by using the lift.
The rest of the capacious interior of the ticket hall is almost entirely sealed off behind black hoardings apart from a row of ticket machines and a ticket office. The only interesting thing about the ticket office is that hardly any other Underground stations have one, only those managed by Network Rail.
The outside of the station is a right mess with workmen crawling all over it, including on the roof. It's so temporarily scruffy that the name 'Barking' has been daubed freehand in red paint above the entrance, twice. The only interesting thing about the exterior is that Galia melons are currently £1.50 from the stall outside.
The upgrade should be finished in six months time. Do not waste your day going to look at the station before then, like what I did.
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