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Four stations miss out on 4G
Yesterday 4G mobile coverage was switched on at four central London Crossrail stations - Bond Street, Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon and Liverpool Street. Of course 30 Crossrail stations already had 4G because they're above ground in the open air and you could always get 4G there. Which means there are now just four Crossrail stations left where you can't ring a friend and have a very loud conversation and they are Paddington, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Woolwich. These will be added to the roster next year, but for the time being it's not possible to ring for a taxi at these bereft subterranean locations, you'll have to make do with logging into Uber via wi-fi instead.
There is a press release you can read, but I chose to take the practical approach and take my phone for a ride instead. I started at Ealing Broadway station where I definitely had a 4G signal and this continued all the way until just after we entered the central tunnel. The tunnels don't yet have 4G, so if you were intending to conduct a lengthy phone interview with a prospective son-in-law you'd need to wrap it up by Westbourne Sidings. Inside Paddington station I was surprised to get one bar of 4G while sitting on the train, but I think that's because the normal signal leaks down from the street, indeed it's just about possible to see daylight from the platforms.
4G suddenly switched on properly as the train approached Bond Street, so that was good. And then the 4G notification on my phone switched off because station wi-fi had kicked in and that takes precedence. I still had the full five bars of signal because the 4G was leaking in anyway, indeed if someone had chosen that moment to send a text message from their Android phone it would now have reached me. And then, as we left the station, first the wi-fi disconnected, then the 4G symbol came back on again and then the 4G faded away as we thundered into the tunnel.
It is thus not yet possible to have a proper phone conversation on the central section of the Elizabeth line, not like it is on the Jubilee, because there remain multiple dead zones between the stations. If you fancy watching video shorts from your favourite martial arts channel you'd better already have downloaded the content onto your phone. Indeed a typical journey from Paddington to Whitechapel now connects like this:
so it's just as well your phone copes automatically with all that faff.
TfL are promising that the whole of Crossrail will have 4G "by the end of spring 2024", which is not too long to wait. For the avoidance of doubt this also includes 5G, although I couldn't test that on my incompatible phone.
A map has been produced to show the spread of 4G and 5G across the network.
It's dated December 2023, was widely circulated in the press yesterday and is also available on the 'Mobile phones and Wi-Fi underground' webpage. However it doesn't show stations with 4G, which was the reason for yesterday's media launch, it shows 4G coverage on the tunnels inbetween.
4G in tunnels now Jubilee: Westminster to Canning Town Northern: Tottenham Court Road to Belsize Park and Archway Central: Holland Park to Lancaster Gate and Bond Street to Chancery Lane
4G in tunnels by the end of spring 2024 Jubilee: Westminster to Canning Town Northern: Tottenham Court Road and Euston to Golders Green and East Finchley Central: White City to Bank Piccadilly: Russell Square to Covent Garden Victoria: Euston to Oxford Circus Crossrail: Paddington to Stratford and Custom House
Yesterday's press release also says that the first tunnels on the Bakerloo line will be getting 4G by the end of spring 2024, but that's not on the map so it's not clear where that might be. 4G is coming to the southern end of the Northern line in summer 2024, according to a previous press release, and is also being lined up for subterranean parts of the Overground and DLR.
One day we will look back on this period with wry amusement ("What do you mean you couldn't get a signal in a tunnel?"), just as we look back now on 2012 and wonder how we ever coped without wi-fi on every platform. But for now we can expect multiple press releases over the coming months every time yet another sliver of mobile coverage gets switched on. You can look forward to reading them at Paddington, Whitechapel, Canary Wharf and Woolwich, and indeed in the tunnels inbetween.
Textual Ealing
This is less news and more observation, but oh look there's a new departures board at Ealing Broadway station. It's long and bright, indeed nine panels wide, and you can't miss it as you enter the station.
It means you can now see how the District and Central lines are doing before you pass through the barriers - great stuff. It shows the next four trains from the main platforms, plus the times they'll be stopping at every stop - great stuff. It shows six further departures, plus disruptions across the network, even the temperature and local weather - great stuff. It even clearly shows which trains are stopping at Hanwell and which aren't - great stuff.
See how the next four departures have a purple stripe across the top to denote the operator, indeed you'd have to be standing here at some pretty special times to see anything other than four purple stripes. Also see how there are two spare panels on the right which TfL are currently filling with their own messages, but which could easily be switched over to proper adverts in the future.
Perhaps this is just me but it takes a while to deduce the time of the next fast train to central London. You have to pick out Shenfield in panel 3 and know that Shenfield means 'via Paddington', then spot that you almost certainly don't have time to catch this train before it departs so you'll probably be getting the Abbey Wood in panel 5 instead. All that space to play with and a torrent of information to pick from, and all I'll say is I'd probably have done it differently (and so would you).
Buses still exist
Sorry, I've now brought you nine different chunks of transport news this week without once mentioning that workhorse of the road, the humble London bus. But I can exclusively reveal that the SL6 will be running to a special timetable next Wednesday, that the 246 is currently diverted away from Westerham Hill and that I had to clear some orange peel from the front seat of a double decker in Wood Green on Monday. I hope that suffices.
