Last night, mid rush hour, hundreds of cyclists converged on the Bow roundabout for a candlelight vigil. They'd turned up because, one week earlier, Svitlana Tereschenko had died in a bike accident on the eastern side of the roundabout. And they'd turned up because, three weeks earlier, Brian Dorling had died in a bike accident on the western side of the roundabout. Both were entering the roundabout, both were hit by a left-turning tipper lorry. One roundabout, two distressingly similar deaths - not really what was intended when Cycle Superhighway 2 reached Bow in the summer.
The vigil had been organised by the Tower Hamlets Wheelers, an august body of local biking enthusiasts, here to pay their respects. They'll have been very pleased with the turnout, if not for the reason it was necessary. So many turned up that the only safe place to congregate was the centre of the roundabout - the bleak central circle where normally nobody goes. They surrounded themselves with candles, laid out in a flickering arc on the concrete. They draped a banner across a pile of Skanska barriers ("Safer Junctions For All"). And they stuck posters on the traffic lights where passing drivers could clearly see them ("Two deaths too many"). Too late for Brian and Svitlana, but maybe timely enough to prevent a third E3 casualty.
All ages of cyclist turned up for the vigil, some on their first ride along the Superhighway. A lot were in bright yellow fluorescent jackets - taking no chances on this dark East End night. Brian Paddick was here - the Lib Dem Mayoral candidate - as well as Rushanara Ali - the local MP. So too was Debbie Dorling, widow of the first CS2 victim. It must have been tough returning to the site of her husband's death, again, but immensely reassuring to see how many people cared.
On Brian's side of the roundabout, outside McDonalds, a ghost bike has appeared. A pure white chassis, plus a "Remember Me" tag on the lamppost - a stark reminder of mortality beneath the sodium glare. The flowers here have been refreshed, now pert bright blooms, with the toppermost roses dedicated "in memory of my dear husband". There's a larger collection of flowers on Svitlana's side, plus a haunting full-colour portrait, laid out along the wall to mark the more recent death. Here too a line of candles, the largest burning brightly in an empty jar of crunchy peanut butter. Even an hour after the vigil had packed up and ridden off, cyclists were still turning up to read the cards on the tributes and to pay their respects.
And we have a result, of sorts, as TfL have pledged to reassess the Bow Roundabout and report back to the mayor on "as a matter of urgency." He'll listen this time, unlike the team who installed CS2 in the first place. The pre-construction report from the Jacobs consultancy warned of dangerous traffic flow and proposed that toucan crossings be built to ease westward and eastward travel. As it turns out those two toucan crossings might have saved one life each, had they been built, which other priorities determinedthey were not. It is of course over-simplistic to cherrypick consultants' reports after a series of tragic events, and to claim that they could obviously have been prevented. But either lack of money or the smoothing of traffic flow took precedence, and cyclists received merely lip service rather than protection.
TfL have also promised to review all the junctions on the existing cycle superhighways, which would be a massive undertaking if done properly, and one fears that any review will be either glacially slow or superficially cursory. There's also no commitment to investigate the sections of superhighway between junctions, which means those pathetic half-blue shared lanes will continue, and continue to be rolled out elsewhere. It's not best practice, but in these times of austerity apparently it'll do. Only at Bow do I think we can guarantee action, because a road junction which kills your electorate isn't a vote winner. Something'll happen here, before the Olympics, because the force of public opinion has made its voice heard. But whether it'll be cosmetic tweaks or life-saving transformation, that's yet to be seen.
On 17 November 1311, 700 years ago today, the Bishop of Stepney issued a licence for the building of a new chapel. It was to be situated on the main road east out of London, near the bridge over the River Lea, in the growing settlement of Stratford-atte-Bowe. Villagers were fed up of having to walk from Bow to Stepney and back each Sunday to go to church, so a new church made ecclesiastical sense. It took a few years to find sufficient money and an appropriate site, but eventually Edward III granted a piece of land "in the middle of the King's Highway" and the first Bow Church was born. The A11 hasn't gone away, and still surrounds themedievalbuildingoneitherside. And parishioners still bear witness here, seven centuries on, at "the church in themiddle of the road".
It's not the church with the BowBells, nor the church at the end of the Oranges and Lemons rhyme. That's St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside, four miles away in the City of London. But this doesn't stop tourists coming to St Mary's in Bow by mistake, lured in by the DLR (this being one of the very few churches in London with a station named after it). Visitors can't gain access to the interior unless they turn up on the first Saturday of the month, so won't see the fine beamed roof, the whitewashed arches along the nave and the stained glass window behind the altar with its hidden wildlife (owl, cat, mouse, look harder, squirrel). One of only two surviving medieval churches in Tower Hamlets, this is a charming building with a chequered back history.
The area around the church has changed dramatically too. Various houses, an inn and Bow's market hall were once tightly packed alongside, with the main road passing by to north and south. In 1789 a complaint was made that the church was "a great obstacle in a much frequented thoroughfare", forcing carriages to separate and causing "frequent stoppages". If easing traffic flow had been the order of the day, St Mary's would have been doomed to demolition long before now. It wasn't until 1825 that the area around the church was cleared of buildings and the present churchyard created. This somehow survived the coming of the flyover in the 1960s, although the rear of the churchyard is now rarely accessed, tapering to an artificial point between encroaching tarmac.
2011 finds Bow Church in a state of flux. The last Rector, Michael Peet, died in April after a long illness. He was the life and soul of the parish, and had been masterminding plans for commemorating today's 700th anniversary. He'd have loved the pageant which took place in the church in September, based on historic characters brought to life in the Reverend's book. And he'd have been in his element at last night's torchlight celebration. Tealights had been lit all the way along the path from the Gladstone statue, awaiting the Bishop of Stepney's arrival, while the congregation stood around outside the front door sipping refreshments. Someone had brought along a few cheap sparklers, which spluttered for a few seconds before extinguishing prematurely. And all the time Bow's non-famous bells rang out, no doubt annoying the hell out of various local residents who didn't realise the significance of today's date.
For those interested, there's even a special brochure packed with all the details a would-be community leader might need. It's remarkably honest, and lays bare the challenges of ministry in a multicultural inner city. Nearly twenty thousand people live in the parish, but only thirty or so regularly turn up for communion every Sunday. It used to be forty before the vicar fell ill, and the congregation have really pulled together to keep regular services and worship going during the interregnum. But in recent years the church has only ever hosted two or three weddings a year, maybe ten or so baptisms, which isn't what you'd expect looking at the imposing exterior. There's a genuine challenge here - to make Bow's ancient church a relevant part of the surrounding community, and to continue seven unbroken centuries of devoted ministry. Applications for the post close on Friday next week. Middle of the road candidates need not apply.
In what's unintentionally becoming diamond geezer's History Week, here's a very-local very-important anniversary. St Mary's in Bow, the "church in the middle of the road", celebrates its 700th birthday tomorrow. There'll be celebratory bell-ringing tonight, along with torchlight refreshments and a visit by the Bishop of Stepney. Then on Thursday evening, the septcentenary itself, the Bishop of London will host a special service of commemoration. Bend a knee, raise a glass, and take a Bow. More tomorrow...
It's not every day that a new heritage attraction opens in London. New attraction maybe, but not the opening to the public of something old and lovely. So come one and all to the Westminster riverside, to the neo-Gothic mansion called Two Temple Place. And then maybe, like me, you'll go "blimey, wow, I never realised all this was here, blimey, wow."
Two Temple Place was formerly called Astor House, built in 1895 for the American social climbers Lord and Lady Astor. They wanted a central London property to show off, so took advantage of reclaimed land beside the new Thames Embankment and built a Gothic pile from scratch. No expense was too great, no flight of fancy too grand, and the end result is an over-embellished house with a gasp around every corner. When you've got Hever Castle, Cliveden and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at your disposal, you can afford to make your townhouse very special.
Since the Astors sold it on, Two Temple Place has been home to Sun Life of Canada, the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors and (for the last 50 years) medical conglomerate Smith & Nephew. The latest owners are the Bulldog Trust, a philanthropic body who "embrace the spirit of resourceful giving", and who opened up the building for the first time at the end of last month. They plan to host a series of exhibitions showcasing works from non-central-London galleries, and have kicked off by inviting Walthamstow's William Morris Gallery (currently closed for redevelopment) to put on a show. The result is "William Morris: Story, Memory, Myth" = a collection of the designer's creations with a literary bent. And it's a tricky choice to decide which is more splendid - Morris's artwork or the house in which they're displayed.
Just off the Embankment, between Temple station and the Inns of Temple, that's where Astor's house is tucked. It could be an Oxbridge college, or a small country mansion, or any other whimsical pile with a golden galleon weathervane on the roof. Approach via the front courtyard, beneath further nautical touches on the lampstands, and up the steps to the main entrance. No, really, the lady on the front desk will tell you, entrance is free. And have a free copy of the official 72-page show catalogue to take round with you and read, then perhaps buy your own copy in the shop later. Ready for a look round, sir? Not that way yet, that's the cafe. Try the gallery through there.
Morris and his associate Edward Burne-Jones commissioned many works based on Arthurian legend and Chaucerian tales, including the tapestries hung here. Some are very long, in muted shades, and quite exquisite. Chivalrous knights lead white-clad maidens through enchanted rose gardens, that sort of thing. Upstairs in the LongGallery are much taller tapestries, still with a romantic hue, if a King turned into a woodpecker by a spurned Greek goddess can be described as romance. There are wallpaper samples too, as you'd expect with Morris, plus block-cut illustrated poems from the Kelmscot Press. All are presented with a concise burst of background information, enough to make you feel like you've learned something. And if this is the quality of stuff we'll be seeing in E17 next summer, bring it on.
Meanwhile, it's hard to stop staring at the house. Those ceiling-high stained glass windows, they're not Morris, they're some verdant Swiss lakeside the Astors installed. That doorway out to the landing, it's entirely coincidental that's covered in gilt panels depicting Arthurian heroines. And the landing itself, an oak-panelled ascent to a pillared gallery where a brass candelabra hangs from a stained glass ceiling, that's as entirely as over-the-top as it sounds. Just for once it's Wikipedia which has the most useful photos for giving potential visitors an inkling of what they'll see, although nothing quite prepares you for the 3D Astorama experience.
Two Temple Place(WC2R 3BD) » Open daily 10am-4:30pm (Sundays noon-5pm) » Closed Tuesdays (and today for a special function, sorry) » Admission free (and for all future exhibitions) » Nearest station: Temple (obviously)
The London Stone is moving. You know the one - the ancient stone in Cannon Street, the rock that legend says is linked to the destiny of our capital city. It's being removed from behind the grille on the shop opposite the station, and relocated to an office block down the road. Or it is unless planning consultation dictates otherwise. Deadline for public comments, next Tuesday.
The situation is this. The Stone is currently encased in a Portland stone surround on the front wall of 111 Cannon Street. It's quite low down, which makes it hard to see, and it's behind glass and an iron grille, which makes it even harder to see. Semi-visible, semi-ignored, but very secure. The former sports shop behind the wall has closed down, and is up for let, with contractors Bovis stripping out the interior as we speak. Meanwhile the entire seven-storey 1960s block is owned by property company Minerva, who want to create a mixed-use development on site and are rather keen to get on and build it. A Grade II* listed chunk of limestone embedded in the front wall makes that legally awkward, hence their intent to shift it a few doors down the street.
A few doors down the street is the WalbrookBuilding, one of the City's newer office blocks. It looks like a metal armadillo, or a striped grey blancmange - or whatever it was that Foster and Partners' project brief intended. A very modern building, very modern indeed, but still with a few heritage nods at ground level. Two of the metal struts planted firmly into Cannon Street incorporate small black plaques that once marked former ward boundaries. They look a bit incongruous, to be frank, but at least they're still on site rather than scrapped and dumped elsewhere.
So the plan is to relocateLondon Stone to the Walbrook Building. The front elevation will be altered, and a special display case will be built to contain the legendary rock from up the road. One of the existing grey panels will be replaced by a laminated glass wall, and the stone placed inside on an etched mild steel plinth. And the grille will come too, given a less prominent position beneath, plus the metal plaque that currently sits on top of them all. All the detail's in the published plans and drawings, if you know whereto look. Indeed, if you ever want to find out the heritage of a historic artefact, I can heartily recommend waiting until it's the subject of a planning application...
• London Stone is a Grade II* listed block of oolitic limestone measuring approximately 53cm wide, 43cm high and 30cm deep, and is thought to be a former Roman milestone. • Oolitic limestone is not local to the London area. It is therefore presumed that the stone cannot predate the Roman period, when it is believed the stone was transported to London for construction purposes. • The first record of the stone is from the 10th century, mentioned as a landmark in a list of rents belonging to Christ's Church in Canterbury. • In 1405, Kentish rebel Jack Cade is believed to have struck his sword on London Stone and claimed to be the 'Lord of London'. • In the late 1550s, London Stone is shown on the 'Copperplate Map' of the City of London. The stone is shown as a large rectangular block in the roadway, located opposite the main door of St Swithin's Church.
They can't move this, surely, it would be sacrilegious! Ah, but hang on...
• St Swithin's Church was destroyed in the Great Fire of London in 1666, and rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren. By this time the original stone is thought to have been worn down to a stump. • In 1742 the Vestry Minute Book of St Swithin's records that the stone was moved from the south side of the street to the north as it was considered an obstruction and traffic hazard. • In 1798 the stone was again considered an obstruction and relocated against the south wall of the church. • The stone is understood to have been moved again in 1828 and set into an alcove in the wall of the replacement church. • Wren's church was bombed and destroyed during the Second World War, but London Stone remained intact and remained standing until the building was demolished in 1961. • In 1962, London Stone was placed in its current location in a new office block at 111 Cannon Street.
So it turns out the London Stone has led a fairly nomadic life, repeatedly crossing Cannon Street or being built into the fabric of yet another building. The latest shift isn't unprecedented heresy - it's a continuation of centuries of movement. The Stone will also be considerably easier to see, and better noticed by casual passers-by, which has to be a huge bonus. And yet I can't help seeing Minerva's action as some sort of corporate kidnap. They own the property where London Stone is, they own the property where London Stone will end up, and they want this inconvenient rock out of the way so that they can knock down an office block and make a profit.
• 111 Cannon Street is a potential development site and in order to ensure the continued conservation of London Stone, it is proposed that the Stone is relocated to the Walbrook Building where it can be better protected in situ.
Minerva's grand design finally removes London Stone from the built environment, forcibly elevated after two millennia at ground level. It'll become a showcased exhibit - an ancient relic in a glass cage - rather than part of the everyday fabric of the city. London Stone's moved many times before, and not always for the most noble of reasons. But this time I fear it's moving solely for commercial convenience, in what will literally be a break from the past.
The longest running show in London, they call it. It's been performed every night (without fail) for the last 700 years. It runs for only six minutes, beginning to end. Tickets are limited, but free. It's The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London. And I've finally been along to watch. I think I'm allowed to call myself a proper Londoner now.
There are some fairly strict rules if you want to attend. You have to apply in writing (none of this modern online form-filling stuff). You have to enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope (and that's not a request you hear often these days). You have to give at least two months notice (three in the summer). You have to offer two different choices of date (the rest of November plus Christmas Day are already booked). There's a limit of six tickets per application (unless it's between November and March when you can have fifteen). You have to submit names and personal details of all potential attendees in advance (for the records). And you have to turn up by half past nine in the evening (any later and You Do Not Get In).
I got in. The Beefeater on duty met us at the front gate by the gift shop, gave our tickets a cursory check and ushered us within. There must have been almost 100 of us all told, which is rather more than I was expecting, but keeping numbers high keeps waiting lists down. We gathered on the bridge over the moat in front of the Byward Tower, excitedly, expectantly, awaiting further instructions. Our Yeoman Warder was a cheery soul, apart from his stern list of behavioural demands. Put your cameras away, stick your mobiles on silent, and stay quiet once you're inside. He asked the crowd where they were from (New Jersey, New Zealand, California, South Africa) and I soon realised that I was in a UK minority. It may take serious forward planning (and a couple of International Reply Coupons), but for many tourists the highlight of a trip to London is this late night lock-in at a royal palace.
Onward to Traitor's Gate, past dark forbidding towers, for further historical background and additional details of the night's ceremony. This bloke'll walk up here, they'll walk down there, he'll call out that, they'll play this, and then we'll invite you to leave. It pays to be prepared. And then the two-tier nature of the ceremony became clear. A much smaller group of spectators appeared out of the darkness and lined up (with a better view) on the opposite side of the cobbles. They were dressed in black tie and evening wear, and had clearly spent the earlier part of the evening being expensively entertained somewhere within the Tower's bounds. Some grinned, some tottered, and most looked like they might possibly have had one beer too many. We faced them, they faced us, and we waited.
Six minutes to ten, and the age-old ceremony began. A single Yeoman Warder strode forth, keys jangling, pausing in the gateway to attach himself to an entourage of guardsmen. This larger group then marched off to lock the two wooden gates in the towers we'd all entered through earlier. All of this took place completely out of sight, left to our imaginations, as we stood silently in the late-night gloom. Look at us, we're inside the Tower of London after lock-in, how the hell are we going to get out? And back they trooped, but only so far before the sentry on duty demanded identification.
Sentry: Who comes there? Chief Warder: The keys. Sentry: Whose keys? Chief Warder: Queen Elizabeth's keys. Sentry: Pass Queen Elizabeth's Keys. All's well.
I think our Sentry actually said "Who goes there?", rather than comes, but nobody complained he was off-script. The outcome was the same, as the locking party were duly invited to enter into the heart of the Tower. We followed behind at a safe distance, to watch the final part of the ceremony on the steps in front of the White Tower. There was a lot of stomping up and down at first, then a cheer for Queen Elizabeth and the collective response "Amen!" We weren't perhaps being as quiet as we'd been asked to be, but none of the warders shushed us - they were all too busy taking part. A lone bugler played the Last Post, slightly awkwardly, hitting most of the right notes. And as the clock struck ten they were off, taking the keys away to the Queen's House to be locked up for the night.
I was expecting instant ejection, but instead we were allowed to hang around for a bit and ask questions... even take a few photos now the ceremony was over. I bet they don't allow that in high summer, but perhaps autumnal visits are a little more relaxed. And it turned out the gates to the Tower weren't quite as locked as they seemed. There are smaller exit gates embedded in the two larger sealed gates, so returning to late-night London wasn't too difficult after all. A secret slice of medieval heritage, with performances daily, yet how many Londoners have actually been? Get your stamped addressed envelope ready and you too could witness history.
[CS2] Friday's tragic death at the Bow Flyover roundabout has been marked by a small row of bouquets. They're spread along the wall by the Calor Gas depot, with a single glass candleholder on the pavement to complete the temporary roadside shrine. Michelle left some flowers, and so did Cheryl, neither knowing the name of the cyclist they're commemorating but wanting to express their condolences all the same. This latest accident took place on precisely the opposite side of the roundabout to last month's fatal bike/lorry encounter. Brian's Dorling's floral tributes to are still tied to the traffic lights by McDonalds, with all bar one now hanging limp and withered after a fortnight of remembrance. The occasional cyclist stops by to take a photo. And the traffic rolls on. [photo][photo]
[CS2] There's been many a moan that Cycle Superhighway 2 stops at the Bow Flyover roundabout. How awful, they say, that the mayor of Newham hasn't given permission for Boris's Cycle Superhighway to proceed onward towards Ilford. And yet Stratford High Street does have its own cycle lanes, at least at the start, it's just that they're not painted blue. They're not excessively wide either, not as wide as CS2 would be, but they are at least separated from other vehicles (most of CS2 through Bow is nothing more than a shared carriageway - half an ordinary lane of traffic). Further up Stratford High Street the cycle lanes fade away and then you're on your own, which is bloody stupid planning given that the roads have just been remodelled prior to the Olympics. But equally stupid is the lack of forethought at the roundabout itself, where no proper interface has been designed to aid transfer between Newham's cycle lane and Barclays' blue stripe. Riding east CS2 ends by vaguely dumping you on the pavement, whereas the continuation cycle lane is in the road. Meanwhile going west (where the latest fatality occurred) CS2 assumes you've ridden in from a non-existent lane on the pavement, so starts in mid-flow, rather than connecting back to the traffic lights. This end of CS2 has been optimised to merge with a continuation that doesn't yet exist, not the reality of today. No wonder it's not especially safe.
[CS2] Some better news. TfL have launched a special cycling map for the "Olympic Park and surrounding area", which you might find very useful. They launched it with a mild fanfare a few weeks ago. You may have seen it... although you probably haven't, because the map's very deliberately not been put online. You can only get a copy by ordering one from the TfL website (and, unlike all the other cycle maps of London, you can only order one). Someone in a trading unit in Woolwich then shoves one in an envelope, and you should receive it through the post in a week or so. The map shows recommended cycling routes for getting to the Olympics... but, given that this is the Autumn 2011 - Spring 2012 edition, these routes are of minimal current significance. Also marked are Cycle Superhighways and other "safe" routes recommended for cyclists, except there's one very obvious gap. Stratford High Street isn't officially designated as safe, you'll remember, so there's no direct cycle route between the Bow Roundabout and Stratford town centre. Rather than five minutes direct, TfL's risk-averse map recommends a meandering quarter-hour diversion via Three Mills, the Greenway and Abbey Mills DLR. Impractical, non-credible, and sure to be wholly ignored. Can this E15 blockade can be broken by the time the Summer 2012 map launches? (Next Saturday, to officially launch the Olympic walking and cycling routes, Sustrans are organising two walks (from Gants Hill and Angel) and three rides (from Roding Valley, Tottenham Hale and Cutty Sark). Meet around 11, travel together, and end up at the View Tube. I hope the cafe can cope)
[CS2] There's only one good bit of Cycle Superhighway 2 in Bow, and that's the proper segregated lane on the pavement opposite Campbell Road. It was only opened back in the summer, but earlier this week it was suddenly closed again. The current worksite is for the construction of a new Cycle Hire docking station - the closest to the Olympic Park, so it's going to be enormous. And to build it requires digging up the pavement again, hence temporarily fencing off the Superhighway. Typical, eh? You build something better for cyclists, then something else better for cyclists, and the second gets in the way of the first. But what idiot placed these signs on the approach to the roadworks, in that order. First dismount (even though the remaining strip of pavement is very narrow and not in any way ideal for bike-wheeling). And second a blue arrow directing cyclists to the right (and pedestrians to the left). That's to the right into the main road, which is a bloody stupid place to walk a bike. It's just as well that cyclists are extremely good at ignoring instructions to dismount, because none of them are dismounting, they're riding through. But whoever placed this combination of signs on CS2 wasn't thinking, wasn't thinking at all.
[CS2] Walking to work midweek, I halted at the traffic lights at the top of Campbell Road to allow a car to pull out into Bow Road. I saw the car, but the cyclist riding parallel to me on CS2 didn't. He jumped a red light because he thought it looked safe, then suddenly discovered he was in mortal danger from a lateral collision. Braking hard he skidded to a halt, then toppled from his bike and fell sideways onto the main road. Had the usual stream of traffic been flowing past he'd have been a goner, and he knew it. He shivered and shuddered, then rose to his feet and clambered meekly back onto his bike. The driver in a nearby car wound down his window and hurled some (entirely appropriate) abuse, and the cyclist made a conciliatory gesture of acknowledgement before riding on. He was idiotic to have jumped a red light in the first place, obviously (even though it's often perfectly safe to do so). But I swear I've seen more cyclists jumping red lights since CS2 was built, because the blue stripe across road junctions seems to subconsciously tempt them forward. Priority for you ahead, it seems to say - ignore the red, follow the blue. Best not, because a Cycle Superhighway isn't a shield, it's just a bit of paint on a road.
At 10:30 this morning a mass bike ride will head off from St Mark's Church, Kennington, for a tour of London. It's not a celebration, quite the opposite - a ride born out of anger from recent bike-related casualties. The peloton plan to visit all of TfL's Top 10 Most Dangerous Junctions for Cyclists in London, taken from a list sourced in the summer by Assembly member Jenny Jones. They're calling it the Tour Du Danger, and it'll weave across the Thames and through the city before ending at a cafe near the Old Street roundabout. Here's that top 10, starting with the most dangerous road junction for deaths and serious injuries.
But that list of Top 10 most dangerous junctions is no longer correct. Yesterday evening there was another fatal accidentat the Bow Flyover roundabout involving a cyclist and a lorry. A 34-year-old woman was killed, around quarter to five, while moving off at the lights.
Police are appealing for witnesses following a collision in east London in which a cyclist died. Officers were called at approx 16.45hrs on Friday 11 November to reports of a white DAF tipper truck in collision with a cyclist at the Bow Road Roundabout E3. At this early stage it is believed the collision occurred as the lorry and the cyclist, travelling west on High Street E3, moved off from traffic lights at the roundabout. The ambulance service attended but the cyclist, a woman aged 34, was pronounced dead at the scene.
Rush hour traffic was still being diverted and delayed when I arrived home an hour later.
Southbound direction. Accident has closed the southbound onslip to A12 The southbound off slip to the A12 remains closed at the Bow Road Roundabout. Westbound A11 off slip has also been closed on approach to the roundabout, with all traffic diverted over the flyover. The A11 is slow moving eastbound to the junction with Burdett Road and westbound back to the Stratford One Way System. Drivers are advised to expect delays on all approaches to the roundabout, and use an alternative route where possible.
It's only three weeks since father-of-three Brian Dorling met his end on the very same roundabout. That was widely flagged as the first death on a Cycle Superhighway, and yesterday's fatality is the second. A second incident at the far end of CS2, a second death at traffic lights, and a second incident involving a tipper truck. Of the 15 cycling deaths in London this year, that's now two dead at the Bow Flyover roundabout, which is a ghastly record of grief and tragedy.
It's always easy to read too much into statistics. It may be a complete coincidence that these two deaths came so soon after part of the tarmac here was painted blue. But something's not right when my local roundabout is repeatedly taking away the lives of the vulnerable who use it. This is the junction, you may remember, which TfL have been unwilling to remodel because that would "introduce significant delays to traffic." Have priorities now swung too far towards the four-wheeled road user, rather than those on two or on foot? Round about where I live, it would seem so.
And so ends diamond geezer's ninth annual tube week. I continue to be amazed by how much interactive interest the London Underground inspires, even amongst people who rarely or never use it, so thanks for all your 200+ comments. And I'm also surprised, every year, that I don't run out of new tube-related stuff to write about. I mean, nine years and I still haven't written a tube week post about closed-downstations. Maybe next year...
Tube quiz (40) The problem: There are 11 tube lines in London. Your challenge is to identify a journey that travels along each of these 11 lines once, and travels exactly one station along each line. Note: No walking from one station to another is permitted. You may not use transport other than these 11 lines (no buses, taxis, Thameslink, etc). After travelling one station along any line, you must change to another line. Assume Tottenham Court Road is open as normal. Example: Start at Farringdon, travel on the Circle Line to King's Cross, travel on the Northern line to Euston, travel on the Victoria line to Warren Street... and now you're stuck because you've already travelled on both the lines passing through this station. The solution: There are several ways to do it. Can you find one?
Tubewatch (40)OSI Ten years ago the Oyster system was but a flash in a developer's eye, and today we almost all use it. Touch, swipe, wave... and you're through. It helps us get home faster, it saves us from carrying small change, and it helps TfL to employ fewer staff. London's rail network is mighty complicated, and sometimes the combination of gates, interchanges and human error ends up with us unintentionally paying extra. But at other times the software is set to be kind, to allow us to do something slightly out of the ordinary, to twist the rules. And so it is with the OSI - the Out of Station Interchange.
Say you want to change lines, maybe even change mode of transport, but the system forces you to touch out and then touch in again. Won't you be charged twice, for two journeys? Not if it's an OSI. At designated OSIs the system allows you through, so long as you transfer in a set amount of time, and only charges you once. For example at Hammersmith. If you arrive on the Hammersmith & City but want to cross to the District, that's fine. The OSI permits you 20 minutes to cross the main road, maybe buy a coffee, even nip off to the toilet, then continue your journey. Pay as you go, but no need to pay extra.
Here's a list of all the acceptable Underground to Underground OSIs (if it's on this list, then exiting and re-entering is free) (if it's not on this list, then exiting and re-entering costs extra) 15 minutes allowed: Bank, Bank - Monument, Kenton - Northwick Park, King's Cross St Pancras, Waterloo 20 minutes allowed: Elephant & Castle, Euston - Euston Square, Hammersmith, Wood Lane - White City, Paddington 25 minutes allowed: Hanger Lane - Park Royal 30 minutes allowed: Goodge Street - Tottenham Court Road, Leicester Square - Tottenham Court Road (temporary, during platform closure)
Here's a list of OSIs between the tube and other modes of travel (which might be more useful) Underground to DLR: Bow Road - Bow Church, Canary Wharf, Canary Wharf - Heron Quays, Tower Hill - Tower Gateway Underground to Overground: Shepherds Bush, Kenton - Northwick Park, Kilburn - Brondesbury, Finchley Road - Finchley Road & Frognal, West Hampstead - West Hampstead, Kentish Town - Kentish Town West, Camden Town - Camden Road, Archway - Upper Holloway, Seven Sisters - South Tottenham, Walthamstow Central - Walthamstow Queens Road, Leytonstone - Leytonstone High Road Underground to National Rail: Bounds Green - Bowes Park, Clapham North - Clapham High Street, Sudbury Hill -Sudbury Hill Harrow (plus interchange at lots of central London termini, eg Cannon Street) (plus at lots of same named stations, eg Balham)
For a full list of Oyster-friendly Out of Station Interchanges, look here. TfL don't broadcast this list willingly, indeed it normally takes a Freedom of Information request to prise it out of them. I've sourced many of this year's Tube Week lists from other people's TfL FOI requests, as catalogued here. Please, whatever you do, don't start firing off petty trivial FOI requests at TfL. It only annoys them and wastes their time, and the information you'll get back is never very... (oooh, blimey, who knew?)
For lots of useful background information on Oyster, I can heartily recommend this site - an independent guide to using the little blue swipecard. What's a Continuation Exit? How do you mix Travelcards with Pay As You Go? How long is a Maximum Travel Time? All covered. The Oyster system may work smoothly most of the time, but when it gets complicated or cocks up, there's no need to pay more than you should.
(n.b. today's tube quiz will be along later this morning, at the obvious time)
Tube geek (39)Circle It's not just London has a Circle line. Here are some other world cities with circle lines (and the number of stations on the loop). Isolated circles: Tokyo 29, Madrid 28, Delhi 21, Beijing 18, Glasgow 15, Singapore 15, Detroit 13, Moscow 12, Sydney 7 Shared circles: Seoul 43, Nagoya 28, Berlin 27, London 27, Shanghai 26, Osaka 19, Oslo 13, Miami 8 Round and back loops: Brussels, Bucharest, Chicago, Hamburg, Incheon, Liverpool, London, Madrid, Melbourne, Newcastle, Paris, Singapore, Sydney, Tokyo, Vancouver.
Tube quiz (39)Tube fiction This erroneous line diagram graced the westbound platforms at Mile End for years, until modernisation swept along and replaced it. Can you spot the fictional District line station? And then can you spot the fictional station in each list below? 1) see photo 2) Wood Green, Wood Lane, Wood Road 3) Aldgate, Highgate, Moorgate, Newgate, Southgate 4) Heathrow Terminal 3, Heathrow Terminal 4, Heathrow Terminal 5 5) Clapham Common, Clapham Town, Clapham North, Clapham South 6) Ruislip Gardens, Ruislip Central, Ruislip Manor, South Ruislip, West Ruislip 7) West Ealing, West Ham, West Hampstead, West Harrow, West Kensington 8) East Finchley, North Finchley, West Finchley, Finchley Central, Finchley Road 9) Elm Park, Hyde Park, Kilburn Park, Newbury Park, Queen's Park, St James's Park, Woodside Park 10) East Acton, North Acton, South Acton, West Acton, Acton Broadway, Acton Central, Acton Town Answers are in the comments box, so don't peek until you've had a go at guessing them all.
Tubewatch (39)Mile End (sigh) As we've established on many a previous occasion, TfL employ a special team of cretins to install their next train indicators. Is there an ideal place on a ceiling to install one? Great, let's fix it somewhere else. Is there a clear line of sight all the way down the platform? Right, let's block the view. Can you read the text clearly? Tell you what, let's stick a security camera and a "Way Out" sign directly in front. I am convinced that there must be two groups of contractors working at underground stations - those who install next train indicators and those who install everything else. There seems to be no coherent planning whatsoever between the two, and one somehow always gets intheway of the other.
For example I have, several times, moaned about the next train indicators at Mile End station. Here we are at one of East London's busiest interchanges, where stepping between the District and Central lines should be easy as can be. But if you want to know when the next train's due and where it's going, bad luck, because from much of the platform the information's entirely illegible.
Mile End station got upgraded a couple of years ago, after a lengthy hiatus where it looked like the decorators had gone home mid-job. As part of that upgrade the roof was lowered, concealing the station's lofty arches beneath an artificial white ceiling. Problems with water ingress were to blame, with the new shielding needed to conceal drip trays which prevent customers getting occasionally damp. Trouble is, they're really rather low ceilings, low enough that tall people can easily reach up and touch them. And this created a problem. Hang a normal-sized next train indicator from the new rather-low ceiling and very tall people might easily hit their head. Health and safety decreed that this would never do, so the overhead obstruction had to move.
So contractors removed all the next train indicators from the middle of every platform at Mile End, and relocated them instead at the far western end. You can't bump your head on a metal sign if it's at the end of the platform, that was their rationale. Trouble is, you can't see it easily either, especially not from 130 metres away at the far eastern end of the station. And then the planners made things worse by installing four new platform signs, at the bottom of the stairs, one a few yards in front of every NTI. Even fortunate souls with keen eyesight didn't have a hope of reading where the next Central line train was going, because a sign telling them this was "Central line westbound platform 1" now blocked the view. Important real time information hidden by simple static information, that was the problem. Installed by cretins. Westbound platform 1: next train indicator at far end of platform, blocked by platform sign Westbound platform 2: next train indicator at far end of platform, then shunted in from edge of platform so it's unreadable from anywhere other than the foot of the stairs, then blocked by platform sign Eastbound platform 3: next train indicator at far end of platform, blocked by platform sign Eastbound platform 4: next train indicator at far end of platform, blocked by platform sign
TfL thought they had a partial solution, however - a second size of Next Train Indicator, You've seen them - smallish, squarish, several lines of electronic display. So they added a few of these to the central pillars in roughly the middle of the platform. Great if you're the member of staff hanging around waving your plastic bat despatching trains, but tough to read from much further away because they're concealed by the next pillar along. Plus almost all of the boards point away from the far eastern end of the platform, so they're also impossible to see. From a significant proportion of Mile End's platforms, alas, next train information cannot be seen. Is there a train coming? Dunno. How many minutes away is it? Not a clue. Shall I just stand here and hope for the best? Fingers crossed.
With Mile End being an interchange, and hundreds of rush hour commuters crossing along the full length of the platform, lack of visibility proved a problem. Passengers were leaning out over the edge of the platforms to try to peer round the edge of the annoying intermediate sign, in the vain hope of maybe seeing what was coming next. They all knew that standing in front of the yellow line was dangerous, but they stood in front of the yellow line all the same in a quest to uncover unseen information. And did TfL care? Nope, they just left all the signage where it was, because that was where rules and regulations deemed it had to be. And so things would have stayed, had not health and safety intervened.
Enter HM Inspector of Railways, who turned up at Mile End earlier this year to carry out a risk assessment of his own. He was particularly interested in the information displays mounted on the west end walls and concluded that the display on the westbound Central Line platform effectively invited passengers "to put themselves in a position of danger". While they were trying to stare long distance down the platform, a train could whoosh up from behind unseen and knock them down. That was his expert opinion, so station staff were forced to take urgent immediate action... removing the blocking sign on platform 1! I rarely cheer for health and safety, but it's only thanks to the inspector's visit that the next train indicator is visible again. Admittedly you still need the eyes of a hawk to read it, but that's better than the continuing obstruction on platforms 2, 3 and 4 where no similar decapitation risk was perceived.
Two underlying problems came to light in the inspector's report. Firstly, the lack of coherent risk assessment procedures when installing passenger displays. Nobody had thought "might it be a bit dangerous to position all the next train indicators at one end of the platform at the foot of a busy staircase?" - they'd only thought "nobody'll bump their head down there, so that'll do". And secondly, the limited technology available to the project team involved in the station upgrade. TfL only had two types of next train indicator - the long thin one and the small square one - and neither of these were appropriate at Mile End. But TfL are now looking at procuring different-sized next train indicators for use across the network, including a less deep information display which can be mounted on low ceilings without causing a further hazard. Well, that's what they told the inspector anyway.
Will Mile End really get its own bespoke next train indicators? Only time will tell. But it would be nice to think that information displays on all four platforms might one day be fit for purpose, thanks to a nice man with a clipboard, rather than some inadequate off-the-shelf solution installed by cretins.
Meanwhile, how one station's name on the map haschanged... 1998-1999: North Greenwich 2000: North Greenwich for the Dome 2001 - June 2007: North Greenwich Jul 2007 - Aug 2009: North Greenwich for the O2 Sep 2009 - Sep 2010: North Greenwich Oct 2010 - present: North Greenwich for the O2
Tube quiz (38)Baker-loo Within months of opening, back in 1906, the Baker Street and Waterloo Railway had been renamed the Bakerloo. The diary column in London's Evening News first suggested the name - a contraction of two stations near opposite ends - and it stuck. But could other tube lines be rebranded today with similar portmanteau names? The Jubilee could become the Stratmore line, for example, while the Hammersmith & City might be better as either Hammerking or Barksmith. The District line has so many ends to choose from, but maybe Upbledon, or Richminster? In fact, aren't the trains that ply between Wimbledon and Edgware Road already frequently referred to as Wimbleware services? I'm sure you can do better... Do try to make your names catchy, or a bit clever, or both (Heathcock is good, Terminalfosters is bad). The Northern, Metropolitan and Central lines have lots of arms and loops to describe. The Mill Hill East and Olympia shuttles could do with names (while the latter survives). And I know I don't normally include the DLR and the Overground in tube week, because they're not tube lines, but they have so many different routes that giving each a separate name might be a damned good idea.
Tubewatch (38)Pot pourri • The Bank/Monument complex (see Tube week 5) is one of the busiest interchanges on the Underground network. If you were building it from scratch (and there weren't bank vaults in the way) you wouldn't have built this nightmarish clogged-up warren of passageways, stairs and escalators. So majorplans are afoot to remodel the Northern line platforms, and also to create another station entrance in King William Street with step-free access. The biggest change will be the digging of a brand new southbound Northern line tunnel, and the re-use of the old one as a circulation space for passengers. A bit like there now is at Angel, which used to be narrow and congested and no longer is. The official consultation process is now underway, with plans online here and a special exhibition at 10 King William Street from 8am to 6pm until Friday 11 November [Ian'sbeen]. Don't all rush, because the consultation runs until 31st December next year. Construction isn't then due to begin before 2015, with completion scheduled for (blimey) 2021. Expect congestion for some years yet.
• And, while we're talking new projects, the Croxley Rail Link continues to edge forwards towards possible realisation. Several weeks of widespread public consultation were undertaken back in the spring, revealing detailed plans for diverting the Watford spur of the Metropolitan line to Watford Junction. Next Monday the outcomes of that consultation are being released, via "six new fact sheets", followed by drop-in sessions throughout the rest of the month. That's 16th November in Fuller Way, Croxley, then the 17th at Watford Museum, then two local schools (Laurence Haines on the 22nd and Watford Boys on the 24th). A possible completion date is 2015, but everything depends on a DfT funding decision next month. Fingers crossed?
• I was travelling home on the Metropolitan line last night, on one of the new S Stock trains, when my train stopped at King's Cross St Pancras. What a lovely step-free gap between train and platform, I thought, unlike the big drop down from the old A Stock trains. I was sitting opposite the wheelchair space, which made me recognise how impressively accessible these new trains are. But then I looked up at the Metropolitan line diagram above the carriage windows - the purple line with coloured circles to show all the step-free stations. Eight white circles (for step-free access from street to platform) and no blue circles (for step-free access from street to train). Hang on, I thought. There's step-free access from street to platform, and these new trains have step-free access from platform to train, so surely there must be step-free access from street to train. So why does King's Cross have a white circle on the S Stock line diagram when surely it should have a blue circle? Any wheelchair user on board the train might look at the wrongly-coloured map and assume it was impossible to get off, which it clearly isn't. Why, I mused, have TfL gone to all the expense of fitting updated line diagrams in these new accessible trains, only for them to include blatantly incorrect information. And then I remembered that the rollout of wheelchair accessibility symbols on tube maps is already a wholly illogicalinconsistent shambles, so this stupidity was nothing unexpected, and went back to reading my newspaper.
Last night, mid rush hour, hundreds of cyclists converged on the Bow roundabout for a candlelight vigil. They'd turned up because, one week earlier, Svitlana Tereschenko had died in a bike accident on the eastern side of the roundabout. And they'd turned up because, three weeks earlier, Brian Dorling had died in a bike accident on the western side of the roundabout. Both were entering the roundabout, both were hit by a left-turning tipper lorry. One roundabout, two distressingly similar deaths - not really what was intended when Cycle Superhighway 2 reached Bow in the summer.
On Brian's side of the roundabout, outside McDonalds, a ghost bike has appeared. A pure white chassis, plus a "Remember Me" tag on the lamppost - a stark reminder of mortality beneath the sodium glare. The flowers here have been refreshed, now pert bright blooms, with the toppermost roses dedicated "in memory of my dear husband". There's a larger collection of flowers on Svitlana's side, plus a haunting full-colour portrait, laid out along the wall to mark the more recent death. Here too a line of candles, the largest burning brightly in an empty jar of crunchy peanut butter. Even an hour after the vigil had packed up and ridden off, cyclists were still turning up to read the cards on the tributes and to pay their respects.
On 17 November 1311, 700 years ago today, the Bishop of Stepney issued a licence for the building of a new chapel. It was to be situated on the main road east out of London, near the bridge over the River Lea, in the growing settlement of Stratford-atte-Bowe. Villagers were fed up of having to walk from Bow to Stepney and back each Sunday to go to church, so a new church made ecclesiastical sense. It took a few years to find sufficient money and an appropriate site, but eventually Edward III granted a piece of land "in the middle of the King's Highway" and the first Bow Church was born. The A11 hasn't gone away, and still surrounds the medieval building on either side. And parishioners still bear witness here, seven centuries on, at "the church in the middle of the road".
The area around the church has changed dramatically too. Various houses, an inn and Bow's market hall were once tightly packed alongside, with the main road passing by to north and south. In 1789 a complaint was made that the church was "a great obstacle in a much frequented thoroughfare", forcing carriages to separate and causing "frequent stoppages". If easing traffic flow had been the order of the day, St Mary's would have been doomed to demolition long before now. It wasn't until 1825 that the area around the church was cleared of buildings and the present churchyard created. This somehow survived the coming of the flyover in the 1960s, although the rear of the churchyard is now rarely accessed, tapering to an artificial point between encroaching tarmac.
The 700th anniversary falls slap bang in the middle of the parish's search for a new priest. You may have caught the advert in the Church Times.
Two Temple Place was formerly called Astor House, built in 1895 for the American social climbers Lord and Lady Astor. They wanted a central London property to show off, so took advantage of reclaimed land beside the new Thames Embankment and built a Gothic pile from scratch. No expense was too great, no flight of fancy too grand, and the end result is an over-embellished house with a gasp around every corner. When you've got Hever Castle, Cliveden and the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at your disposal, you can afford to make your townhouse very special.
Just off the Embankment, between Temple station and the Inns of Temple, that's where Astor's house is tucked. It could be an Oxbridge college, or a small country mansion, or any other whimsical pile with a golden galleon weathervane on the roof. Approach via the front courtyard, beneath further nautical touches on the lampstands, and up the steps to the main entrance. No, really, the lady on the front desk will tell you, entrance is free. And have a free copy of the official 72-page show catalogue to take round with you and read, then perhaps buy your own copy in the shop later. Ready for a look round, sir? Not that way yet, that's the cafe. Try the gallery through there.
The London Stone is moving. You know the one - the ancient stone in Cannon Street, the rock that legend says is linked to the destiny of our capital city. It's being removed from behind the grille on the shop opposite the station, and relocated to an office block down the road. Or it is unless planning consultation dictates otherwise. Deadline for public comments, next Tuesday.
A few doors down the street is the Walbrook Building, one of the City's newer office blocks. It looks like a metal armadillo, or a striped grey blancmange - or whatever it was that Foster and Partners' project brief intended. A very modern building, very modern indeed, but still with a few heritage nods at ground level. Two of the metal struts planted firmly into Cannon Street incorporate small black plaques that once marked former ward boundaries. They look a bit incongruous, to be frank, but at least they're still on site rather than scrapped and dumped elsewhere.
So it turns out the London Stone has led a fairly nomadic life, repeatedly crossing Cannon Street or being built into the fabric of yet another building. The latest shift isn't unprecedented heresy - it's a continuation of centuries of movement. The Stone will also be considerably easier to see, and better noticed by casual passers-by, which has to be a huge bonus. And yet I can't help seeing Minerva's action as some sort of corporate kidnap. They own the property where London Stone is, they own the property where London Stone will end up, and they want this inconvenient rock out of the way so that they can knock down an office block and make a profit.
• 111 Cannon Street is a potential development site and in order to ensure the continued conservation of London Stone, it is proposed that the Stone is relocated to the Walbrook Building where it can be better protected in situ.Minerva's grand design finally removes London Stone from the built environment, forcibly elevated after two millennia at ground level. It'll become a showcased exhibit - an ancient relic in a glass cage - rather than part of the everyday fabric of the city. London Stone's moved many times before, and not always for the most noble of reasons. But this time I fear it's moving solely for commercial convenience, in what will literally be a break from the past.There are some fairly strict rules if you want to attend. You have to apply in writing (none of this modern online form-filling stuff). You have to enclose a stamped self-addressed envelope (and that's not a request you hear often these days). You have to give at least two months notice (three in the summer). You have to offer two different choices of date (the rest of November plus Christmas Day are already booked). There's a limit of six tickets per application (unless it's between November and March when you can have fifteen). You have to submit names and personal details of all potential attendees in advance (for the records). And you have to turn up by half past nine in the evening (any later and You Do Not Get In).
I think our Sentry actually said "Who goes there?", rather than comes, but nobody complained he was off-script. The outcome was the same, as the locking party were duly invited to enter into the heart of the Tower. We followed behind at a safe distance, to watch the final part of the ceremony on the steps in front of the White Tower. There was a lot of stomping up and down at first, then a cheer for Queen Elizabeth and the collective response "Amen!" We weren't perhaps being as quiet as we'd been asked to be, but none of the warders shushed us - they were all too busy taking part. A lone bugler played the Last Post, slightly awkwardly, hitting most of the right notes. And as the clock struck ten they were off, taking the keys away to the Queen's House to be locked up for the night.
[CS2] There's been many a moan that Cycle Superhighway 2 stops at the Bow Flyover roundabout. How awful, they say, that the mayor of Newham hasn't given permission for Boris's Cycle Superhighway to proceed onward towards Ilford. And yet Stratford High Street does have its own cycle lanes, at least at the start, it's just that they're not painted blue. They're not excessively wide either, not as wide as CS2 would be, but they are at least separated from other vehicles (most of CS2 through Bow is nothing more than a shared carriageway - half an ordinary lane of traffic). Further up Stratford High Street the cycle lanes fade away and then you're on your own, which is bloody stupid planning given that the roads have just been remodelled prior to the Olympics. But equally stupid is the lack of forethought at the roundabout itself, where no proper interface has been designed to aid transfer between Newham's cycle lane and Barclays' blue stripe. Riding east CS2 ends by vaguely dumping you on the pavement, whereas the continuation cycle lane is in the road. Meanwhile going west (where the latest fatality occurred) CS2 assumes you've ridden in from a non-existent lane on the pavement, so starts in mid-flow, rather than connecting back to the traffic lights. This end of CS2 has been optimised to merge with a continuation that doesn't yet exist, not the reality of today. No wonder it's not especially safe.
[CS2] There's only one good bit of Cycle Superhighway 2 in Bow, and that's the proper segregated lane on the pavement opposite Campbell Road. It was only opened back in the summer, but earlier this week it was suddenly closed again. The current worksite is for the construction of a new Cycle Hire docking station - the closest to the Olympic Park, so it's going to be enormous. And to build it requires digging up the pavement again, hence temporarily fencing off the Superhighway. Typical, eh? You build something better for cyclists, then something else better for cyclists, and the second gets in the way of the first. But what idiot placed these signs on the approach to the roadworks, in that order. First dismount (even though the remaining strip of pavement is very narrow and not in any way ideal for bike-wheeling). And second a blue arrow directing cyclists to the right (and pedestrians to the left). That's to the right into the main road, which is a bloody stupid place to walk a bike. It's just as well that cyclists are extremely good at ignoring instructions to dismount, because none of them are dismounting, they're riding through. But whoever placed this combination of signs on CS2 wasn't thinking, wasn't thinking at all.
And so ends diamond geezer's ninth annual tube week. I continue to be amazed by how much interactive interest the London Underground inspires, even amongst people who rarely or never use it, so thanks for all your 200+ comments. And I'm also surprised, every year, that I don't run out of new tube-related stuff to write about. I mean, nine years and I still haven't written a tube week post about closed-down stations. Maybe next year...
Tube geek (40) Just a minute
Tube quiz (40)
Tubewatch (40) OSI
Tube quiz (39) Tube fiction
So contractors removed all the next train indicators from the middle of every platform at Mile End, and relocated them instead at the far western end. You can't bump your head on a metal sign if it's at the end of the platform, that was their rationale. Trouble is, you can't see it easily either, especially not from 130 metres away at the far eastern end of the station. And then the planners made things worse by installing four new platform signs, at the bottom of the stairs, one a few yards in front of every NTI. Even fortunate souls with keen eyesight didn't have a hope of reading where the next Central line train was going, because a sign telling them this was "Central line westbound platform 1" now blocked the view. Important real time information hidden by simple static information, that was the problem. Installed by cretins.
Enter HM Inspector of Railways, who turned up at Mile End earlier this year to carry out a risk assessment of his own. He was particularly interested in the information displays mounted on the west end walls and concluded that the display on the westbound Central Line platform effectively invited passengers "to put themselves in a position of danger". While they were trying to stare long distance down the platform, a train could whoosh up from behind unseen and knock them down. That was his expert opinion, so station staff were forced to take urgent immediate action... removing the blocking sign on platform 1! I rarely cheer for health and safety, but it's only thanks to the inspector's visit that the next train indicator is visible again. Admittedly you still need the eyes of a hawk to read it, but that's better than the continuing obstruction on platforms 2, 3 and 4 where no similar decapitation risk was perceived.
• I was travelling home on the Metropolitan line last night, on one of the new S Stock trains, when my train stopped at King's Cross St Pancras. What a lovely step-free gap between train and platform, I thought, unlike the big drop down from the old A Stock trains. I was sitting opposite the wheelchair space, which made me recognise how impressively accessible these new trains are. But then I looked up at the Metropolitan line diagram above the carriage windows - the purple line with coloured circles to show all the step-free stations. Eight white circles (for step-free access from street to platform) and no blue circles (for step-free access from street to train). Hang on, I thought. There's step-free access from street to platform, and these new trains have step-free access from platform to train, so surely there must be step-free access from street to train. So why does King's Cross have a white circle on the S Stock line diagram when surely it should have a blue circle? Any wheelchair user on board the train might look at the wrongly-coloured map and assume it was impossible to get off, which it clearly isn't. Why, I mused, have TfL gone to all the expense of fitting updated line diagrams in these new accessible trains, only for them to include blatantly incorrect information. And then I remembered that the rollout of wheelchair accessibility symbols on tube maps is already a wholly illogical inconsistent shambles, so this stupidity was nothing unexpected, and went back to reading my newspaper.
