And so ends diamond geezer's tenth 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. Maybe I'm finally running out of new tube-related stuff to write about, because this year I finally succumbed and wrote a tube week post about closed-downstations. But somehow I suspect not. Same time next year?
Tube geek (45)Chameleon stations
Amongst the mass of information hidden on the TfL website is a spreadsheet containing annual passengers numbers for every tube station in London. The latest data's for entries and exits in 2011, and I've already posted top 10 lists of the busiest and quietest stations back in May. But today I've been database-bashing to find the stations that change the most at different times of the week. The most extreme differences appear towards the start of each list.
Busier on Saturdays than weekdays: Leicester Square, Stratford, Camden Town, Piccadilly Circus, Covent Garden, Notting Hill Gate, Kensington (Olympia), Knightsbridge, Earl's Court, Heathrow Terminals 123, Heathrow Terminal 4, Bayswater At least three times busier on weekdays than Saturdays: Cannon Street, Moorgate, Farringdon, St James's Park, Bank/Monument, Chancery Lane, Temple, Aldgate, Great Portland Street, Mansion House, Euston Square, Upminster Bridge
Busier on Sundays than weekdays: Kensington (Olympia), Heathrow Terminal 4, Heathrow Terminals 123, Heathrow Terminal 5 At least ten times busier on weekdays than Sundays: Cannon Street, Farringdon, Moorgate
Busier on Sundays than Saturdays: Mornington Crescent, Heathrow Terminal 5 More than twice as busy on Saturdays as Sundays: Upminster, Upminster Bridge, Farringdon, Hornchurch, Holloway Road
Tube quiz (45)Nice view
Being mostly underground, the view out of a tube carriage window isn't usually thrilling. Except that about 60% of the underground is in fact overground, and some of the overground parts are quite pretty. So today I'm asking you where the best views on the tube network are. I've listed five stretches of line I particularly like, in no particular order. You've added several more. 1) Chalfont & Latimer → Chesham: On this four mile trek through the upper reaches of the Chess Valley, at one point the trackside opens up to reveal gorgeous rolling rural slopes. Especially lovely at this time of year with a display of golden leaves. [photo] 2) Roding Valley → Chigwell: Another river valley, this one flattish but wonderfully open, and with the M11 roaring underneath. [photo] 3) the Kilburn viaduct: Rumbling up to town from Metroland, suddenly the rooftops of London are all around, and the heights of Hampstead rise off to one side. 4) Parsons Green → East Putney: First the rooftops of Fulham, then the glories of crossing the open Thames (along the Boat Race bit). 5) Arnos Grove → Southgate: Another scenic viaduct, this time through the heart of Arnos Park (and the underneath, alongside Pymmes Brook, that's rather nice too). 6) Gunnersbury → Kew Gardens: The lattice bridge over the Thames affords great views eastwards up the river and down to Strand-on-the-Green below (says THC) 7) Mill Hill East → Finchley Central: Great views from the train as well as at ground level, on the viaduct over Finchley Golf Course (say Bernie and Peewit) 8) Loughton → Epping: Very nice to see rolling fields plus, in the Spring, the yellow fields of rapeseed flowers (says PC) At Theydon Bois the view is quite attractive with cows, horses, motorways (says Peter) 9) Wembley Park to Kingsbury: Some of the best views are unexpected - after the urban landscape of Wembley you suddenly get a brief view of Fryent Country Park (says KissenMe) 10) Croxley → Watford: Crossing the viaduct you get to look down onto the canal and the canal boats (says Geofftech) 11) Hammersmith → Acton Town: I like the climb out of Hammersmith and seeing over the rooftops of West London (says PC) 12) Dagenham East → Elm Park: Runs through a lovely area of heathland called Eastbrookend Country Park. I remember looking out of the train and seeing a horse and rider standing on a hillock next to the line (says Siwi) 13) Rayners Lane → South Harrow: Another viaduct, and halfway along there's a spur of redundant viaduct curving away to the north - always piques the curiosity (says Gordon)
Tubewatch (45)Next-but-one train indicators
It wouldn't be tube week if I didn't sound off about Next Train Indicators. But this time not the fact that they're badly positioned. This time not that they're being replaced by inferior hard-to-read models. This time I want to whinge about the additional Next Train Indicators located in ticket halls. Because all too often they don't tell you what the next train is.
Here's the ticket hall at Mile End, with two small Next Train Indicators pinned up on the wall. If you stand here and watch them, left and right, they show the destinations of the next trains on the District/H&C and Central lines. But they only show these trains if they're two minutes away or more. Once the due time dips beneath two minutes they disappear off the list, as if to pretend these trains don't exist. For anyone down on the platform the Next Train Indicators are still ticking down "1 min" and then "stand back next train approaching". But someone at TfL HQ has deliberately programmed the ticket hall devices to conceal sub-2minute approaching trains, presumably for health and safety reasons. If the Next Train Indicators revealed that a train was only one minute away, they think we'd all run down the stairs and cause a nasty accident. But at Mile End it takes less than 30 seconds to walk down those stairs from the ticket hall to the platform. You'd have to have a serious mobility issue not to be able to get down those stairs in one minute, let alone two, so the two minute cut-off is essentially pointless. Indeed, many's the time I've checked the NTI and then walked down the stairs and straight onto a train which supposedly didn't exist. This is nannying, pure and simple, hiding useful information that we're not allowed to know.
And yet this rule isn't consistently maintained elsewhere. One stop up the line at Bow Road, the Next Train Indicator in the ticket hall mimics the Next Train Indicator on the platform. There's no two minute cut off here, even though the stairs are longer than at Mile End. If there's a train on the display when you arrive at the station, it might already have pulled into the platform and you've as good as missed it. And yet passengers don't all charge dangerously down the stairs just because there's a train one or zero minutes away. Bow Road users can be trusted to know this information without acting stupidly. There's trust too at Finchley Road station, where the upstairs Next Train Indicators faithfully record platform comings and goings in real time. But there's a cover-up at Euston and Holborn, in this case because it really is a long way to the platforms and you could never catch a one-minute-away train.
You've probably seen further examples of Next-But-One Train Indicators at other stations across London, although you may not have twigged they were hiding something from you, because not every station's the same. It would be nice if TfL could adopt a more consistent approach to how many minutes-away they're willing to tell you when you enter a ticket hall. And if someone could debug Mile End first, that would be great.
Tube quiz (44)From the centre
The centre of London is usually taken to be Charing Cross. So my question is this. Which station on the tube network is furthest from Charing Cross station? A few rules: We're counting stations, not measuring time or distance. We're looking for the fewest number of stations via the shortest route. Only London Underground trains are allowed - no National Rail, no DLR, no Overground. Only interchanges marked on the tube map are allowed - no walking along the street. 1) Piccadilly Circus, Leicester Square and Embankment are one station away. 2) Green Park, Oxford Circus, Tottenham Court Road, Covent Garden, Temple, Waterloo and Westminster are two stations away.
So which station is furthest away? And how?
Tubewatch (44)The Circle line goes east
I didn't believe it at first. According to the TfL website, the Circle line serves Bow Road. Surely it couldn't. The Circle line goes round in midtown loops, and also heads west to Hammersmith. But no way did it stretch east, no way did it pass through my local station. Except actually it does, twice a day, very very early in the morning. I had to take a ride.
Strange things happen on the Underground before six in the morning. Trains have to make their way from the depot to where they're needed, which for the Circle line means sending two trains into town from Barking. And so I set my alarm clock two hours earlier than usual to rendezvous with one of these secret services. Dawn was distant, the pavements were quiet, and Bow Road's ticket hall reeked from the smell of freshly applied paint. I wasn't alone on the platform, there were four of us and a bike. When the first westbound District line train arrived it was already half full, but I was waiting for the next train, heralded as "Not in Service". And in it rumbled, duly labelled "Circle line to Edgware Road" on the front, proving the rumours true. I wondered whether the train would stop, then I wondered whether the doors would open, and then I took my seat. Circle line from Bow Road, achievement unlocked.
At Mile End, Stepney Green and Whitechapel, the Next Train Indicator again said "Not in Service". This could have been a deliberate deception, but more likely the ancient signalling couldn't cope with our unusual destination. Mis-labelling didn't stop people boarding, although my companions in the carriage were few and far between. One in earmuffs, one clutching a ribbed cup of coffee, another already reading a copy of this morning's Metro. The time was not yet six o'clock, but the City's bankers and cleaning staff were already on their way.
For anyone awake enough to be listening, an announcement at Aldgate East revealed our train's true nature. "Ladies and gentlemen this train now becomes a Circle line train via Tower Hill, Embankment and Victoria." That's not an unusual route for a District line train, but C Stock always turns right round the bend towards Liverpool Street instead. Not us. We headed along track no other Circle line service follows, and emerged as if by magic at Tower Hill. Nobody waiting on the station blinked. As far as they knew we'd arrived around the usual clockwise curve rather than heading straight from the depot. The unique part of our journey was over, and suddenly we were just a bog-standard Circle.
Fresh passengers boarded, still not many, each sitting silently and alone. That's a characteristic of these early morning trains, the lack of interaction, and all because nobody rides in groups or pairs. Someone's having crisps for breakfast. Someone's reading a copy of The Sun. A glum blonde sits inert with a floppy silver bag at her feet. Blackfriars is quiet, because barely any trains have yet arrived at the mainline station. Embankment is busier. St James's Park is completely deserted. If anyone fancies a seat there are dozens, in complete contrast to the rush hour crush that's still an hour or two away.
After Gloucester Road our train veers right. This brief Circle-only curve is the sole reason we're here - no other train could have reached it so early. A handful of passengers take advantage, nipping off at High Street Ken, a station I shouldn't be able to reach from Bow Road. Ditto Notting Hill Gate and Bayswater, both rare treats from my neck of the woods, but not necessarily worth waking up so early for. Numbers aboard are edging up, even a few long haul travellers with suitcases. The capital's office workers are starting to filter through - the over-keen, and the time-shifted. It may be stupid o'clock, but needs must.
Around half past six we finally reach Edgware Road, where almost all of those aboard cross the platform to catch the next clockwise service. But not our driver. He walks the length of the train and prepares to head back round the Circle, nowhere near Bow Road this time, but a proper loop round to Hammersmith. A couple of pigeons hop aboard and start pecking the floor clean of crumbs, just as the doors close and a very ordinary journey begins. And OK, so you might never ever get up quite this early, but when your train arrives in the morning, remember you never do know quite where it's been.
Tube geek (44)No change
There are several places on the Underground network where tube lines cross but no interchange station has been built. Here are some of the worst offenders, and what might be done about them.
» Piccadilly→Central at Park Royal[map]. This has been mooted, at least tentatively. A couple of new platforms in the cutting by the A40, accessed via the existing footbridge, would mean Park Royal gained two new Central line platforms. It'd be better than an 8 minute walk to Hanger Lane. But the existing Hanger lane station would probably have to close, which is a bit of a waste of a good roundabout.
» Piccadilly/Metropolitan→Central at West Ruislip[map]. This has been seriously considered, or at least Hillingdon Council are a strong supporter. They like to see Central line trains diverted via a short chord to terminate at Uxbridge instead of West Ruislip. It's be a fairly simple link to build, but West Ruislip would suddenly lose its entire service. And does Uxbridge genuinely need to be the terminus of three different Underground lines?
» Metropolitan→Bakerloo at Northwick Park[map] Tarmac over one corner of the park and an interchange station would slip in here nicely. But it'd be less convenient for local residents, and would it be at all well used? Almost certainly a pipe dream.
» Hammersmith & City/Circle/Metropolitan→Northern/Victoria at Euston Square[map] Someone missed a trick not running a subway underneath the newly-redeveloped University College Hospital. This is a major interchange just waiting to happen, linking either to Euston or Warren Street, but alas at far too great a cost.
» District/Circle→Waterloo & City at Cannon Street[map] I know the Waterloo & City line sort-of links to the District line via Bank Monument, but wouldn't a less tortuous connection be better? Well, prayers answered. A new Walbrook exit from Bank is being constructed, with a street level link that's terribly close to Cannon Street station. Pedantic of Purley can tell you more.
» Central→Overground at Shoreditch High Street[map] The Overground's not strictly within the bounds of Tube Week, but this is such a glaringly obviously interchange anomaly I thought I'd include it anyway. The Central line passes almost directly underneath Shoreditch High Street station, and yet nobody made any attempt to connect the two. Excuse one, too expensive. Excuse two, it'd slow down Central line commuters too much. Excuse three, Central line trains are too crowded anyway. Excuse four, wait six years and Crossrail will link up with the Overground instead. Quite good excuses, then.
» Northern→Victoria at Vauxhall[maps] As I mentioned earlier in the week, the Battersea extension has been designed to link to absolutely no other rail lines. In complete contrast, the Victoria line and Jubilee line extension were both specifically designed to link up with as many rail lines as possible. How priorities change.
Tube quiz (43)New Street Below are the former names of 10 current tube stations, back when they were named after a nearby street. What are they called now? Pick from the dropdown list each time.
1) Euston Road 2) Gower Street 3) Dover Street 4) Praed Street 5) Queen's Road
Tube geek (43)Urban design
Thanks to the foresight of its management, the London Underground is blessed with a portfolio of outstanding architecture. That tradition continues today under the auspices of TfL's Urban Design Team, whose responsibilities cross all aspects of heritage and streetscape. They also have a rather fascinating website where some of the finer points of TfL design are explained. One section contains Design Guidance, including such delights as Signage and the customer journey and various Line Design Features. Another, larger, section is the Heritage Library. Here you can search all of the Underground's heritage stations, with aseparatepagedetailingeach. TfL looks after approximately 70 listed stations, which is about a quarter of all those on the network. Most of these are Grade II listed, but a handful rather more special than that...
Tubewatch (43)Mark Lane
Not all of central London's abandoned tube stations are deep-level showstoppers. Take, for example, Mark Lane on the District line. Named after a minor back road in the City, this lost station's rarely on anyone's radar. But if you know where to look, just to the west of Tower Hill station, all the signs are there.
The District Railway's had three different underground stations in the vicinity of the Tower of London, of which Mark Lane's the awkward middle child. The first was opened in 1882, called Tower of London, but that wasn't especially large and had to close two years later when the Circle line was first introduced. Mark Lane was built a few hundred yards to the west, close to All Hallows By The Tower. Architecturally speaking it was a fairly standard cut-and-cover station, rather like Temple today, with platforms not far below street level reached down simple staircases. Mark Lane survived the best part of the 20th century but eventually proved too small for the onslaught of city folk and tourists, and was closed in 1967. Its replacement was located on the precise site of the former Tower of London station, complete with additional central platform for reversing trains, and that's the one we know as Tower Hill today. Mark Lane's westbound platform was demolished to make way an extra track, but the eastbound platform remains intact, if rather worse for wear. Look carefully and you can see the platform out of the window of a passing train a short distance outside Tower Hill. Watch out for the moment when the tunnel wall disappears and a dark and gloomy recess takes its place. No passengers have been down here for 45 years, but TfL still use it for storage - including at present an infeasibly large pile of ladders.
There are further clues above ground, even though Mark Lane's original building's long demolished. In 1911 the station entrance was incorporated into an office block, which you can still see on the corner of Byward Street and Seething Lane. Scan along the row of arches at ground level, ignoring the grand central porch which is actually the doorway into the offices above. The station entrance was two arches to the left, beneath a long rectangular panel, inside what's now an All Bar One where tourists slurp beer. The arches on either side were occupied by a newsagent and a confectioners, with one of these now the entrance to a very ordinary-looking subway beneath the street. But it's not quite so ordinary-looking below ground. The walls are lined with painted iron girders, which are here because this was formerly the station footbridge. At each end is a floor-to-ceiling grille, and these mark the top of the staircases down to the westbound and eastbound platforms. You'll not see much, if anything, if you try peering through. But stand here long enough and you'll hear the rumble of trains on the tracks immediately below, loud as life. You'll get no closer to Mark Lane than this, unless you're one of those naughtyurbanadventurers who like trespassing on TfL property for kicks. That may not be recommended, but if you do ever sneak inside, pray nobody's peering at you from a passing carriage.
Tube quiz (42)AEIOU
Famously, the tube station Mansion House contains each of the vowels A, E, I, O and U. But it doesn't contain them once each, so it fails at today's quiz. Because today I'm asking you for the names of London Underground stations that contain the vowels A, E, I, O and U without repeats. There's one station that contains all five vowels once, and there are nine stations that contain four vowels once. How many can you find? 5 vowels, once each: ? 4 vowels, once each: ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? ? Answers in the comments box and, please, only one guess each.
(n.b. Tube stations only please... the DLR and Overground don't count)
Tubewatch (42)To Battersea
As you'll be aware, there are plans to extend the Northern line to Battersea. They're only plans because the entire project is "subject to funding", which in turn is reliant on the redevelopment of Battersea Power Station, and that's anything but a certainty. But if everything gets the go-ahead, two new underground stations could be open by 2019. Does the area deserve it? I've been down to have a look.
Kennington: At present, off-peak at least, the Charing Cross branch of the Northern line terminates at Kennington. Southbound trains disappear into a big loop of tunnel - the Kennington Loop - and emerge on the opposite platform ready to head north again. The new extension would take advantage of this loop to blast off a fresh tunnel in the general direction of Battersea. It'd be a long tunnel too, almost two miles to the next station, because this new extension pauses for no man. It careers off at right angles, drawn by the smell of developers' cash, crossing the Victoria line without making any attempt to stop. Socially speaking that's strange, because it's hard to imagine anyone in the Battersea area having a burning need to visit Kennington. The area around the station's nice enough, blessed with leafy streets and quiet squares, even a tasteful parade of independent shops. But all the action's with the interchange underground and the possibilities a direct connection the West End would bring.
Nine Elms: The site of the proposed Northern line station probably isn't what you expect. A building site perhaps, maybe a corner of the fruit and vegetable market. None of these. Instead the new station will be built along the far end of Sainsbury's car park, in the farthest corner just past the petrol station. You might be able to park there now and fill your boot with carrier bags, but in seven years this expanse could mark the site of the lifts and the ticket machine. Sainsbury's won't mind too much, they already have plans to build flats across most of the rest of their car park, and they'll also be handsomely rewarded with thousands more tube-driven customers. A couple of semi-industrial buildings will have to be demolished to make way for the station, one of them the Head Office of burglar alarm company Banhams. I do hope they're already looking for alternative accommodation, just in case. Meanwhile on the opposite side of Pascal Street is a nondescript crescent of family houses and utilitarian flats, whose residents are in for an absolute windfall if they own their own homes and a serious rent-hike if they don't. Indeed the adjacent stretch of the Wandsworth Road is anything but wealthy-looking, and precisely the sort of neighbourhood whose prospects are likely to be uplifted by the appearance of a major public transport node. But it's the area beyond the railway at the cul-de-sac end of Pascal Street that developers truly have their eye on. This is central London's biggest regeneration area, with the potential for 16000 new homes, and a pedestrian link to Nine Elms station is a necessity. The moated cuboid fortress of the American Embassy will be a short stroll away, not that the ambassador would ever dream of taking public transport when there's a bulletproof limo on call. The surrounding housing development, unimaginatively named Embassy Gardens, is already under construction, if levelling the ground and piling up portakabins counts. As for the famous New Covent Garden Market, that intends to squeeze into a smaller corner of its existing site to enable the construction of more towers, so come enjoy the Sunday boot sale while you can. It's clear that the demographic profile of Nine Elms' new residents will be in complete contrast to the community along Wandsworth Road, as moneyed Londoners suddenly decide they might be happy living just beyond Vauxhall after all. A development whirlwind is coming, entirely independent of the fate of the Power Station, but a new Northern line station wouldn't half speed things up.
Battersea: The station might be called Battersea, but the location isn't. The real Battersea's further upstream, further inland, whereas this is much more Nine Elms... except that name's been taken. Those four iconic chimneys, the cylinders that used to belch smoke but now stand crumbling, they're the magnet that draws the Battersea name here. They're also due to be knocked down shortly, and replaced if you believe the Malaysian developers. The Northern line's new terminus is destined to appear on the southern perimeter of the power station site, amid a grey tarmac expanse long since cleared of any industrial outliers. It's hard to imagine the area as offices, apartments and malls, but that's what's scheduled if the developers get their act together. Alight here for a nice meal, a multiplex cinema and the chance to rummage through arcades of designer handbags. For now the only hospitality in the immediate neighbourhood comes from The Duchess across the road, local pub of choice for the extensive council estates immediately beyond. Their residents are about to discover untold facilities on their doorstep, or else be priced out of the area altogether. Close by is Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, also ridiculously well located for the new station, which may be good news for waifs and strays yet to be born. And there are the railways. This corner of the capital already has half a dozen railway lines passing through, some from Waterloo, others from Victoria, the only problem being nobody's built any platforms immediately alongside the power station. Queenstown Road and Battersea Park stations may be five minutes distant, but you can't expect penthouse residents or Gucci buyers to walk that far, and they're only rail stations so apparently they don't count. These days only a tube connection is good enough, and that's the sole reason the Northern line is coming. If it comes. The Nine Elms development needs the station and the station needs the development - vicious circle, or superfeedback loop?
A public consultation into the Northern line extension is currently underway, with the first public event this Friday and Saturday on Nine Elms Lane. Have your say, you never know, it might make a difference.
Tube geek (42)Not on the map
This blog's not a fan of clutter on the tube map. Wheelchair blobs, excess daggers, tiny annotation, unnecessary excess, no thank you. But what other useful additions might the tube map gain? Things that might actually aid travel rather than getting in the way. I'm not necessarily recommending the following, but how about...
» Tramlink: If the DLR can cause East London to be over-represented on the tube map, why shouldn'tCroydon's tram system fly the flag for south London?
» Thameslink: A really useful railway line cuts through the heart of London from St Pancras down to London Bridge. It also extends to Kentish Town and Elephant & Castle which are already on the tube map. It'll have a very frequent service once the Thameslink programme is complete. Doesn't it deserve a place? It might even look like this.
» River Bus services: Take the Thames out and replace it by a blue line from Woolwich to Westminster with all the piers marked. Might get the Clipper service used more, if it was higher in public consciousness.
» Crossrail: Not so fast! It's still six years before London's newest underground railway clogsup the heart of the tube map something rotten.
» The South London line: Too late. This becomes part of the Overground next month, and so will be appearing on the next version of the tube map in four weeks time. Bring it on?
Tubewatch (41)Mind the gap
The Underground operates a turn-up-and-go service. You don't usually need a timetable, you simply arrive at a station safe in the knowledge that there'll be a train soon. Except on certain parts of the network, that is, where trains run slightly less frequently and you might have to wait a bit. Below is a list of all the parts of the network where trains run at intervals of ten minutes or more. Not that a ten minute wait is bad, you understand, just unusual. I wonder if passengers waiting to travel round the corners of the Circle line ever realise that they have one of the least frequent tube services? Every 10 minutes: Turnham Green → Richmond, Acton Town → Ealing Broadway, Ealing Common → Rayners Lane, Heathrow5 → Heathrow123, Hatton Cross → Heathrow4 → H123, Stonebridge Park → Harrow & Wealdstone, High Street Kensington → Gloucester Road, High Street Kensington → Earl's Court, Liverpool Street → Tower Hill, Liverpool Street → Aldgate East. Every 15 minutes: Moor Park → Watford/Chalfont & Latimer, Finchley Central → Mill Hill East Every 20 minutes: Hainault → Woodford Every 30 minutes: Chalfont & Latimer → Amersham/Chesham, Earl's Court → Kensington (Olympia)* (* if the shuttle's even running) For the purposes of this post, I'm assuming it's noon on a weekday.
Tube quiz (41)Ex stations
Here are the names of 20 stations. Ten of them used to be served by the London Underground but no longer are, five are current London Underground stations and five have never been London Underground stations. Can you spot the ten ex-stations?
Richmond
Watford Junction
Tottenham Hale
New Cross
Clapham Junction
Hendon Central
Ilford
Rotherhithe
Shoeburyness
Greenford
Leigh-on-Sea
Drayton Park
Ongar
Fenchurch Street
Southall
Slough
Alexandra Palace
High Wycombe
Balham
Stoke Mandeville
[Answers in the comments box. Have a go at picking the ten ex-stations before you peek]
Tube geek (41)Out of station interchanges
The tube map includes several blobby interchanges where you can change trains. At some of these you wander around inside the station itself, whereas at others you have to leave and head somewhere else. It's these out of station interchanges I'm interested in today. How far out of station are they? I've been busy with a stopwatch to find out. Please note: All of these times are from gateline to gateline, because that's easily defined. I tried walking these connections on a Sunday, so there wasn't much traffic around and crossing roads didn't hold me up. I walk fairly fast and I always walk up escalators. Consider these minimum interchange times - you'd probably take longer.
White City → Wood Lane (2m30) An easy stroll links these two stations, walking past the main entrance to BBC Television Centre. You'll be pleased to hear that Auntie's lair hasn't imploded yet. Hammersmith → Hammersmith (1m30) This non-trivial interchange requires walking through a shopping centre and crossing two main roads. I was amazed it was possible in as little as 90 seconds. Paddington → Paddington (3m45) Reaching the H&C line platforms from the rest of the underground station requires walking along platform 9. It's appallingly signposted. West Hampstead → West Hampstead (1m) An absolute doddle crossing the road to the Overground - the shortest of all the out of station interchanges I attempted. Bank → Monument (4m30) You're not supposed to do this at street level, but it might be worth considering because the escalator trek (from Central line platform to District line platform) took me 5 minutes underground. Tower Hill → Tower Gateway (2m5) If you can dodge the tourists, it's only a couple of minutes from the District line ticket hall and up the DLR escalator. Bow Road → Bow Church (3m10) I'm forever having to give directions to lost souls attempting to follow this one, but it's fairly quick if you know what you're doing. Canary Wharf → Canary Wharf (3m20) This includes the walk up the mega escalator out of the Jubilee line station and past the foot of the Canary Wharf tower... Canary Wharf → Heron Quays (2m30) ...but this route to the DLR is quicker (even if the service at the DLR end isn't quite as good). North Greenwich → Dangleway North Greenwich (5m) The slowest out-of-station interchange on the tube map. Because the cablecar isn't an integrated part of the transport network, it's a tourist attraction.
But hang on, there are also several out of station interchanges that are jolly convenient but don't appear on the tube map. I've timed a few of these too. Perhaps they should be more widely advertised. Euston → Euston Square (5m) From tube gateline to tube gateline is five minutes, whereas from the mainline ticket hall to Euston Square is one minute quicker. Aldgate East → Aldgate (3m20) It means crossing the gyratory, but this is a straight easy run at street level. Tower Hill → Fenchurch Street (1m35) This is much quicker than you probably think it is, using the entrance at the eastern end of the c2c terminus. Edgware Road → Edgware Road (2m35) They may be two completely different stations with the same name, separated by the Westway, but they're really quite close. Bayswater → Queensway (2m15) Famously these two stations are both on the same street, not far apart. Having to use lifts down to the platforms would slow down the interchange, though. Paddington → Lancaster Gate (7m) It requires some nous to follow, but this walk is one of the fastest routes from Paddington to the Central line. Park Royal → Hanger Lane (7m40) A bleak yomp alongside Western Avenue connects the Piccadilly and Central lines in the depths of zone 3. Northwick Park → Kenton (5m10) A useful suburban link between Metropolitan and Bakerloo which, in terms of time taken, is on much the same scale as Bank-Monument.
Time once again for diamond geezer to go totally tubular with another week devoted to the London Underground. Prepare for five days of quizzes, quirks, commentary and obscure statistics. Nine years ago I looked at the busiest stations and journeys where it was quicker to walk. Eight years ago I investigated tube line colours and the easiest interchanges. Seven years ago I discussed overcrowding and precisely where the underground is underground. Six years ago I wrote about accessibility and why people never move down the platform. Five years ago I examined the agonies of Bank/Monument and taking your bike on the tube. Four years ago I spent the entire week wondering why 'next train' indicators are installed by cretins. Three years ago I visited the tube's least used station and wondered where all the litter bins went. Two years ago I took the Chesham shuttle and bemoaned the evils of the new King's Cross passageways. And last year I ventured beyond Edgware and counted the stairs. I hope there's still something left to write about this year. Mind the doors.
And so ends diamond geezer's tenth 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. Maybe I'm finally running out of new tube-related stuff to write about, because this year I finally succumbed and wrote a tube week post about closed-down stations. But somehow I suspect not. Same time next year?
Tube geek (45) Chameleon stations
Tube quiz (45) Nice view
Tubewatch (45) Next-but-one train indicators
Here's the ticket hall at Mile End, with two small Next Train Indicators pinned up on the wall. If you stand here and watch them, left and right, they show the destinations of the next trains on the District/H&C and Central lines. But they only show these trains if they're two minutes away or more. Once the due time dips beneath two minutes they disappear off the list, as if to pretend these trains don't exist. For anyone down on the platform the Next Train Indicators are still ticking down "1 min" and then "stand back next train approaching". But someone at TfL HQ has deliberately programmed the ticket hall devices to conceal sub-2minute approaching trains, presumably for health and safety reasons. If the Next Train Indicators revealed that a train was only one minute away, they think we'd all run down the stairs and cause a nasty accident. But at Mile End it takes less than 30 seconds to walk down those stairs from the ticket hall to the platform. You'd have to have a serious mobility issue not to be able to get down those stairs in one minute, let alone two, so the two minute cut-off is essentially pointless. Indeed, many's the time I've checked the NTI and then walked down the stairs and straight onto a train which supposedly didn't exist. This is nannying, pure and simple, hiding useful information that we're not allowed to know.
Strange things happen on the Underground before six in the morning. Trains have to make their way from the depot to where they're needed, which for the Circle line means sending two trains into town from Barking. And so I set my alarm clock two hours earlier than usual to rendezvous with one of these secret services. Dawn was distant, the pavements were quiet, and Bow Road's ticket hall reeked from the smell of freshly applied paint. I wasn't alone on the platform, there were four of us and a bike. When the first westbound District line train arrived it was already half full, but I was waiting for the next train, heralded as "Not in Service". And in it rumbled, duly labelled "Circle line to Edgware Road" on the front, proving the rumours true. I wondered whether the train would stop, then I wondered whether the doors would open, and then I took my seat. Circle line from Bow Road, achievement unlocked.
Tube quiz (43) New Street
The District Railway's had three different underground stations in the vicinity of the Tower of London, of which Mark Lane's the awkward middle child. The first was opened in 1882, called Tower of London, but that wasn't especially large and had to close two years later when the Circle line was first introduced. Mark Lane was built a few hundred yards to the west, close to All Hallows By The Tower. Architecturally speaking it was a fairly standard cut-and-cover station, rather like Temple today, with platforms not far below street level reached down simple staircases. Mark Lane survived the best part of the 20th century but eventually proved too small for the onslaught of city folk and tourists, and was closed in 1967. Its replacement was located on the precise site of the former Tower of London station, complete with additional central platform for reversing trains, and that's the one we know as Tower Hill today. Mark Lane's westbound platform was demolished to make way an extra track, but the eastbound platform remains intact, if rather worse for wear. Look carefully and you can see the platform out of the window of a passing train a short distance outside Tower Hill. Watch out for the moment when the tunnel wall disappears and a dark and gloomy recess takes its place. No passengers have been down here for 45 years, but TfL still use it for storage - including at present an infeasibly large pile of ladders.
Tubewatch (42) To Battersea
Nine Elms: The site of the proposed Northern line station probably isn't what you expect. A building site perhaps, maybe a corner of the fruit and vegetable market. None of these. Instead the new station will be built along the far end of Sainsbury's car park, in the farthest corner just past the petrol station. You might be able to park there now and fill your boot with carrier bags, but in seven years this expanse could mark the site of the lifts and the ticket machine. Sainsbury's won't mind too much, they already have plans to build flats across most of the rest of their car park, and they'll also be handsomely rewarded with thousands more tube-driven customers. A couple of semi-industrial buildings will have to be demolished to make way for the station, one of them the Head Office of burglar alarm company Banhams. I do hope they're already looking for alternative accommodation, just in case. Meanwhile on the opposite side of Pascal Street is a nondescript crescent of family houses and utilitarian flats, whose residents are in for an absolute windfall if they own their own homes and a serious rent-hike if they don't. Indeed the adjacent stretch of the Wandsworth Road is anything but wealthy-looking, and precisely the sort of neighbourhood whose prospects are likely to be uplifted by the appearance of a major public transport node. But it's the area beyond the railway at the cul-de-sac end of Pascal Street that developers truly have their eye on. This is central London's biggest regeneration area, with the potential for 16000 new homes, and a pedestrian link to Nine Elms station is a necessity. The moated cuboid fortress of the American Embassy will be a short stroll away, not that the ambassador would ever dream of taking public transport when there's a bulletproof limo on call. The surrounding housing development, unimaginatively named Embassy Gardens, is already under construction, if levelling the ground and piling up portakabins counts. As for the famous New Covent Garden Market, that intends to squeeze into a smaller corner of its existing site to enable the construction of more towers, so come enjoy the Sunday boot sale while you can. It's clear that the demographic profile of Nine Elms' new residents will be in complete contrast to the community along Wandsworth Road, as moneyed Londoners suddenly decide they might be happy living just beyond Vauxhall after all. A development whirlwind is coming, entirely independent of the fate of the Power Station, but a new Northern line station wouldn't half speed things up.
Battersea: The station might be called Battersea, but the location isn't. The real Battersea's further upstream, further inland, whereas this is much more Nine Elms... except that name's been taken. Those four iconic chimneys, the cylinders that used to belch smoke but now stand crumbling, they're the magnet that draws the Battersea name here. They're also due to be knocked down shortly, and replaced if you believe the Malaysian developers. The Northern line's new terminus is destined to appear on the southern perimeter of the power station site, amid a grey tarmac expanse long since cleared of any industrial outliers. It's hard to imagine the area as offices, apartments and malls, but that's what's scheduled if the developers get their act together. Alight here for a nice meal, a multiplex cinema and the chance to rummage through arcades of designer handbags. For now the only hospitality in the immediate neighbourhood comes from The Duchess across the road, local pub of choice for the extensive council estates immediately beyond. Their residents are about to discover untold facilities on their doorstep, or else be priced out of the area altogether. Close by is Battersea Dogs and Cats Home, also ridiculously well located for the new station, which may be good news for waifs and strays yet to be born. And there are the railways. This corner of the capital already has half a dozen railway lines passing through, some from Waterloo, others from Victoria, the only problem being nobody's built any platforms immediately alongside the power station. Queenstown Road and Battersea Park stations may be five minutes distant, but you can't expect penthouse residents or Gucci buyers to walk that far, and they're only rail stations so apparently they don't count. These days only a tube connection is good enough, and that's the sole reason the Northern line is coming. If it comes. The Nine Elms development needs the station and the station needs the development - vicious circle, or superfeedback loop?
