Station Master App

Track Removed at Putney Bridge

We’ve known about this for a while but have only just got down there this week to look at this – the terminating platform at Putney Bridge has been removed, with that track now being the ‘through’ line, and the curved outside track where trains used to call has now been disconnected and presumably soon will be removed altogether.

Here’s the ‘island’ platform at the northern end looking towards Earls Court, through trains now come through on the track of the left of the island, and (for reasons unknown) a green fence has been put along the right hand side where the through platform used to be but is now no longer in use.

Putney Bridge New Platform

We were told that this might actually speed up journey times heading south from Earls Court to Wimbledon by a minute, as the track is now straight and so they can now approach faster and not have to slow down for the curve. However, when we were there it looks as if the old speed restriction was in place and drivers are having to adhere to it as they are still coming into the platform slowly, and so a new higher speed limit has yet to be implemented. This should make your journey a teeny bit quicker though, yes!

More platform

So platform 3 (above) is now no longer in use. Platform 2 (what used to be the terminating platform) is now the through southbound, and with it goes a charming old Platform 3 sign which appears to have been removed, even though it would have done no harm to leave a lovely old pieces of heritage there in place. Shame.

3D Map to be updated in Station Master App in the next update, as the southbound door exit position is also slightly different now!

Infrastructure — — 15 Aug 16

Epping footbridge closed

For three months over summer, the footbridge at Epping station is closed whilst it’s being repaired. This means a change of what you’d normally have to do at Epping station to get to and from trains.

Platform 2 is the one on the west side of the station, and there’s a footbridge over to Platform 1. With that closed, they’ve now opened up the side entrance all the time to allow people to enter or exit that way, and use the second footbridge (handy that it’s there!) that is not part of the station.

Epping Footbridge

This could mean you arrive at Epping, enter the station, and then have to leave again and walk round when you find the next train is from platform 1, and not 2. And if you’re arriving on Platform 1, you have to exit the station by the side entrance, and then walk over the public footbridge – not the one inside the station – to exit. Things should be back to normal by September,

Hackney to Hackney

It’s taken a while to build, but the new footbridge connecting Hackney Downs to Hackney Central station is now open. The entrance is on the soutbound platform – at the front end where trains from Cheshunt stop, down a long passageway, round corner, and then down some steps/lift to the back end of the eastbound platform of Hackney Central for trains heading to Stratford.

Passageway

You can of course use the steps/footbridge at either station to connect to other platforms, and it’s certainly quicker than going out onto street level and walking along and changing there. We note there’s also a lift (at the Hackney Central end) to make the change in height accessible, but there are no lifts at Hackney Down station, meaning the the Chingford/Southbound platform is the only one that you can access step-free.

Signs

There are also plenty of pink Oyster pads for you to tap on, to make sure that you pay the cheapest fare if you’ve come this way.

This way

The signs are a little confusing at Hackney Downs, also there is some orange coloured Overground branding, it’s not complete yet so there are a couple of conflicting old signs that still point to the way out of the station whereas you can now take the new footbridge.

Infrastructure / Overground — — 26 Jul 15

Hackney Link

It’s taking its time … but it does look like it’s almost ready to open. The new footbridge linking the two Hackney stations on the Overground that is.

From the back of the eastbound platform at Hackney Central there is now a way through to the southbound platform at Hackney Downs .. only it’s still gated off at the moment, and we can’t but help fear that it’s waiting for a piece of red-tape to be signed off, and we could be in another situation like Walthamstow Queens Road, where the new exit was complete, but it took months for TfL to open it up.

New Hackney Footbridge

Infrastructure / Overground — — 14 Jul 15

New Embankment Shops

The remodelling at Embankment station looks like it’s nearly finished, with two of the new three retail outlets, now open. We’re still reckoning that the third one will be an M&S Simply Food, but in the meantime there’s now a Paperchase and an Oliver Bonas … the latter of which we have never heard of before!

Embankment Retail

Infrastructure — — 27 Jun 15

New Entrance at Shepherd’s Bush

Shepherd’s Bush Overground station got a new entrance this week – opening quietly at the weekend on Sunday afternoon, up at the northern end of the station. The platforms have been extended to to allow for longer Southern trains to stop – the Overground too is benefiting from having 5 car trains instead of 4 now.

New entrance

It was very quiet when we popped down with just one person entering in the 15 minutes that we watched – and no one coming out, all the passengers on the train that arrived seemingly oblivious to the new way out of the station.

Northern End – You can see where platforms have been extended

There are 8 barrier gates – more than the main ticket office has, and once development of Westfield happens at this end, or people just realise that that this entrance is here, we daresay it will be used more and hopefully ease some the the overcrowding you always get when many people get off the train at once, and you have to wait patiently to get through the ticker barriers.

View from new footbridge

We’ve updated the 3D map for the App already of course – and counted all the steps! – and it’ll be in the next update of the App.

New exit

Infrastructure / Overground — — 28 Apr 15

Croxley Link go-ahead given

A TfL Press Release today announced some major news, that the Croxley Rail Link had been given final approval, and work will start later this year – 2015, but won’t open now until 2019.

Actually we thought approval had already been given, but the press release confirmed that:

An agreement had been reached between the DfT and HCC over funding of the scheme
Work due to commence by the end of this year
The extension will see Metropolitan line trains serving Watford Junction and Watford High Street stations, as well as two new stations on the route
The new rail link will provide Metropolitan line customers access to West Coast mainline National Rail services from Watford Junction station

Map of new extension

Construction work to re-route and extend the Metropolitan line to Watford Junction is planned to start later this year. The plan, which is part of a major investment designed to support the growth and regeneration in the area, includes creating new links to Watford General Hospital, Croxley Business Park and Cardiff Road Industrial Estate – increasing employment opportunities.

Two new stations will be created at Cassiobridge and Watford Vicarage Road, served by new walk-through air-conditioned trains every ten minutes to and from central London during peak hours. The existing Watford station will close following the opening of the new stations, and the first trains are expected to run on the extended line by 2019.

Engineering / Future services / Infrastructure / Upgrades — — 27 Mar 15

District S7

We’ve seen pictures of them running, even witnessed one or two running in service – but not actually been on one yet ourselves, so when we rocked up to Ealing Common last week it was a pleasant surprise to find a new S7 train running an Ealing Broadway to Plaistow service.

S7 Unit at Ealing Common

Interestingly, its set number was 753 which according to the Working Timetable is a Lillie Bridge Depot to Plaistow staff trainer, but in this case looks like it was replacing 050 from Ealing Broadway, heading east.

S7 unit at Barons Court

We did – of course – make a note of all the the slightly changed door exit positions at every stop to update the Station Master exit data for a future update!

Infrastructure / Tube — — 28 Oct 14

New Station Entrance, Walthamstow

The new station link between Walthamstow Central and Walthamstow Queens Road is almost open … almost.

It’s only taken almost 20 years to happen since it was first touted, and talking to the station staff at Queens Road yesterday, they said it was all “Down to the council digging their heels in with red tape” which had slowed it down.

New Entrance/Exit

The new ramped entrance at Walthamstow Queens Road has in fact been in place since 2013, and there are articles online suggesting that it would have been open last summer, but instead – it now really looks as if it will open next Monday – 11th August.

There’s a new footpath through the car park too – which is necessary to form a quick path between the two stations, and it’s been named Ray Dudley Way after a long standing member of Barking to Gospel Oak Rail User Group (BGORUG) who sadly passed away last year without seeing this project come to fruition.

Through the car park

But for the geeks amongst us, it means that you’ll be able to change between the Victoria Line and the Overground here in a short 2-3 minute walk instead of the 6-7 that it took previously.

Walthamstow Map

Infrastructure / Overground — — 06 Aug 14

Closed at South Ken

Closed sign

Our favourite station to avoid (due the thousands of tourists who dither in front of the barrier gates daily) has a couple of redeeming features about it – our favourite being the information office at the eastern end of the sub-surface platforms.

The best thing about them is that they had two computer monitors up in the windows of an internal-tracking system that showed exactly where the next few trains were on the system, how many minutes they were away, and messages such as ‘Approaching … now’ so you could get a real sense of where/when the next trains were.

Closed Office

So we were disappointed to see last week that it’s now been closed with a sign telling you to go up to the ticket office area instead – which is shame. It’s very helpful (especially at an extremely busy tourist station at South Ken) to have staff to talk to! Yet another demise of something useful on the Underground.

Broken Tube / Infrastructure / Tube — — 31 Jul 14

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