Elizabeth Line / Crossrail Updates.

[Pete the Elaner]

In the days when the Circle Line provided a reliable service (i.e. no later than c1970/71 I was quite happy to allow 20 minutes train-to-train between Kings Cross and Paddington as the H&C was also a reliable alternative and much closer to the mainline station at Paddington back then.

When did it move?

Not since early 2000s & I can't see any sign of a previous move.

[lyneux]

When did it move?

Not since early 2000s & I can't see any sign of a previous move.

 

You used to be able to interconnect from the local platforms to the adjacent H&C over the footbridge (circa 1 min). It's now a 4-6 min walk round to the east side of the station to get in (depending on how many wheelie suitcases you have to avoid).

[Ron Ron Ron]

Crossrail restarts dynamic testing on the EL.

 

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/crossrail-restarts-dynamic-testing/10038959.article

 

http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/crossrail-restarts-dynamic-testing-on-elizabeth-line-after-series-of-delays?dorewrite=false

 

http://www.cityam.com/271599/crossrail-begins-dynamic-testing-elizabeth-line-after

 

 

 

 

 

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[Ron Ron Ron]

This all very late in the day.......

 

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/companies/clients/crossrail/crossrail-hochtief-lands-40m-stations-contract/10039093.article

 

 

 

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[Pete the Elaner]

Holy Pointless. That is almost in Edgware Road!

Also shows how long I have avoided Paddington for...

[caradoc]

Why anyone would use the top of the circle line for any journey at all is beyond me. The 18 bus is more reliable.

 

I once allowed 'only' 45 minutes for Paddington to Euston. Five stops. I had to sprint from Euston Square, and only made my train from there because it was late. The bakerloo line is hardly any better, but I find it more reliable to do Paddington to Euston via Oxford Circus.

 

The district line side seems to behave itself much more, but there are still some long gaps between trains (long for tube trains at least).

 

Sometimes when travelling east from Paddington I use Bakerloo/Victoria Lines (for Kings X) or Bakerloo/Central Lines (for Liverpool St); Especially in winter because the tube lines are a lot warmer than the sub-surface ones ! Last Friday however I was connecting into Thameslink so headed to Farringdon (although I was going north it is a much easier change than Kings X-St Pancras International).

 

Using the H&C platforms at Paddington is not always painless either (apart from the walk to get there, depending where your main line train arrives and whereabouts on it you are); One day last summer, just after the morning peak, the eastbound platform was so crowded that I took a westbound to Royal Oak and stepped across the platform there for an eastbound, to ensure I was able to board a train.

[Mike Storey]

This all very late in the day.......

 

https://www.constructionnews.co.uk/companies/clients/crossrail/crossrail-hochtief-lands-40m-stations-contract/10039093.article

 

 

 

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I guess it all depends on where the funding came from, and when it was authorised.

[The Stationmaster]

When did it move?

Not since early 2000s & I can't see any sign of a previous move.

 

Between the 1930s and 1967 remodelling transfer between (G)WR trains using the suburban platforms Nos 14 & 15 was cross platform to the H&C.  From 1967 to the recent rebuilding it was via the 1930s installed footbridge - a long walk from, say, Platform 1 but quick and easy off the suburban side.  Since the rebuilding of the H&C station a few years back you can no longer use that part of the footbridge and have to go outside the main station roof along one of the former vehicle access roads and then round to a completely separate entrance to the H&C platforms and it takes a lot longer to get to and from the H&C especially if the former roadway is busy with meandering pedestrians which it can be as it also leads to the taxi rank which was repositioned on that side to allow Crossrail to build its station on the Down side underneath the former cab rank.

 

Overall it has not been a good change to the layout for passengers using the main station platforms, including HEX. 

[The Stationmaster]

I guess it all depends on where the funding came from, and when it was authorised.

It was supposed to start about two years ago judging by various posters and info on the Crossrail website.  Presumably suffering from the consequences of the overspend

[Mike Storey]

It was supposed to start about two years ago judging by various posters and info on the Crossrail website.  Presumably suffering from the consequences of the overspen

 

Maybe, but I don't believe it was that simple. Taylor-Woodrow/Vinci were originally awarded the Design and Build for all the "Western" Crossrail stations. Something has gone wrong but we are not privy.

[Peter Kazmierczak]

I find the walk from the H&C platform to Paddington mainline most confusing. I always seem to take a wrong turn and double-back on myself.

[The Stationmaster]

Maybe, but I don't believe it was that simple. Taylor-Woodrow/Vinci were originally awarded the Design and Build for all the "Western" Crossrail stations. Something has gone wrong but we are not privy.

 

That might also explain the long term 'nothing happening' with the station rebuild at Ealing Broadway where some initial demolition was carried out and then nothing more.

 

Interestingly the Taylor Woodrow website lists Crossrail West Stations under 'completed projects' and their contract appears to have been in respect of platform extension works and footbridges although I do wonder just how 'complete' some of that work is?  Jim can no doubt tell us about West Drayton which looked somewhat 'incomplete' the last time I was on a train which stopped there and when I was at ealing Broadway a couple of months back the new new footbridge appeared to be 'complete' but couldn't be used (might only be for emergencies?).

 

http://www.taylorwoodrow.com/Projects/crossrail-west-stations.html

[lyneux]

In the past month or two, work has restarted at Ealing Broadway.

 

The new footbridge is open but has a temporary feel to it. It's the only access to the island platform (for Platform 3) at the moment whilst the main footbridge is closed. As a regular user interchanging between TFL Rail and the Central Line it's quite painful if you are heading out of London. The access to the new footbridge is along Platform 4 which is fairly narrow and not really capable of handling people heading for Platform 3 as well as people using Platform 4 - especially at rush hour.

 

I'm not sure why the new footbridge can't be extended across to the Central and District lines? This would make the interchange much, much smoother.

 

Guy

Edited January 22, 2019 by lyneux

[jim.snowdon]

I have recollection that work was meant to have started on replacing the stairways on the existing footbridge at Ealing Broadway during one of the bank holiday shutdowns last year, but didn't happen due, I think, to a planning mess up somewhere. They did get the new stairs for platforms 2&3 lifted in during the Christmas shutdown, but they are not ready for use yet, and the stairs to platform 1 were taken out at the same time. That the new footbridge doesn't connect to the Underground platforms is probably more down to narrow thinking and non-integration between National Rail, TfL Rail and London Underground on ticketing. TfL Rail will probably have seen the primary purpose of the new footbridge as providing a secondary means of escape, just as they have done with the other stations on the West London Line (at least) that are theirs. It has a currently blocked off exit towards the Uxbridge Road. If it were to be extended across to the Underground platforms, they would want Oyster card readers installed, as we are still in a world where different fares apply on different routes between the same places.

 

As far as West Drayton is concerned, they did make a serious start on lengthening the up main / down relief line platforms across Christmas, after a very long period of inactivity. The platform walls have been built, but the copers have yet to be added and the infill is only partial. Nothing significant has been done about extending the up relief platform, and the loop platform (5) is very far from complete. As a platform it is unusable, and the physical length is about half of what it says in the Sectional Appendix. No further work has been done on the new footbridge, which still spans only the relief lines and is boarded off.

 

Hayes is still a bomb site on the up side, although there is work being done on the access stairs to the down relief platform. Southall is much the same, progress wise, and West Ealing appears to be pretty much a mess as far as the new station building is concerned.

 

Patently, if the contractors reckon these stations have now been built, I can only say that they appear to be being rather liberal with reality. The whole thing appears to be something of a delusion.

 

Jim

[Ron Ron Ron]

The new CEO and new CEO of Crossrail appear to be telling it like it is, with probably the very worst case scenarios, just to make sure they are not carrying the can for the previous failings in communication.

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/crossrail-latest-transport-boss-reveals-new-line-has-no-chance-of-opening-this-year-and-he-has-no-a4053976.html

 

 

( note: shouldn't it be Bond St. on that list, rather than TCR ?) 

 

 

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Edited February 4, 2019 by AY Mod
Political reference removed.

[The Stationmaster]

15 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

The new CEO and new CEO of Crossrail appear to be telling it like it is, with probably the very worst case scenarios, just to make sure they are not carrying the can for the previous failings in communication.

 

I suspect this helps in Mayor Khan wriggling off the hook too.......

 

 

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/transport/crossrail-latest-transport-boss-reveals-new-line-has-no-chance-of-opening-this-year-and-he-has-no-a4053976.html

 

 

( note: shouldn't it be Bond St. on that list, rather than TCR ?) 

 

 

.

Telling it like it is at last.  But then it's no bad thing to under-promise and then achieve something better although this doesn't entirely have that feel and leaves some very big question marks about how the project was being managed and reported (internally) prior to the change of management.  GWML electrification scheme/project lack of control and progress management all over again perhaps?

[ess1uk]

No real surprise there. 

 

[Platform 1]

New Series 3 (two episodes) of the Fifteen Billion Pound Railway starts tomorrow night: 9pm BBC2, repeated Sunday at 7pm (not Scotland or Wales).  Synopsis is at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002jt4

Could reveal some clues to delays?

 

[Mike Storey]

On 12/02/2019 at 16:44, Platform 1 said:

New Series 3 (two episodes) of the Fifteen Billion Pound Railway starts tomorrow night: 9pm BBC2, repeated Sunday at 7pm (not Scotland or Wales).  Synopsis is at https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002jt4

Could reveal some clues to delays?

 

 

I watched it - spoiler alert for anyone planning to watch it on Sunday instead.

 

It only revealed the delay announcement near the end of the prog, and there were clues about some causes of the delay, but no clear explanation perhaps? For example, the fitting of the door screens at TCR was extremely interesting, and the description of how all the engineering trains, supplying almost everything to the stations along the line (as road access was no longer available), were arranged. Then a few shots of one train being delayed for a few hours, which held up TCR work, and then suddenly it was announced that the door screens were finished, but eight weeks later than planned. Why that delay occurred is still a mystery, unless the implication was that the engineering trains process was the primary cause?

 

The issue of train and systems integration testing was covered quite dramatically, and again, no delays declared until near the end, just repeated acclamations that it was all very tight.  The problem of continuing work in the stations and tunnels preventing test runs other than at weekends, was something we already knew.

 

The continuing works at Canary Wharf were a big surprise, given how much earlier this station was started. I found it strange that it had been made so difficult to deliver and install major pieces of plant and machinery so late in the day. That suggests either a programming/planning error, or that the equipment was well late in manufacture.

 

So, very interesting from a construction angle, but thus far, not particularly revealing?

 

[Platform 1]

11 hours ago, Mike Storey said:

thus far, not particularly revealing?

 

Agreed.  Synopsis for episode 2 is up now: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0002p93  However, these things have a habit of raising more questions than answers...

 

[SJS]

On 14/12/2018 at 17:25, Fenman said:

 

Quite right - whereas our own FPTP government is so strong and stable right now...

 

Paul

 

All I can add to this is that we now have a (minority) Government here in Sweden - didn't really notice the difference from when we didn't have one. Things worked (well not the railways very well but that's another story), nobody panicked, people talked and somehow it all got sorted without resulting in anyone shouting at anyone else. Ah I miss the UK parliament.....

[jamie92208]

I finally managed to see the first part of the TV programme last night and enjoyed it.   It certainly puts many of the problems into perspective without getting into the blame game. I hope to be able to see part two on Wednesday.   

 

Jamie.

[lmsforever]

An interesting show but not a good advert for british engineering we do not seem capable of delivering any project on time or on budget,why does this happen so often ?The bit about the new drivers was interesting and the training programme highlighted the work required to do the the job ,and of course for once the trains are okay.Details about how bits of kit are moved into position was good and it took the old guy to fix the problem with the fan occurred all in all a very interesting show.

[Southernman46]

On ‎16‎/‎02‎/‎2019 at 09:12, Mike Storey said:

 

The continuing works at Canary Wharf were a big surprise, given how much earlier this station was started. I found it strange that it had been made so difficult to deliver and install major pieces of plant and machinery so late in the day. That suggests either a programming/planning error, or that the equipment was well late in manufacture.

 

Difficult but not impossible and it was noticeable how things "just fit" the available access - these things are planned (despite the attempt by the programme to give the impression "they sort it out on the night") definitely the best way - I was involved in putting the 11kV supply substations into City Thameslink back in 1990 and they were literally pouring the concrete for the station box around us as we were trying to install equipment and commission it !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

[iands]

One added problem with the construction of the station box at Canary Wharf was that the Crossrail project was not in charge of it. The construction of the station box was managed entirely by "Canary Wharf Ltd" and Crossrail were somewhat on the "outside looking in" and did not have a direct "hands on" involvement, thereby relying on someone else to ensure the Crossrail build specification would be delivered as required/expected.