Jump to content
 

Elizabeth Line / Crossrail Updates.


Recommended Posts

  • RMweb Gold
1 hour ago, Pacific231G said:

To be honest Huw, most BBC engineers also had perfectly ordinary backgrounds so, coming from a housing estate in a new town wouldn't have been a bar. However, competition to get in at any level was always stiff .  I did hear about one BBC engineer who, on his first day at Evesham (then the engineering training centre) asked if anyone else had been to Eton. He was considered very odd.

 

That's a relief.

 

All I knew was that I applied - and was interviewed - a number of times. On one occasion, an interview at Bush House was immediately followed by me being invited to visit Broadcasting House a for a hearing test that afternoon (two hours later) - which allowed plenty of time for the short stroll between the two. A short while later the standard rejection letter followed.

 

A few weeks after this rejection letter, I was phoned up out of the blue - and recalled for a further interview, this time in an office block close to Broadcasting House. By now, I knew the drill - turn up smartly dressed, in good time - give good answers to loads of technical questions - all very civilised.

 

Yet again, this was followed by the routine invitation to take up cycling - a ritual quickly followed by a despondent 23 year old wondering what he needed to do to actually be offered the interesting job he desperately wanted.

 

Strangely enough, I never applied after that - as there didn't appear to be any point in me bothering to put myself through this, yet again, when I was clearly never going to get in.

 

 

Thankfully, (although the people who interviewed me all sounded a lot posher than me) it seems like class was not a factor. I was probably just an inferior candidate.

 

 

Huw.

  • Friendly/supportive 2
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

As a resident of Hanwell, it's a station I know very well.

 

The station has been fairly sympathetically upgraded (I love the new waiting room on the Westbound platform) but there are a number of elements of the restoration that are just a total eyesore.

 

1) The equipment boxes for the lifts have totally ruined the once elegant entrance on Station Approach. These should have been buried somewhere within the fabric of the embankment or housed in a separate building on the north side of the station on the enormous new apron.

2) TFL's 'heavy metal' galvanised platform fittings - they stick out like a sore thumb. There was a missed opportunity to make these blend in by e.g. painting them to match the Victorian fixtures and fittings such as the lamps.

3) The enormously over-engineered brackets for CCTV and speakers all the way along the platform. Was it not possible to mount the cameras to existing posts or at least install brackets that are more visually in keeping with the rest of the station?

 

It may have come off the 'at risk' register, but the character has been irreversibly changed by TfL's alterations.

 

Guy

Edited by lyneux
Link to post
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 weeks later...
5 hours ago, ess1uk said:

Crossrail | 18 days to get Bond Street and Canary Wharf stations up to scratch   | New Civil Engineer

https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/crossrail-18-days-to-get-bond-street-and-canary-wharf-stations-up-to-scratch-11-06-2021/

 

The disruption and delays incurred due to the pandemic last year, resulted in a rejigging of the programme in an attempt to minimise further delays to opening.

Deep level activity on the central core stations was therefore suspended earlier this year, while they took stock of the outstanding work and allowed Trial Running to proceed at the right point.

 

There has been some surprise expressed elsewhere, regarding the Canary Wharf station, which was the first to be completed and shown off to the public.

Everyone thought it was finished and ready to be handed over?

One suggestion, or rumour I read, was that the fire detection, or suppression systems at CW, were having to be updated or ripped out and replaced.

I've no idea if there's any truth in that story? 

 

 

.

  • Interesting/Thought-provoking 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Thanks for those shots of Ealing Broadway, a vast improvement from what was there before - level access, decent lighting, etc. I wonder what it’s like the other side of the barrier - accessing the down platform always was a pain with a 180 degree turn on quite steep stairs blocked by clustering of passengers at the bottom, something especially bad in the peak. Not the Western Region’s finest hour.

 

Adam

 

 

Link to post
Share on other sites

In years to come everyone will wonder what all the fuss was about, improvements will benefit all. Though many suffered for some time with the issues caused by the works, at least their properties are worth more now, which is some comfort to house owners

  • Like 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Adam said:

Thanks for those shots of Ealing Broadway, a vast improvement from what was there before - level access, decent lighting, etc. I wonder what it’s like the other side of the barrier - accessing the down platform always was a pain with a 180 degree turn on quite steep stairs blocked by clustering of passengers at the bottom, something especially bad in the peak. Not the Western Region’s finest hour.

 

 

Does this help?

 

Left for LU and Platform 4  (Up line)

Right for Platforms 1 & 2 and Platform 3  (Down line)

 

tfl_image-footbridge_view_at_ealing_broa

 

 

From the other side at platform level....

 

picture1-png.1561215

 

 

 

 

.

  • Like 3
  • Thanks 1
Link to post
Share on other sites

Hi Ron,

 

Yes it does. Not quite the complete job then, but the greater circulation space on the bridge will make a big difference (not that I've any intention/need to of head back any time soon). The rebuilds of Acton Mainline and West Ealing should also help - though neither should have made it to the 21st century in the form they were...

 

Thanks,


Adam

Link to post
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
 Share

×
×
  • Create New...