please empty your brain below
So will there be no step free access from the sub-surface lines at Paddington and Liverpool Street, or just the deep level lines?

Still anon | 19.11.17 - 7:23 a.m. | #

Bank (W&C) already has step free access, although it is a bit circuitous. You can transfer step free between the W&C and the DLR, from where there is step free access to the street.

Waterloo also used to have step free access to (but not from) the W&C, by way of the Eurostar concourse.

timbo | 19.11.17 - 8:09 a.m. | #

Last time I used Bond Street station I recall walking through a subterranean shopping area to get to the tube lines, have those shops all gone?

dg writes:No.

John | 19.11.17 - 8:10 a.m. | #

Full list of in-progress step-free upgrades:

2017/8: Bank (W&C), Bromley-by-Bow, Victoria
2018/9: Barbican, Buckhurst Hill, Finsbury Park, Moorgate, Newbury Park, Paddington (Bakerloo), Whitechapel
2019/20: Amersham, Cockfosters, Harrow-on-the-Hill, Knightsbridge, Mill Hill East, Osterley, South Woodford
2020/1: Bank (Northern), Battersea, Elephant & Castle (Northern), Nine Elms

diamond geezer | Homepage | 19.11.17 - 8:38 a.m. | #

Given all the money spent, not making the Circle/District platforms at Paddington accessible as part of the building work seems bizarre, you can justify it with Liverpool Street as you can gain access from Moorgate, and Crossrail covers the Central Line anyway.

Still anon | 19.11.17 - 9:05 a.m. | #

But there is already step-free access to the sub-surface lines at Paddington, at the Bishops Road station, not at Praed Street.

timbo | 19.11.17 - 9:13 a.m. | #

Euston Square also has a lift for step free going westbound only.

(Thanks for the plug!)

Geofftech | 19.11.17 - 11:23 a.m. | #

Oh, and eastbound only sub-surface at Liverpool Street too, there’s a lift.

(Sorry)

Geofftech | 19.11.17 - 11:24 a.m. | #

Also, (try not to hate me) Sloane Square is technically step free for exiting as it has escalators for exit only. Good for suitcases and buggies though, not so much wheelchairs.

Ok, I’ll stop now.

Geofftech | 19.11.17 - 11:32 a.m. | #

Timbo - incorrect,

There IS a lift for the subsurface Paddington Praed Street but again it’s a “one direction only”, this time northbound/clockwise only,

I really will stop now. I can’t think of any more.

Geofftech | 19.11.17 - 11:35 a.m. | #

I only just saw the word ‘Wholly’. Oops. So i shouldn’t mention the lift down to westbound only at Cannon Street either.

But come on - it IS interesting, that there are plenty of step free stations in one direction only, you could probably do a whole blog about how pointless they are as a wheelchair user couldn’t make a return journey using that station.

Geofftech | 19.11.17 - 11:38 a.m. | #

Are there really no plans to make Waterloo W&C step free? I think all it would require is a lift up to the new National Rail platforms (when they eventually open) as there’s already step free access up to the Underground ticket hall.

Sean O'Brien | 19.11.17 - 12:35 p.m. | #

Obviously there are different categories of step-non-users. But bringing stations where there are escalators (but no fixed steps) into the discussion is surely a step (sorry) too far. Step-free means step-free, surely?

Malcolm | 19.11.17 - 12:50 p.m. | #

With step free access to the Bakerloo, that'll be just a single platform at Paddington with no step free access. Although this can be circumvented by getting on a northbound train and staying on at Edgware Road to go south? You'd never need to arrive at Paddington Praed Street southbound.

Liverpool Street has the same pseudo-solution, with Met line trains to Aldgate - this helps with westbound departures. Annoyingly arriving on a westbound train you have to overshoot as far as at least Farringdon, and practically King's Cross.

Cannon Street's westbound only is another one of these, with reversing points being Blackfriars and Tower Hill. Borough's northbound only may actually work best with reversing points of London Bridge and the Kennington loop - seems we've found a use for passenger running on there!

I'll see if I can think of more.

the orange one | 19.11.17 - 1:20 p.m. | #

Oh yes thanks Geoff, Euston Square. If you get on a westbound Met line you can change at Baker Street onto an eastbound H&C/Circle? If you're arriving you just overshoot to King's Cross and come back of course.

the orange one | 19.11.17 - 1:38 p.m. | #

Liverpool Street to westbound Circle Line is very frustrating. There's plenty of room to add two small elevators.

Madison | 19.11.17 - 2:00 p.m. | #

Waterloo Bakerloo Southbound is step free via a long walk from the Jubilee Line lifts. If you were travelling Northbound you could go to up to Charing Cross for step free interchange to a Southbound train back to Waterloo.

Sean O'Brien | 19.11.17 - 2:46 p.m. | #

And I guess if you wanted to go north of Waterloo you’d get the train to Elephant and Castle and either change at Lambeth North or wait on the train at E&C for it to go back into service if you were really lazy!

Sean O'Brien | 19.11.17 - 2:48 p.m. | #

The Waterloo end of the W&C will effectively become step free next year when the rebuild of the Eurostar platforms is complete, as this will include a lift down to concourse level. From there it's a ramp to the departure platform or a lift from the arrival platform.

Technically the station may no longer count as step free however as the ramp will likely be deemed too steep for wheelchairs.

Malcolm | 19.11.17 - 9:29 p.m. | #

I can understand that for the deep-level stations providing step-free access may well be prohibitively expensive but that excuse seems less acceptable for the sub-surface stations. And looking outside Zone 1 there are a number of above ground stations, or ones like Hatton Cross that are just below the surface, that are not step-free yet - what is the excuse there?

dg writes: Money. It's much more expensive than you seem to believe to make a station step-free. If there were any easy wins out there, they've already been converted.

whiff | 19.11.17 - 11:18 p.m. | #

It might be that TfL are focusing on the more intensively-used stations (the ones where it would be impossible to provide enough staff assistance), but that's just a guess. Some outer stations it looks as simple as adding lifts to a footbridge, but that would probably require a whole new footbridge to be built.

Geoff | 19.11.17 - 11:27 p.m. | #

Note that Farringdon is temporarily NOT step-free. The lift to / from Platform 3 (southbound Thameslink) is out of action due to Crossrail works. Closed a couple of months ago; reopens (I think) when Elizabeth Line opens.

City Worker | 20.11.17 - 5:58 a.m. | #











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