London Banter - View Single Post - How is the T-Cup doing...

[email protected] · January 14th 10, 07:09 AM posted to uk.transport.london

In article ,
() wrote:

*Subject:* How is the T-Cup doing...
*From:*
*Date:* Wed, 13 Jan 2010 15:02:59 -0600

In article ,
(Roland Perry) wrote:

In message , at
16:59:15 on Tue, 12 Jan 2010,
remarked:

I must get someone to show me this supposed step-free route
to the
Piccadilly Line at King's Cross.

Northern ticket hall, lift down to new passageways; short lift
down
to platforms. (The only access that's not finished yet is the
lift
down from the old concourse to the Northern Line platforms)

The current access to the Northern ticket hall from King's
Cross main line is not step-free.

There are five that I can think of (are you saying some are
out of
action temporarily). Working around the complex clockwise:

There's a lift just inside the St Pancras extension that goes
up to
the Kent platforms and down to the passageway to the NTH.
There's
another lift by the stairs which come out near the KX Suburban
platforms. The third lift is by the stairs that give access to
the
KX mainlaine concourse near the large departure board, and the
fourth is out by the main road and leads down to the old
concourse,
which is then a level passageway all the way to the NTH. The
fifth
lift is inside the western ticket hall and gives access from
road
level to the barrier level, which connected by a level passage
to
the old KX tube concourse.

All but the first mentioned are on this diagram I did a year
ago,
from various plans, before it all opened ...

http://www.perry.co.uk/images/kx-com...with-lifts.jpg

(the numbers refer to the kind of lift, not an ordering that
they
are currently using on the signage - which doesn't include my
first
lift because it appears to be regarded as a St Pancras mainline
lift not a tube station lift):

http://www.flickr.com/photos/blech/4147448998/

The only lift from ground level only goes relevantly to the
old tube
concourse which does not have step-free access to the
Piccadilly Line.

That's the fourth one in my list above, top half of lift "D".

You seem to be assuming that the lifts are all completed.

They all seemed to be completed when I looked, the week the NTH
opened (with the one exception of the lift down to the Northern
Line platforms). Of course, two of the surface lifts I mentioned
have been open for several years now.

I've only ever seen one lift at King's Cross, that in Euston Road.
The main tube access now is from the concourse and I've not seen
any lift there. I have never seen any sign of your lift 1.

I'm only talking about access from King's Cross concourse which
is not yet completed.

So you are saying lift C isn't commissioned yet?

I can't see any access to the Northern ticket hall from King's
Cross which is presently open that is not down steps, apart from
the old lift by the front of the station.

There's lifts C and A.

I don't regard as travel via St Pancras as a credible route.

Nor do I, but unfortunately my trains to London terminate in a
distant corner of St Pancras, and that's the best they can do. In
fact, those platforms are further from the St Pancras "Kent Line"
lift...

bottom of lift: http://www.perry.co.uk/images/unmarked-lift.jpg

... than KX Suburban platforms!

Top of the lift on the very left, you can see KX out of the
window:

http://www.perry.co.uk/images/st-pan...igns-north.jpg

And lift A is about halfway between the two.

The lift at the front of King's Cross would be a squeeze with a
bike, by the way.

The lifts aren't designed for bikes, I guess. Just wheelchairs,
buggies and luggage. Taking a bike on the tube as a regular thing
is a tad antisocial, in my view (although OK in an emergency).

The long standing lift out the front of the Kings Cross concourse
is not generous with a buggy and luggage. I've tried it when
helping my daughter and granddaughter from Cambridge to Heathrow.

But I carry my bike up and down stairs. I'd just rather not do
so at a station like Edgware Road where the signage is so crap
you can't be sure which platform you need.

So don't take the bike! (Yes, I know, you won't ever agree not
to).

It's normally a much more practical way round central London.
Quicker than the tube (without these issues) as well as more
predictable.

--
Colin Rosenstiel

--
Colin Rosenstiel