On Thu, 14 Apr 2016 12:52:13 +0100, Clive Page
wrote:

On 14/04/2016 09:53, Roland Perry wrote:
Another change which has been substantially elongated is Thameslink to
Victoria/Piccadilly at Kings Cross/St Pancras. Previously it was a much
shorter passage (still extant).

The much shorter connection was to the old King's Cross Thameslink. The
station is still there, just abandoned. I don't see why they couldn't
keep it open - it would I suppose take the average Thameslink train an
extra couple of minutes to get through the core if they had to make an
extra stop, but given the typical delays we experience, that is surely
lost in the noise.

The other really odd connections are at Green Park. Given that there are
three tube lines crossing at different levels, so there must be points
at which each line is just above each of the other two, it does seem
strange that one has to walk what seems like hundreds of metres to make
*any* connection there.

There was a recent discussion here on that very topic. In summary:

The Piccadilly line platforms under Piccadilly originally served a
different surface station, Dover Street, and are well to the east of
the current (1933) station building, connected by sloping escalators,
rather than vertical lift shafts. The later lines pass under the new
station building, and so there is an inevitable gaps between the
Piccadilly platforms and the new ones. In both cases, the platforms
were built to the south of the station, under the park, rather than
expensive Mayfair buildings.

The connection between the Jubilee and Victoria lines isn't bad, and
would have been better if the long term route of the Jubilee line been
known when the line's platforms were first built, as it would have had
a roughly north-south alignment. Perhaps even cross-platform
interchanges would have been possible, but as it is, the Jubilee line
crosses the Victoria line almost at right angles.

The only real question is why the exit from the Picc platforms to the
corridor to the Victoria line isn't further to the west. My
speculation is that it was to avoid crowds building up too near the
escalators at the west end of the Picc platforms. Of course, the lazy
man's route between the two is via the escalators to the booking hall.