On Wed, 22 Mar 2006 15:53:11 -0600, "Tristán White"
wrote:
I'm writing this in response to all of you who replied - thanks.
It doesn't sound as bad as I feared (although I'll miss seeing the
actual trains roll into Canning Town every morning - can't be helped I
guess).
A couple of points though - some of you say it was well advertised etc
on groups such as these, or by going to my local planning office, but my
point is that as a commuter, I knew nothing about it until last weekend
(I'm no longer a regular on UTL - I am trying to ween myself off
newsgroups these days - it was becoming too addictive and I was getting
****ed off by trolls....)
I saw a poster about all of this at Blackhorse Road station on the
GOBLIN platform to Gospel Oak. I've also seen one at Stratford.
I bet if you did a vox pop of commuters in Canning Town the vast
majority wouldn't have a clue. I didn't know, and I use Canning Town
every year and actually have more than a passing interest in trains and
in the London transport system.
Maybe not but it does not mean that the statutory process has not been
followed. Many people have no awareness of what is happening to the
transport network until a change is implemented. This would still be the
case if they had been notified individually as people discount much of
what may be posted through their letter box.
Well, if we're talking about North Woolwich, then they will have a DLR
direct to Stratford every 10 minutes followed by a Silverlink every 15
minutes, compared to a direct Silverlink every 30 minutes.
Yes which is a huge improvement in my books.
but if what you are saying in the earlier paragraph is true, then in
fact North Woolwich won't have a direct connection to Stratford as they
do now (albeit one every 30 minutes, but if you time it right you're
OK), they will surely have to change in Canning Town for either the
other branch of the the DLR via Star Lane, Abbey Road, etc., or they
will have to take the Jubilee to Stratford. It's still two changes to go
to Camden Road, Hackney Wick or wherever, as opposed to zero changes at
the moment. I'm not convinced that even with a more frequent service, a
passenger will get to Camden Road or Hackney Wick from George V faster
than they currently would from North Woolwich and a copy of the
Silverlink timetable in their pocket..... More line changes means more
possibilities of things going wrong, connections being missed, or
problems on the various lines.
There will be no station at North Woolwich - it disappears. It has
already been replaced by a station at King George V which is minutes
away. There will be direct trains to Stratford via DLR every 10 mins.
You could also take the other 10 minute frequency DLR service (for Bank)
and change to JLE at Canning Town if you wished to. To be honest I
wouldn't bother as DLR is very reliable with good information on how
trains are running.
The proposed service pattern is shown here
http://developments.dlr.co.uk/pdf/ex...%20Changes.pdf
In my book a 10 minute service with one change to a service that is
almost as frequent is no real hardship. It should be remembered that TfL
intend to increase the NLL service to a train every 7-8 minutes by 2011.
At those sorts of frequencies there is no hardship in having to change
as a missed connection is not the end of the world. It is also a world
away from a train every 30 minutes which is not an acceptable level of
service to my mind in a densely populated part of London. That people
in such areas will use a decent, frequent service that goes somewhere
useful is amply demonstrated by the success of the Jubilee Line
Extension at stations like West Ham and Canning Town.
I accept there is always a risk of a delay when changing modes but let's
be real here. The DLR has an excellent record so the risk of a problem
on that leg is remote. The NLL is the more risky proposition but it is
going to get a lot of investment in signalling and new trains. While
there may be issues in the short term with the new assets it is highly
likely that reliability will improve hugely. Thus the overall service,
even with a change, will be in a different league to now.
The only genuine concern that might upset some people is simply that the
interchange at Stratford is going to be somewhat convoluted. The NLL
platforms will be on the north side of the station - platforms 11 and 12
IIRC which is a fair old drag from the current NLL platforms which will
be used by DLR. I do not know if anything is to be done to ease that
interchange with lifts / escalators instead of endless flights of
stairs. Hopefully this issue will be dealt with as effectively as
possible within the limited space and constraints resulting from having
to support the Great Eastern main line.
--
Paul C
Admits to working for London Underground!