On Thu, 26 Oct 2006 10:47:00 +0100, AndreaC
wrote:


I'm about to start a new job and this will involve travelling from
Hounslow to Warren Street.

If I use the train it's a simple case of going to Waterloo and then up
on the Northern line, but I'll also have the option of using the tube.
The most obvious route there seems to be Piccadilly line to Green Park,
change to the Victoria line there and go on to Warren Street.

However, I seem to recall that once, a long time ago, in the vague
mists of time I tried to change or possibly even exit at Green Park and
it was a flipping horrible station to navigate.

The alternative as I see it is to stay with the Piccadilly line to
Leicester Sq and then change to the Northern line there.

Any suggestions or advice from those of you who know these things
better than me? Any idea of journey times?

As others have said try to avoid Green Park for interchange purposes -
especially to and from the Piccadilly Line. It's very long and tedious
whether via the low level corridors or via the ticket hall behind the
gateline.

Leicester Square is not bad but you do need to use the low level
corridors. These are at the rear of the train if you come from Hounslow
on the Picc Line or the front of the Northern Line trains if you arrive
at Leicester Square to make the change. There are signs half way along
the Picc and Northern platforms at Leicester Square but this is a longer
link and cuts across flows at the bottom of the main escalators for the
Piccadilly Line. Just a little local knowledge there!

You haven't said which Hounslow Station you would use and that will
obviously cause a change to journey times by a few minutes. Broadly it
would be 40 minutes from Hounslow West to Leicester Square, 5 minutes to
change lines, 6 minutes on the Northern to Warren Street. Being honest
the Northern Line is performing better at the moment than it has for
months but you can get gaps in the service so I'd maybe a further 5
minute time allowance. It'll take about 4-5 minutes to exit at Warren St
- longer if there are escalator works as there can be long queues.

Both of the Vauxhall and Waterloo options may offer a faster NR journey
time but you lose out on frequency of service compared to the tube. Both
interchange routes are fairly long and very busy in the rush hour. You
will find large volumes of people trying to crush their way down to the
Victoria and Northern Lines and may not get on the first or even second
train. I'm not sure I could face a crush load on the Overground then a
battle through a sea of commuters and then an even worse crush on the
tube.

If I was making the journey I would opt for the tube option as you might
get a seat as far out as Hounslow (possibly!) and then you have a
relatively easy change at Leicester Square and then a short trip on the
Northern from there when some of the crush that boarded earlier might
actually be getting off! Similarly in the other direction boarding at
Warren St to go south will not be too bad and you might get a seat
westbound at Leicester Square - the back carriage is not a bad place to
look!

It all depends on exactly when you have to travel but if you have some
flexibility about start times then experiment with travelling earlier
and see when the optimum time for getting a seat at Hounslow is.
Remember that Heathrow flight arrival times mean that the Heathrow
branch has some odd capacity issues - it can be busy when you don't
expect it to be and lots of people travel on the line to work at
Heathrow.

I think you probably need to try the various options and see what suits.

The other comment from another poster I would endorse is make sure you
have some journey options "up your sleeve" in case things go wrong. With
a travelcard you have some choice as to routes so you could take a train
out of Paddington towards Southall or Hayes and take a bus to Hounslow.
You could tube to Richmond and get a H37 bus to Hounslow. I liked the
tube alternative of H&C line to Hammersmith and then Picc Line from
there if there are problems in the centre. The best advice is to keep
moving when things go wrong so it is good to learn a bit about the
transport options that are available and then to seamlessly adjust your
journey. It's much better than scratching your head by the gateline
wondering what to do next.

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!