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Old June 2nd 08, 06:58 PM posted to uk.transport.london,uk.railway
Mizter T Mizter T is offline
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First recorded activity at LondonBanter: May 2005
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Default Mitcham Eastfields Open


On 2 Jun, 18:27, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 2 Jun, 17:51, Mizter T wrote:

I wonder what the delay was in opening the station - maybe it was just
to keep 'first train enthusiasts' on their toes! (Or maybe just allow
them a lie-in instead of a crack of dawn start...)


I went down there last night for a look just as the builders were
packing up (I wasn't expecting it to open as early as today). The only
things amiss were a few noticeboards hadn't been put up and one
segment of the down platform's canopy was missing.

The official line was that regulatory safety checks hadn't been done.


HMRI (if it was the HMRI) evidently don't do sunday inspections then!

When I passed by late on Friday I was half-hoping I might be able to
get a ticket machine to spew out the first ever Mitcham Eastfields
ticket - alas no, the place was still crawling with workmen!

Can anyone say exactly how long this station took to be built - i.e.
from the start the proper construction phase? It's certainly been
fairly rapid - well under a year.

And is there anywhere else in Greater London which is similarly
deserving of a brand new railway station on an existing line?

I suppose under that criteria my vote would go for a Brixton station
on the South London Line (which will hopefully play host to ELLX
trains to & from Clapham Jn in years to come) - but that would be an
incredibly difficult and expensive station to build, unlike
Eastfield's quick-and-cheapish new modular station. Is there anywhere
else deserving that's like Eastfields in London - somewhere where the
line is running more or less flat on the ground, not high up on an
embankment or viaduct or low in a cutting or even in a tunnel - i.e.
any *realistic* suggestions?