BBC report he

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14744617

based on the full Network Rail report published yesterday:

http://tinyurl.com/3uswno7

or he http://preview.tinyurl.com/3uswno7

At a total of 11 stations, therefore, it is recommended
that interventions are investigated to understand and
address crowding by the end of Control Period 5 (CP5)
in 2019. The stations are as follows:

Basingstoke, Bristol Parkway, Clapham Junction
Liverpool Lime Street, London Charing Cross
London Fenchurch Street, London Victoria
Preston, Surbiton, Watford Junction, Wimbledon

Paul S

The report mentions Liverpool Central as one station with possible
future issues.

A better solution would be to rip it out and start again. Liverpool
Central is a nasty, damp rat-hole with a third-rate shopping centre on
top. Very much like New St without the diesel fumes, but in some ways
nastier.

Neil

Paul Scott wrote

BBC report he

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14744617

based on the full Network Rail report published yesterday:

http://tinyurl.com/3uswno7

or he http://preview.tinyurl.com/3uswno7

At a total of 11 stations, therefore, it is recommended
that interventions are investigated to understand and
address crowding by the end of Control Period 5 (CP5)
in 2019. The stations are as follows:

Basingstoke, Bristol Parkway, Clapham Junction
Liverpool Lime Street, London Charing Cross
London Fenchurch Street, London Victoria
Preston, Surbiton, Watford Junction, Wimbledon


"that interventions are investigated"

perhaps "instigated" ?

What's current business school jargon for investigate and fix ?

--
Mike D

On 01/09/2011 13:57, Neil Williams wrote:

A better solution would be to rip it out and start again. Liverpool
Central is a nasty, damp rat-hole with a third-rate shopping centre on
top. Very much like New St without the diesel fumes, but in some ways
nastier.

I believe (nothing formally announced yet) that a rebuild of the station
is on the cards for next year, probably involving closure for several
months.

Whenever I hear people complaining about Liverpool Central LL (and I
hear it quite a lot), I tend to agree with them, then point them to this
picture to remind them that it used to be far, far worse:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/5363535234/

--
Robert Hampton (change 'nospam' to 'rhmeuk' to reply)
http://www.roberthampton.me.uk/

Robert Hampton wrote:
On 01/09/2011 13:57, Neil Williams wrote:
A better solution would be to rip it out and start again. Liverpool
Central is a nasty, damp rat-hole with a third-rate shopping centre on
top. Very much like New St without the diesel fumes, but in some ways
nastier.

I believe (nothing formally announced yet) that a rebuild of the station
is on the cards for next year, probably involving closure for several
months.

Whenever I hear people complaining about Liverpool Central LL (and I
hear it quite a lot), I tend to agree with them, then point them to this
picture to remind them that it used to be far, far worse:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/28083135@N06/5363535234/


That's a photo of the former terminus of the Mersey Railway that is no
longer used. I assume that you are talking about Merseyrail
rebuilding the Link Line platforms which have been a problem since
they were completed in the 1970s. The platforms are far too cramped
for the number of passengers using them.

The Loop Line tunnel and platform was built at the same time but under
a separate contract. It does not suffer the same problems.

On Sep 1, 9:57*pm, Bruce wrote:

That's a photo of the former terminus of the Mersey Railway that is no
longer used.

Er, not quite. The former Mersey Railway platforms were rebuilt into
the Link platforms. The old line towards James St is still there as a
stock-interchange line - look out to the left when leaving Central
northbound. The "stub" at the other end was continued on and burrowed
up into the old Central high-level line towards St James (could do
with being reopened for the university, though possibly under a
different name) and Garston.

It's interesting that seemingly only one photo of things as they were
exists - that is I think the same one as found in my Merseyrail book
issued around the time of the rebuild.

The deep level platforms are indeed far more pleasant, though perhaps
a repanel to give them a more modern look might not be a bad idea.
But Low Level isn't nice, even though it *was* ripped out and
substantially altered (a new roof in parts, for instance, though it
still leaks!) when rebuilt in the 1970s. I think it would have been
better either to roof it in properly and make it look like the Loop
platforms (or a faux-James St[1]) or to make it completely open to the
air, more like Conway Park, given that all that's on top of most of it
(barring the station building) is a car park.

[1] While James St is of similar vintage, the high curved roof, murals
and lighting style coupled with the slightly damp atmosphere make it
quite an impressive station, to me at least. The problem with Central
Low Level is that it just feels like a 1970s bodge that had a lick of
paint once or twice.

Neil

On Sep 1, 8:09*pm, Robert Hampton wrote:

I believe (nothing formally announced yet) that a rebuild of the station
is on the cards for next year, probably involving closure for several
months.

I had heard about the possibility of digging out and opening (I nearly
said reopening, but it never opened in the first place) the leader
tunnel (you can see it on the left as you enter Central from the
north) that runs parallel to the main platforms as a Platform 3 for
terminating trains to improve capacity and reliability - is that
perhaps part of it?

Neil

Neil Williams wrote:

On Sep 1, 9:57*pm, Bruce wrote:

That's a photo of the former terminus of the Mersey Railway that is no
longer used.

Er, not quite. The former Mersey Railway platforms were rebuilt into
the Link platforms. The old line towards James St is still there as a
stock-interchange line - look out to the left when leaving Central
northbound. The "stub" at the other end was continued on and burrowed
up into the old Central high-level line towards St James (could do
with being reopened for the university, though possibly under a
different name) and Garston.


Thanks!


It's interesting that seemingly only one photo of things as they were
exists - that is I think the same one as found in my Merseyrail book
issued around the time of the rebuild.

The deep level platforms are indeed far more pleasant, though perhaps
a repanel to give them a more modern look might not be a bad idea.


The GRP panels never looked particularly attractive, even when new.
But one cannot dispute their longevity, which is impressive.

On Sep 2, 11:54*am, Bruce wrote:

The GRP panels never looked particularly attractive, even when new.
But one cannot dispute their longevity, which is impressive.

Indeed, the white and brown may look outdated, but little work has
been done on them in 30-odd years and they still look in decent nick.

Neil

On Thu, Sep 01, 2011 at 01:44:04PM +0100, Paul Scott wrote:

At a total of 11 stations, therefore, it is recommended
that interventions are investigated to understand and
address crowding by the end of Control Period 5 (CP5)
in 2019. The stations are as follows:

Basingstoke, Bristol Parkway, Clapham Junction
Liverpool Lime Street, London Charing Cross
London Fenchurch Street, London Victoria
Preston, Surbiton, Watford Junction, Wimbledon

Of those, the two I'm familiar with are Victoria and Clapham Junction.
The only part of Victoria that regularly gets horribly crowded is the
passageway from the main concourse to the stairs leading down to the
Victoria Line ticket hall. But that's because the tube station gets
horribly overcrowded and LU then close the gates. At Clapham Junction,
you get bad crowding at three points:

* in the tunnel, but it's not *that* bad; also note that I've not used
it since the new exit from the bridge to St John's Hill has opened,
that may have changed matters;
* on platform 2 when WLL trains arrive in the evening peak;
* on platform 17 when WLL trains arrive in the evening peak.

The problems on platform 2 are because the staircases up and down are
narrow, and there's some pointless buildings eating valuable platform
space.

The problems on platform 17 are because the staircases up and down are
even narrower and the platform is very narrow. The staircase problems
may be soluble, I doubt the platform problem is.

I am, of course, ignoring the crowding you get at both stations when it
all goes tits up, such as last night when platforms 15/16 at Clapham
were horribly crowded because some daft bugger had decided to take a
stroll on the tracks and so the trains were all screwed up.

--
David Cantrell | Official London Perl Mongers Bad Influence

Blessed are the pessimists, for they test their backups