"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

Press clipping forwarded FYI, by Alan (in Brussels) :

The Subterranean Railway
by Christian Wolmar
351pp, Atlantic, £17.99
Saturday January 8, 2005
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/...385492,00.html

Newcomers to London life can't help but be struck by Londoners' love-hate
relationship with the Underground. You meet people from Muswell Hill who
boast that it's great because the tube doesn't go there, and people from
Hackney who moan that Hackney is rubbish... er, because the tube doesn't go
there. You meet strap-hanging commuters at the end of their tethers, for
whom the thought of one more day underground is enough to make them want to
hurl themselves under a train; and you'll meet lots of Underground buffs,
hip young professionals who hang Simon Patterson's Great Bear on their walls
and spend their spare time going to open days at Neasden depot or on "Steam
on the Met" jollies. Most railway enthusiasts, like swingers, keep their
enthusiasm secret. The Underground is different; the Underground is cool,
and the people who love it are quite happy to be outed. In order to satisfy
their needs and desires there are hundreds of books, beautifully and
expensively produced, that tell the story of the Underground from any number
of possible angles. Into this crowded market comes a new book from Christian
Wolmar.

Wolmar is Britain's foremost expert on public transport issues, and he has
ventured underground before, in his excellent Down the Tube, a devastating
attack on what went wrong with the tube and why. This new book is an
entry-level history of the Underground, and it becomes clear from reading it
that the faults of the system were built into it from the moment the first
sod was turned. Rivalries between companies meant that lines often
duplicated one another without providing proper interchanges (next time you
change at Hammersmith from the District to the Hammersmith and City line,
curse Victorian laissez-faire economics as you try to cross Hammersmith
Broadway); lack of capital meant that the lines were not built large enough
(this is why the underground shuts down at night; if London's system had
allowed for four tracks instead of two, like in New York, the trains could
run at night on some tracks while engineers worked on others); delays are
caused by timorous tube builders, who followed the crooked line of streets
when they could have tunnelled safely straight under buildings, avoiding the
need for slow running on curves. Wolmar's book will tell you, too, why the
Underground, like black cabs, barely ventures south of the river.

SNIP rest of review by Ian Marchant

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

In article , Alan (in Brussels)
wrote:
Press clipping forwarded FYI, by Alan (in Brussels) :

The Subterranean Railway
by Christian Wolmar
351pp, Atlantic, £17.99
Saturday January 8, 2005
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/...385492,00.html
[snip]
Wolmar's book will tell you, too, why the
Underground, like black cabs, barely ventures south of the river.

Do tell us. We have been wondering!

I wish I had seen the Brussels tram-subway while it still was that. A wholly
different approach to underground transport, and probably much cheaper.

Wolamr is actually quite a broad author, he has also written a book on sexual
abuse in children's homes.

Michael Bell

--

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

In the message ...
"Michael Bell" wrote:

In article , Alan (in Brussels)
wrote:
Press clipping forwarded FYI, by Alan (in Brussels) :

The Subterranean Railway
by Christian Wolmar
351pp, Atlantic, £17.99
Saturday January 8, 2005
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/...385492,00.html
[snip]
Wolmar's book will tell you, too, why the
Underground, like black cabs, barely ventures south of the river.

Do tell us. We have been wondering!

You'll have to buy the book (it's not explained in the review). BTW it seems
a pity that presumably the book wasn't available before the recent
present-giving deadline...

I wish I had seen the Brussels tram-subway while it still was that. A
wholly
different approach to underground transport, and probably much cheaper.

It's not too late - line 3 (partly down the tunnel formerly occupied by the
river Senne beneath the central boulevards) is still tram-only (now with
platforms on both sides of each track at the busiest stations, as part of
the upgrade for wheel-chair access) and will remain so even when the next
batch of trams are delivered. See the STIB's web site for the current
network plan etc. (www.stib.be ). IIRC you could take a Eurostar day-trip
and visit Transpole ( www.transpole.fr ) en route too...

SNIP

Regards,

- Alan (in Brussels)

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

In article , Alan (in Brussels)
writes
In the message ...
"Michael Bell" wrote:

In article , Alan (in Brussels)
wrote:
Press clipping forwarded FYI, by Alan (in Brussels) :

The Subterranean Railway
by Christian Wolmar
351pp, Atlantic, £17.99
Saturday January 8, 2005
http://books.guardian.co.uk/reviews/...385492,00.html
[snip]
Wolmar's book will tell you, too, why the
Underground, like black cabs, barely ventures south of the river.

Do tell us. We have been wondering!

You'll have to buy the book (it's not explained in the review). BTW it seems
a pity that presumably the book wasn't available before the recent
present-giving deadline...

snip
It was available, I saw it in the Metro (November time) on the
Underground/TfL page and my wife ordered it from Amazon to arrive in
time for Christmas. It is a very good read and does suggest reasons for
the lack of tube south of the Thames.
--
John Alexander,

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

John wrote:
It is a very good read and does suggest reasons for
the lack of tube south of the Thames.

Care to share?
--
Michael Hoffman

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

Alan (in Brussels) wrote:
Press clipping forwarded FYI, by Alan (in Brussels) :

The Subterranean Railway
by Christian Wolmar
[...]
Wolmar is Britain's foremost expert on public transport issues

Er, no.

[...]
SNIP rest of review by Ian Marchant

According to The Guardian, "Ian Marchant is a comedian".
Oh, I see. He meant it as a joke.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

snip

There are open days at Neasden?

I think I've seen copies of Down the Tube before; this one might be
worth buying.

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

In article , Michael Hoffman
writes
John wrote:
It is a very good read and does suggest reasons for
the lack of tube south of the Thames.

Care to share?
Without checking the book, basically two principle reasons
1) The surface railways which were prevented from crossing the Thames
concentrated on commuter services and built a complex network making
underground lines unnecessary to alleviate congestion (because the area
was not owned by so many influential people they could built on
surface/viaducts more easily).
2) the ground conditions were not suitable for cut and cover and by the
time tube tunnels were possible using a shield, the surface network made
competition unlikely to be profitable.

--
John Alexander,

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 19:27:14 +0100, "Alan \(in Brussels\)"
wrote:
It's not too late - line 3 (partly down the tunnel formerly occupied by the
river Senne beneath the central boulevards) is still tram-only (now with
platforms on both sides of each track at the busiest stations, as part of
the upgrade for wheel-chair access) and will remain so even when the next
batch of trams are delivered. See the STIB's web site for the current
network plan etc. (www.stib.be ). IIRC you could take a Eurostar day-trip
and visit Transpole ( www.transpole.fr ) en route too...

Have they improved any of the stations as part of the work to provide
access to the other platform? I was last there almost a year ago and
it wasn't an inviting travelling environment. The metro stations
seemed better, in general. Brussels seems to have many odd bits of
line, I found a web page about them once but can't find the link. It
illustrated the Belgian technique of starting to build something then
losing interest (Antwerp, Charleroi...) or money. I didn't know the
tunnel used to be the path of the river, that's interesting.

I would look at the STIB site but I object strongly to all that bolx
about forbidding anyone from linking to their site without permission.

Richard.

"The Subterranean Railway" - Wolmar
 

"Richard" a écrit dans le message de
...
On Sun, 9 Jan 2005 19:27:14 +0100, "Alan \(in Brussels\)"
wrote:
It's not too late - line 3 (partly down the tunnel formerly occupied by
the
river Senne beneath the central boulevards) is still tram-only (now with
platforms on both sides of each track at the busiest stations, as part of
the upgrade for wheel-chair access) and will remain so even when the next
batch of trams are delivered. See the STIB's web site for the current
network plan etc. (www.stib.be ). IIRC you could take a Eurostar day-trip
and visit Transpole ( www.transpole.fr ) en route too...

Have they improved any of the stations as part of the work to provide
access to the other platform? I was last there almost a year ago and
it wasn't an inviting travelling environment. The metro stations
seemed better, in general.

Well, yes, most Metro stations are rebuilt former subterranean tram halts...
But the halts on Line 3 have been improved in the course of providing access
to the central island platform - and indeed ISTM that the former presence of
the incomplete central island (dusty and unlit) was largely responsible for
the impression described above.

Brussels seems to have many odd bits of
line, I found a web page about them once but can't find the link. It
illustrated the Belgian technique of starting to build something then
losing interest (Antwerp, Charleroi...) or money. I didn't know the
tunnel used to be the path of the river, that's interesting.

AFAIK this 'technique' is often the consequence of the fragmentation of
decision-making (and the associated budgets) which means that it takes
forever to get all parties to agree, and commit spending, on any major
project. So such projects get implemented in stages. And typically, it's eg
cheaper per km to do all tunnelling as one stage (once the equipment and
work team is assembled), even if some parts aren't needed immediately
afterwards. This also helps keep experienced work forces employed
continuously, which is more efficient then hiring and firing inexperienced
people from one job to the next. Of course, the local political consensus on
long-term planning priorities helps minimise investment on work that becomes
redundant before it's been amortised ;-)

I would look at the STIB site but I object strongly to all that bolx
about forbidding anyone from linking to their site without permission.

Don't worry about that (unless you want to provide deep hyperlinks to it
from a web site).

Regards,

- Alan (in Brussels)