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New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
Last year we had a good view of the fireworks from the Embankment but
the impossibility of getting into Charing Cross put us off ever going back (we caught two night buses home instead, taking three hours to get to our home, in Zone 6). This year, however, we were lured back into London after all, to a great party at the Royal Festival Hall. We finally left there at 01.40, and crossed the footbridge to go to Charing Cross. As we were crossing, we saw a twelve-carriage train to Dartford via Bexleyheath departing on the railway bridge next to us. It was pretty much empty - by which I don't mean only half the seats were taken, I mean it was literally almost empty. I think there were more people on the 05.55 Crayford to Gravesend train I caught one Friday in November. All the back entrances to Charing Cross, and the whole of Embankment station, were closed so we were forced around near Trafalgar Square and past a load of police, some on horseback, etc. in the Strand. Then we saw the most enormous queue of people waiting to get into Charing Cross. The back end of the queue was almost at Aldwych. This was a good 90 minutes or more after the fireworks had ended. In all the time we were walking past the station we didn't see anyone getting let in from the queue. My question is this: when that many people are standing in a queue outside a station, why on earth are twelve-carriage trains leaving that same station completely empty? They could have filled that train up to rush-hour levels and still had the same number left to go onto the next one. When we realised the night buses' starting points had been moved even further from Trafalgar Square than last year, we decided to cross Waterloo Bridge and go to London Bridge station instead. As we crossed, we could again make out a distinctly empty-looking train leaving Charing Cross in the distance. Ultimately we got into Southwark tube without any problem to save a bit of walking, then of course caught our train at London Bridge, which was no busier than during a typical weekend 'closing time' period. The train was of course about 75% empty (or nearer 90% by rush-hour standards!) so we were able to choose from a wide selection of vacant double seats. Quite why I'm posting that previous paragraph on the internet when my plan for next year (if we go back) is to head straight for London Bridge via Southwark, is anyone's guess - now our fast-track route will be full of Usenet users ;) Does anyone know what on earth was going on at Charing Cross? Why did they not let enough people in to fill the available trains? Is the crowd management always that atrocious? Paul |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
Paul Speller wrote: Does anyone know what on earth was going on at Charing Cross? Why did they not let enough people in to fill the available trains? Is the crowd management always that atrocious? Paul The Met Police were probably in charge! |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On Jan 2, 9:20*pm, Paul Speller wrote:
Last year we had a good view of the fireworks from the Embankment but the impossibility of getting into Charing Cross put us off ever going back (we caught two night buses home instead, taking three hours to get to our home, in Zone 6). This year, however, we were lured back into London after all, to a great party at the Royal Festival Hall. We finally left there at 01.40, and crossed the footbridge to go to Charing Cross. As we were crossing, we saw a twelve-carriage train to Dartford via Bexleyheath departing on the railway bridge next to us. It was pretty much empty - by which I don't mean only half the seats were taken, I mean it was literally almost empty. I think there were more people on the 05.55 Crayford to Gravesend train I caught one Friday in November. All the back entrances to Charing Cross, and the whole of Embankment station, were closed so we were forced around near Trafalgar Square and past a load of police, some on horseback, etc. in the Strand. Then we saw the most enormous queue of people waiting to get into Charing Cross. The back end of the queue was almost at Aldwych. This was a good 90 minutes or more after the fireworks had ended. In all the time we were walking past the station we didn't see anyone getting let in from the queue. My question is this: when that many people are standing in a queue outside a station, why on earth are twelve-carriage trains leaving that same station completely empty? They could have filled that train up to rush-hour levels and still had the same number left to go onto the next one. When we realised the night buses' starting points had been moved even further from Trafalgar Square than last year, we decided to cross Waterloo Bridge and go to London Bridge station instead. As we crossed, we could again make out a distinctly empty-looking train leaving Charing Cross in the distance. Ultimately we got into Southwark tube without any problem to save a bit of walking, then of course caught our train at London Bridge, which was no busier than during a typical weekend 'closing time' period. The train was of course about 75% empty (or nearer 90% by rush-hour standards!) so we were able to choose from a wide selection of vacant double seats. Quite why I'm posting that previous paragraph on the internet when my plan for next year (if we go back) is to head straight for London Bridge via Southwark, is anyone's guess - now our fast-track route will be full of Usenet users ;) Does anyone know what on earth was going on at Charing Cross? Why did they not let enough people in to fill the available trains? Is the crowd management always that atrocious? Paul As far as I know, Charing Cross wouldn't have been open at all for trains at twoish in the morning, as the last trains leave some time around midnight, and dont start till about five. |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On 2 Jan, 22:53, BVETubeTrains wrote:
On Jan 2, 9:20 pm, Paul Speller wrote: Last year we had a good view of the fireworks from the Embankment but the impossibility of getting into Charing Cross put us off ever going back (we caught two night buses home instead, taking three hours to get to our home, in Zone 6). This year, however, we were lured back into London after all, to a great party at the Royal Festival Hall. We finally left there at 01.40, and crossed the footbridge to go to Charing Cross. As we were crossing, we saw a twelve-carriage train to Dartford via Bexleyheath departing on the railway bridge next to us. It was pretty much empty - by which I don't mean only half the seats were taken, I mean it was literally almost empty. I think there were more people on the 05.55 Crayford to Gravesend train I caught one Friday in November. All the back entrances to Charing Cross, and the whole of Embankment station, were closed so we were forced around near Trafalgar Square and past a load of police, some on horseback, etc. in the Strand. Then we saw the most enormous queue of people waiting to get into Charing Cross. The back end of the queue was almost at Aldwych. This was a good 90 minutes or more after the fireworks had ended. In all the time we were walking past the station we didn't see anyone getting let in from the queue. My question is this: when that many people are standing in a queue outside a station, why on earth are twelve-carriage trains leaving that same station completely empty? They could have filled that train up to rush-hour levels and still had the same number left to go onto the next one. When we realised the night buses' starting points had been moved even further from Trafalgar Square than last year, we decided to cross Waterloo Bridge and go to London Bridge station instead. As we crossed, we could again make out a distinctly empty-looking train leaving Charing Cross in the distance. Ultimately we got into Southwark tube without any problem to save a bit of walking, then of course caught our train at London Bridge, which was no busier than during a typical weekend 'closing time' period. The train was of course about 75% empty (or nearer 90% by rush-hour standards!) so we were able to choose from a wide selection of vacant double seats. Quite why I'm posting that previous paragraph on the internet when my plan for next year (if we go back) is to head straight for London Bridge via Southwark, is anyone's guess - now our fast-track route will be full of Usenet users ;) Does anyone know what on earth was going on at Charing Cross? Why did they not let enough people in to fill the available trains? Is the crowd management always that atrocious? Paul I don't have an answer to your question Paul, but I have just perused the TfL New Year's Eve travel info leaflet and there's no specific information about closures of Charing X station on NYE. It might be the Met Police being overzealous, I don't know. As far as I know, Charing Cross wouldn't have been open at all for trains at twoish in the morning, as the last trains leave some time around midnight, and dont start till about five. Aha - but there were special services in the early hours of New Years day, sponsored by TfL and free to use. Charing X was the start point of four separate half-hourly services. |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
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New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On 3 Jan, 00:14, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote:
In article , (BVETubeTrains) wrote: As far as I know, Charing Cross wouldn't have been open at all for trains at twoish in the morning, as the last trains leave some time around midnight, and dont start till about five. Not on New Year's morning, though, surely? -- Colin Rosenstiel Charing X remained open with regular half hourly services to a variety of destinations, except the one I wanted as there was no service between Hither Green and Petts Wood (served from Victoria). The problem was that you couldn't get into the station because the two nomimal queues (over and underground) which started half way up the Strand were actually mostly Underground passengers - when we finally struggled into CX after an hour queueing it was practically deserted. Outside, the queues were still several hundred yards long from Trafalgar Sq, up to nearly the Savoy and then back again. Rubbish organisation - next time (if ever) I will just stay on the platform at CX, watch the fireworks, and hop on the train. MaB |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On Jan 3, 9:03 am, MaxB wrote:
On 3 Jan, 00:14, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote: In article , (BVETubeTrains) wrote: The problem was that you couldn't get into the station because the two nomimal queues (over and underground) which started half way up the Strand were actually mostly Underground passengers ... Rubbish organisation - next time (if ever) I will just stay on the platform at CX, watch the fireworks, and hop on the train. I don't see how it could be organized to have two separate queues into CX, for overground & Underground, without punters trying to bypass the Tube queue by using the shorter overground queue. There is a usable walkway along Villiers Street, high above the pavement - could you perhaps have used this? |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On 3 Jan, 09:11, Offramp wrote:
On Jan 3, 9:03 am, MaxB wrote: On 3 Jan, 00:14, (Colin Rosenstiel) wrote: In article , (BVETubeTrains) wrote: The problem was that you couldn't get into the station because the two nomimal queues (over and underground) which started half way up the Strand were actually mostly Underground passengers ... Rubbish organisation - next time (if ever) I will just stay on the platform at CX, watch the fireworks, and hop on the train. I don't see how it could be organized to have two separate queues into CX, for overground & Underground, without punters trying to bypass the Tube queue by using the shorter overground queue. There is a usable walkway along Villiers Street, high above the pavement - could you perhaps have used this? You are quite right but 2 queues WERE set up albeit you had to walk 200 yards up the Strand to get into them. It would have been much better to have had "BR" access from the Trafalgar Sq side and underground from the east with any connections between them closed (there was also a link into the hotel). It is quiet clear that the numbers of people, twice the forecast overwhelmed many facilities, and short notice closusures were being made in addition to those advertised. And, of course, I was only going to CX because Waterloo East was shut from 2345! Weird. The density of crowd precluded checking out other options, but every short cut I attempted was always blocked by police e.g. no access at all to Westminster Bridge, no access from the north on to Lambeth Bridge, no access into Parliament SQ from the south, no access into Whitehall from Horseguards etc etc. MaxB |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On Thu, 3 Jan 2008 01:11:57 -0800 (PST), Offramp wrote:
There is a usable walkway along Villiers Street, high above the pavement - could you perhaps have used this? This is the walkway that comes from the footbridge over the Thames, and had it been open I would have used it but sadly it, like all the other non-main entrances, was sealed off. Paul |
New Year's Eve at Charing Cross
On Thu, 3 Jan 2008 01:03:18 -0800 (PST), MaxB wrote:
The problem was that you couldn't get into the station because the two nomimal queues (over and underground) which started half way up the Strand were actually mostly Underground passengers - when we finally struggled into CX after an hour queueing it was practically deserted. Outside, the queues were still several hundred yards long from Trafalgar Sq, up to nearly the Savoy and then back again. Aha, thanks, that makes some sense of the baffling empty trains! As has been said by others, this surely isn't that difficult to work around, using completely separate queuing areas and entrances for Tube and National Rail and blocking connecting passages between the two. It also makes me wonder why they shut Embankment, Westminster and Temple Underground stations. Why would you want to direct all the Tube and Rail passengers to the same place? A recipe for the disaster that ensued. It's also quite depressing how little those queuing tube passengers must know about the geography of central London and the tube network. I wished I had been an Underground user that evening because I knew I could always head to another station nearby, whereas with the closure of Waterloo East, Charing Cross was the only place to catch my train without trekking to London Bridge. I suppose the narrow focus of the majority of tube users was further evidenced when we walked past the hordes waiting outside Waterloo Underground station and headed for Southwark Underground, which you could just about see from the same spot as you could see the hordes! Rubbish organisation - next time (if ever) I will just stay on the platform at CX, watch the fireworks, and hop on the train. Of course! That is actually an excellent idea. If I lack any better plans myself next year I might just join you :) Paul |
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