Kings Cross

Had to go up to Camden Town this evening and came home on the Northern Line to Kings Cross and then on the Met. Jeepers. The state of Kings Cross is staggering. That intersection requires two escalators, steps up and down and a narrow crowded corridor and the full length of the platform to get to where I needed to be. The raw, crumbling concrete, exposed power lines and beams and the general decrepit state of the place are a shock. I'm sure my fellow commuters are fully inured but this is the first time I have done this particular journey and I am seeing it as through the eyes of a visitor. Who the hell designed this station?

Gordon and the Gurkhas

I don't normally comment on politics. I break with tradition today because I am so disgusted by the Government's attitude to the Gurkhas. We owe much to soldiers from all over the Commonwealth but especially to those who have been so loyal to the UK for so long. Nick Clegg got it right this morning on the radio - You used to claim to be guided by morals, Gordon. Let's see a bit of it. Do the right thing. And please don't mumble about "affordability" when your government is happy to waste billions on ID cards and other futile IT systems.

Of Signs and Stress - 2

They are putting new electronic display boards at Waterloo and, to my great pleasure, some of them are going up in the entrance hall. There is a bank of three at the South Bank entrance. Only one is switched on (for the Northern Line) but I have reasonable hopes that the other two, for Bakerloo and Jubilee, will soon follow. These boards show the next 4 departures and represent everything I have always asked London Underground to deliver - clear and useful information at the point of entrance. Having info on the platform is vital, of course, but how much better to know the situation before you trek down the escalators and stairs and the interminable winding little corridors. And seeing the pattern of arrivals is much more helpful than the usual blether about "good service" or "minor delays".

Speaking of which, with "good service" shown on the TFL website for the Metropolitan, I got to Baker Street the other night to find a 13 minute delay to the next Uxbridge. Normal service at the peak is one train every 4 -6 minutes. I enquired of a bloke wearing LU uniform and holding a radio (I suppose he was part of the station staff but given that all he was doing was staring up at the indicator board like everyone else, who knows). Anyway he opined that such a delay was perfectly alright, a good service was operating and it would be unreasonable to report that there were delays every time there were delays. Yup, I can see his point. Why spoil everyone's day by telling them there are problems when really, there are none. Trains are running somewhere, are they not? It's a bit like a hospital refusing to report on the mortality rate from operations on the grounds that everyone dies , sooner or later, or the weatherman telling you not to worry, it's bound to be a nice day some time within the next three months.

I must get myself out of the habit of asking LU staff about service intervals. Over the years it has become plain that most of them don't really know and don't really care.

Medieval England

To Ludlow for a few days in a different world. Black and white timbered buildings, winding narrow streets, castles, churches and great estates, lambs in the fields and daffodils lining every country road.

Just thought I'd share that image with any fellow commuters battling through the crowds tonight.

Alas, all holidays must end.

Of Signs and Stress

I bang on about indicator boards and the like but that is because it's important. Few things are more stressful on the Underground than waiting for trains when you don't know how long you have to wait. The modern indicators that display the next three or four arrivals set the standard for how information should be provided. So it is sad when they put up new boards that do nothing but state the bleedin' obvious. Consider the Bakerloo platforms at Waterloo. There are old style boards, rather hard to see at a distance, but they do at least show the next three trains. New boards are going up. They are bright and clear but display nothing except the time and stuff like "Northbound trains". What is the point? One assumes that they will actually be used to show train arrivals (given that the same data is already on the TFL website) so why do they not do so now?

And whilst on this subject what about my home station at Ruislip Manor? It was equipped with new boards a couple of years ago that are as useful to passengers as the non-working "emergency" help points. What a waste of our money.