Great Western Coffee Shop

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From Monday 28 October, we will be installing temporary physical barriers at the top of the escalators leading to the Elizabeth line ticket hall at Paddington station.

This is part of a trial to improve customer safety and prevent accidents on the escalator.

If you are carrying luggage, bikes or using a pram, use the lifts close by to access the ticket hall.

We have also increased signage and placed extra staff at the escalator to help make customers with heavy baggage aware of the lifts.

Yours sincerely,

Customer Information Team
Transport for London

Unfortunately the lift capacity to get to the Elizabeth line at Paddington is inadequately sized to be able to cope with the full number of people with large luggage items. It also requires the use of two lifts - one to get to the ticket hall level and another after the barriers to get to the platform.

I have seen some loose control of their large suitcase on an up escalator at Paddington, fortunately it was near the bottom and people about get on managed to get out of the way. 

The lift provision seems sized more in mind of the need to meet the needs of a limited people with mobility issues that make them unable or uncomfortable to use escalators rather than be the major method of access with luggage. Banks of large automatic lifts as found at Underground stations without escalators might have been more appropriate for this purpose. Reported elsewhere that it can currently take 15 minutes by lift from surface level to platforms which is a long time. Might be quicker than this now to go via the new Bakerloo Line access but that adds a lot of walking.