Great Western Coffee Shop

but just for a month ..... from the Marlow Maidenhead Passangers website http://www.mmpa.org.uk/ (http://www.mmpa.org.uk/)
http://www.crossrail.co.uk/near-you/works/crossrail-paddington-station (http://www.crossrail.co.uk/near-you/works/crossrail-paddington-station)

Seems a bit harsh to suspend the service from Hammersmith to Edgware Road completely.  Couldn't the H&S services still run between Hammersmith and Park Royal using the crossover that was used when Edgware Road was bombed - or is there an issue with trains being locked in that section for that length of time?

If you follow the link to the newsletter LU must have decided that it is more efficient to deal with stuff like platform extensions and track renewals in a full blockade.  IIRC some quite significant changes are needed at Hammersmith to allow for the longer S7 stock.

Paul

LUL are doing as Paul said a lot of other works, some of it at Hammersmith which will effect the depot, also there is the problem of storage of engineering trains for a lot of the work so a blockade is the most efficient.  The only thing I am uncertain about is how this closure will affect plats 13 / 14

Just as people are getting used to the change made in December 09 LUL throw some confusion in

As Electric Train says I'm probably more interested in what happens to 13/14. Especialy as I have to catch a Eurostar on 2nd September.

Will look at changing  at Slough for a fast to come into the main station.

Coming back is no problem as I usually catch a fast Oxford to Slough and eithr change or be picked up.

There's no reason why the overbridge access to 13/14 can't be kept open, with a blockage at the end of the bridge to the H&C platforms....is there?

I think that all this work on PAD for Crossrail and its links to the BCD station is missing a trick as they're leaving the HCC station out on a limb still.

The work involves demolition of the "taxi" ramp which crosses over plat 13/14 also if LUL are doing major works they may want 14 closed for staff safety

Not when the whole thing is finished the taxi pick up / drop off is on the old "Red Star" depot which is on the raft over plat 11/12 also there will still be a number of outer suburban passenger trains using 13/14.  LUL are building a "Northern Ticket Hall and Concourse"

When complete, there will be no access to LUL off the current bridge, only via the new northern entrance....

Not quite Chris. Although the current bridge over platforms 10/11 and 13/14 will not give direct access to the LU platforms, there will be a gateline at its north end giving direct access into the LU concourse, so access from there to 15/16 will no longer be on the paid side of a common gateline, but it will be possible.

Paul

Thast's not what Is was told yesterday - to access 15/16 you need to exit via the other bridge to the canal area & re-enter via the northernm ticket hall concourse.

The bridge to 10/11 & 13/14 will be exactly that, blocked off beyond 13/14.....

I'm going by that planning documentation that was posted here a while back. It clearly shows a gateline at both ends on figure 3.2.2. of the 'design and access statement'.

http://idocs.westminster.gov.uk:8080/WAM/showCaseFileDocs.do?appNumber=09/09265/LBC (http://idocs.westminster.gov.uk:8080/WAM/showCaseFileDocs.do?appNumber=09/09265/LBC)

Having said that - maybe the direct access has to close at some stage of the project, while they demolish all the existing LU platform's roof, stairs, disused lift shafts etc etc?

Paul

Quite possible - or the plans have changed....also quite possible.
I was discussing this with FGW's Project Manager for PAD, so chances are, he knows what he's talking about....

We've all stop thinking.

If as Chris B says there is to be no direct access to 15/16 from  13/14 and, therefore, presumably from the rest of the station then somebody has lost their marbles and ought not to be let out to play.

This is especialy if LUL revert to teh T cup again.

Oh it's not far to come out through the bridge barriers & turn immediately left and walk 25 yeards to the northern LUL concourse....

Loose sight of what the station looks like now its going to be a different look, the ramp was built of goods and taxi access via platform 8 /9 not as a pedestrian access, remember you could park you car on platform 8 at one time, LUL are building a new northern concourse as part of this area Crossrail are building a new taxi pick up drop off area the on on platform 1 closes.

Oh it's not far to come out through the bridge barriers & turn immediately left and walk 25 yeards to the northern LUL concourse

But it still adds 25 yards to what is already a fairly long walk from the main concourse to 15/16, especialy if by then LUL try the T cup again.

Will it be fully disabled access?

AS you turn right at the top of the ramp, before the barriers out towards the canal, it can't add more than 25 yards, it really can't.

And it separates those going to FGW platforms, so will reduce numbers on the current bridge.

And yet a subway to the Bakerloo line or Crossrail station would be even more logical.

Er.. it's only a three week engineering work closure then back to the 'T cup', which is already permanent - have you misread something?

P15/16 definitely will be - as shown in the planning drawings I quoted earlier.  Not sure about the NR platforms from the footbridge, but aren't they level access from the concourse end?

Paul

Can someone tell me why the T-Cup refers to an London Undergound line?

The Circle Line was changed in December from trains going around in a loop to the Circle Line now starting at Hammersmith  going via Kings Cross. Victoria and terminating at Edgewear Rd also the reverse of this, if you look at the LUL map the yellow line is still a circle but has line off to the west the topography of the map make the Paddington to Hammersmith section look like a handle, a number of websites and news papers have coined the phrase tea cup

In 2004-2005 the extended journey times delivered by the transfer arrangements of the Thameslink blockade lead to en explosion in the use of cycles at St Pancras (a 1000% increase in bikes parked overnight and a substantial increase in the number taken on the trains).  A similar effect accompanied the blockade at Waterloo (W & City Tube) in 2006-07, and now 15% of the cycle traffic on Blackfriars Bridge is in effect rail travellers on a parallel route to the tube service. 

On 24th July and until 15th August the service will be withdrawn from the Hammersmith and City line completely, and H&C services will terminate at Edgware Road, whilst the Circle Line will be restoreed to its 'proper' operation.  This will extend the journey for some passengers heading back from Paddington towards Shepherds Bush and Hammersmith and make a messier onward connection for many heading East, with a knock on effect of even greater demand potentially shutting down the access to the tube lines via The Lawn with a greater frequency.  Will this drive a similar effect to the other longer blockades, or just 4 weeks of less reliable onward connections as bus and taxi services take some of this impact.

As an aside, the lift indicated on the Stations Made Easy listing for Paddington (but not on the last TfL Access map) only serves the clockwise Circle Line, and this is made far more useful when the Circle Line operates as a true circuit, as step free access is available from clockwise platforms to a greater extent than counter clockwise, for those unable to manage stairs, with cross platform and same platform interchange providing further connections, and greatly reduced journey times - especially for the Paddington to Stratford journey tested for the BBC You & Yours programme.

It will be interesting to observe how the travelling public reorganises itself to deal with this disruption compared to how the railway management expects (and has planned to deal with the situation).  Perhaps we have the opportunity to take a snapshot in the coming 2 weeks before the blockade and then record observations of the changes that regular travellers see over this period.

they should strip out the buffet cars in store and use them as storage within the fleet

The details of the actual work being undertaken during the Paddington H&C blockade can be seen here http://www.crossrail.co.uk/ny/pdf/CRL1-PDP-Z-GIS-B071-00001_C4030_demolition_taxi_rank_050710.pdf (http://www.crossrail.co.uk/ny/pdf/CRL1-PDP-Z-GIS-B071-00001_C4030_demolition_taxi_rank_050710.pdf)

Thanks for the link 'Electric Train' - it also explains why the service is totally suspended from Hammersmith, rather than a shuttle running Hammersmith to Royal Oak (which I mistakenly called Park Royal in my original post!)

But 'Electric Train' and I had already explained this in our replies to your second post of this thread, quite a few days ago now...

Paul

Yes, Paul.  I meant to say explained officially!  Please accept my apologies.

A distinct lack of publicity on the main station for the impending hiatus - seesm to be the "Fog in The Channel" syndrome.  The period is albeit a short one, and I happened to be talking to a coach driver at the coach park near Notting Hill who reckoned that by knowing the right route he could walk there from his digs on Edgware Road in 20 minutes - so a swift walk to Lancaster Gate (for the Central Line) seems an option.

I don't know what LUL are doing but I know there are leaflets as I've got one.
Also the 2 screens that are under the CIS on both sides of Paddington station are informing of the closure.

I have been on holiday from work this week  :) :) I did go up to London yesterday for a visit to a museum and a general day out, looking that the work done so far in the blockade of the H&C lines - LUL new east bound track and aluminum conrail laid through Royal Oak, westbound old steel conrail stripped out, on the old taxi ramp the concrete decking stripped off, the old canopy over 15 /16 stripped off just leaving the steel skeleton the redundant stair way to the old Bishops Bridge Road station entrance stripped.  Pile driving for the Crossrail portal was in progress between Porchester Rd Bridge (Royal Oak Stn) and Subway Jcn, work is cracking on a pace.

Platforms 13 -16 at Paddington had a very rural feel to them especially at quieter times of the day, with the change to the Circle Line and now the demolition of the remains of the old Bishops Bridge Stn that rural feeling has now gone

I've noticed this week that a set of new stairs has suddenly appeared at the very far western end of Platforms 15/16. At the moment they go nowhere but there appears to be another set poking above the wall opposite in the Paddington Basin (Sheldon Square) new development area. However I'm wondering if this will be an emergency exit rather than a new passenger access route to the Underground platforms?

Isn't Sheldon Square where the new 'main entrance' to the H&C platforms is going?

I've just gone back through this thread and I've been looking at figure 3.2.2. of the 'design and access statement' linked from message #13 posted by paul7755. According to the plan in that document it would appear that the new stairs are in fact an emergency escape.