Can anyone help me out here? I'm a bit confused as to the situation
with the DLR escalators at Bank.

If I enter Bank station, I am now once again able to take the
esclalator down (near exit 6, I think) which leads to the Northern
Line and the DLR. No more of the lifts required.

When I get down to the next level, I am then forced to walk along the
Northern Line platform (which is often dangerously crowded) and then
down to the DLR, right to the end, and walk back up to where I can
(finally) board a DLR train. On the way out of the DLR, I can pop up
one of the two escalators which and go out the escalator which is near
exit 6.

Many months ago, the set of escalators which run in a pair going
upwards used to be one down, and one up. It made it quicker, and safer
to get to the DLR platform.

Why can't we do this any more? I understood it made sense at one point
in the works - but now that all the escalators required to get me in
and out of the station by the quickest route are working I'm still not
allowed do it! I'm made to go on the run-around to get to the
platform, having to force my way through a busy Northern Line
platform. On the way to LCY, with luggage, this is no fun.

Has anyone any ideas when this madness might end?

Thanks,
D.

On 28 July, 12:39, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 28 July, 12:11, David F wrote:

Why can't we do this any more? I understood it made sense at one point
in the works - but now that all the escalators required to get me in
and out of the station by the quickest route are working I'm still not
allowed do it! I'm made to go on the run-around to get to the
platform, having to force my way through a busy Northern Line
platform.

The escalators at the south end of the DLR (towards Monument) are
still out of action. They therefore need to provide two up escalators
at the north end to compensate. That leaves the only possible route
down to the DLR as via the Northern Line platforms.


In the evening rush hour that need is simply not true. Plenty of
other escalators are reversed at different times of day, so why not at
Bank?

Plenty of other stations have people entering the platform at one end
as well, for that matter, without the gap before the part that the
trains use that provides a safety buffer at Bank.

Bank is a parallel universe. Pray that it doesn't expand or the whole
LU system will have to close.

On 28 July, 12:39, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 28 July, 12:11, David F wrote:

Why can't we do this any more? I understood it made sense at one point
in the works - but now that all the escalators required to get me in
and out of the station by the quickest route are working I'm still not
allowed do it! I'm made to go on the run-around to get to the
platform, having to force my way through a busy Northern Line
platform.

The escalators at the south end of the DLR (towards Monument) are
still out of action. They therefore need to provide two up escalators
at the north end to compensate. That leaves the only possible route
down to the DLR as via the Northern Line platforms.

Thanks for the explanation! I guess it might make a modicum of sense
in rush hour - but why for the rest of the day and at the weekend?

Another peeve on the DLR situation - why is it necessary to double-
back when reaching the bottom of the steps leading from the Northern
Line platform? There's an entrance to platform 9 (DLR) right at the
bottom of the steps, but it's closed off, so everyone has to walk 100m
down the corridor, and then back up 50m again to get to the front of
the train.

On 28 July, 13:58, MIG wrote:
On 28 July, 12:39, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 28 July, 12:11, David F wrote:

Why can't we do this any more? I understood it made sense at one point
in the works - but now that all the escalators required to get me in
and out of the station by the quickest route are working I'm still not
allowed do it! I'm made to go on the run-around to get to the
platform, having to force my way through a busy Northern Line
platform.

The escalators at the south end of the DLR (towards Monument) are
still out of action. They therefore need to provide two up escalators
at the north end to compensate. That leaves the only possible route
down to the DLR as via the Northern Line platforms.

In the evening rush hour that need is simply not true. *Plenty of
other escalators are reversed at different times of day, so why not at
Bank?

Wouldn't it make most sense to have those two escalators as up-only in
the morning and down only in the evening? That would mean most peoples
journey would be made by the quickest, and least congested route -
instead of throwing everyone who wants to get out of the City onto the
Northern Line platform during rush hour evening, when it's busy enough
already!

On 28 July, 15:54, David F wrote:
On 28 July, 13:58, MIG wrote:





On 28 July, 12:39, Mr Thant
wrote:

On 28 July, 12:11, David F wrote:

Why can't we do this any more? I understood it made sense at one point
in the works - but now that all the escalators required to get me in
and out of the station by the quickest route are working I'm still not
allowed do it! I'm made to go on the run-around to get to the
platform, having to force my way through a busy Northern Line
platform.

The escalators at the south end of the DLR (towards Monument) are
still out of action. They therefore need to provide two up escalators
at the north end to compensate. That leaves the only possible route
down to the DLR as via the Northern Line platforms.

In the evening rush hour that need is simply not true. *Plenty of
other escalators are reversed at different times of day, so why not at
Bank?

Wouldn't it make most sense to have those two escalators as up-only in
the morning and down only in the evening? That would mean most peoples
journey would be made by the quickest, and least congested route -
instead of throwing everyone who wants to get out of the City onto the
Northern Line platform during rush hour evening, when it's busy enough
already!-

I think maybe both up in the morning and one up and one down in the
evening would be better.

On 28 July, 15:52, David F wrote:
Another peeve on the DLR situation - why is it necessary to double-
back when reaching the bottom of the steps leading from the Northern
Line platform? There's an entrance to platform 9 (DLR) right at the
bottom of the steps, but it's closed off

That was open for the first week or two, but there was horrible
crowding on the adjacent part of the platform. Sending everyone the
long way round disperses the crowd and gives them somewhere safe to
queue.

As with the escalator configuration, they did initially vary the setup
between peak and off-peak, but seem to have given up and now keep it
in the same (peak) configuration full time. It makes the station
predictable, if nothing else.

U

On 28 July, 17:53, Mr Thant
wrote:
On 28 July, 15:52, David F wrote:

Another peeve on the DLR situation - why is it necessary to double-
back when reaching the bottom of the steps leading from the Northern
Line platform? There's an entrance to platform 9 (DLR) right at the
bottom of the steps, but it's closed off

That was open for the first week or two, but there was horrible
crowding on the adjacent part of the platform. Sending everyone the
long way round disperses the crowd and gives them somewhere safe to
queue.

As with the escalator configuration, they did initially vary the setup
between peak and off-peak, but seem to have given up and now keep it
in the same (peak) configuration full time. It makes the station
predictable, if nothing else.

U

I appreciate that you are reporting the situation as it is, but it's
still a mystery to me why it's acceptable to create a far more
dangerous situation on the Northern Line platform for the sake of
reversing an escalator.

There are loads of stations where stairs lead down directly to the
platform, but at most of them it's a part of the platform that is in
use. On the DLR at Bank, punters have to walk along the platform away
from blocking the stairs if they want to get on a train (till they are
lengthened).

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 08:44:48 -0700 (PDT), nospam_lonelytraveller_nospam
wrote:

Except that they are just about to start serious redesign of the whole
station, especially the northern line, with the possibility of a new
platform and the old one turned into a concourse (as at Angel and
London Bridge), for congestion relief, and MIP access. And that
(including actual construction) is not scheduled to be finished until
2022ish.


What does MIP stand for?

--
jhk

On Mon, 3 Aug 2009, Jarle H Knudsen wrote:

On Sat, 1 Aug 2009 08:44:48 -0700 (PDT), nospam_lonelytraveller_nospam
wrote:

Except that they are just about to start serious redesign of the whole
station, especially the northern line, with the possibility of a new
platform and the old one turned into a concourse (as at Angel and
London Bridge), for congestion relief, and MIP access. And that
(including actual construction) is not scheduled to be finished until
2022ish.

What does MIP stand for?

Mobility Impaired Person. Someone who's not too good with stairs. MIP
access means ramps and lifts and so on. Whether it means more than that -
signage and things? - i don't know.

tom

--
science fiction, old TV shows, sports, food, New York City topography,
and golden age hiphop

In article ,
Tom Anderson wrote:
On Mon, 3 Aug 2009, Jarle H Knudsen wrote:
What does MIP stand for?

Mobility Impaired Person. Someone who's not too good with stairs. MIP
access means ramps and lifts and so on. Whether it means more than that -
signage and things? - i don't know.


It'll mean signage at the least: Lifts that noone can find are pointless!

It might mean some work on the passenger/train interface (ie, the
platform!) in order to make the gap from train to platform narrow
and the train interior to be on the same level as the platform. To
be honest, I've completly lost track of what's happening in this
realm at the moment, but I can't imagine a major refurb at bank
not involving something to help in this regard.


--
:wq