nuneatonmark
Member
- Joined
- 5 Aug 2014
- Messages
- 471
Do any trains ever call at platforms 1 and 4 anymore or are there any plans to do so? They look very rusty! Seems like a bit of waste if they will never be used again.
I guess in Stratford's defense that it would probably be quicker for people to access the Docklands area more quickly than from St Pancras.
There doesn't seem that much point in doing so - it's hard enough to imagine international passengers wanting to use Ebbsfleet, let alone Stratford. While the Javelins are a useful service which I have on occasion used from St Pancras to Stratford, stopping other STP trains at Stratford seems a waste of electricity.
And for those wanting to transfer up the GEML.
That does then beg the question as to why it is called Stratford International - Stratford Shopping Centre (North) would be more appropriate.
One of my pet hates is the announcement on Southeastern Highspeed from Kent, "calling at Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International and St Pancras International". I'm not sure what is very international about a journey from Kent to London...
I remember using the Javelin services during the Olympics, and the appallingly slow access to platform 1 ( or 4) down a metal spiral staircase.
Obviously a short term issue, but a classic case of capacity being restricted not by the trains or track capacity, but rather by the time it took passengers to reach the platform!
Ebbsfleet is ideal for anyone in North Kent or SE London, or coming via the M25. it is not helped by the lack of services. As the last train to Paris is 12.42 (yes - lunchtime!) I had to get a Southeastern to St Pancras and then the Eurostar back again on my recent trip.
Stratford can attract thousands to the shopping centre, and even more once the stadium reopens, so there should be demand. The real issue is the UK border controls which make stopping even one train a day prohibitively expensive.
And this sort of thing is direct proof as to why all these controls on movement serve nothing but to cause problems for the economy...
Imagine what it's like when you travel on it as often as I do!One of my pet hates is the announcement on Southeastern Highspeed from Kent, "calling at Ashford International, Ebbsfleet International, Stratford International and St Pancras International". I'm not sure what is very international about a journey from Kent to London...
It's important to remember Eurostar do call a few times a day at my own town of Ashford as well!Ebbsfleet is ideal for anyone in North Kent or SE London, or coming via the M25. it is not helped by the lack of services. As the last train to Paris is 12.42 (yes - lunchtime!) I had to get a Southeastern to St Pancras and then the Eurostar back again on my recent trip.
Sometimes if you're at Liverpool Street it's easier to go via Stratford too rather than the Circle/H&C/Met to St Pancras.
but it would of course mean ditching border controls so it might not happen in my lifetime!
I understand it's not always quicker but I find it's easier and often more comfortable to go via Stratford if you happen to be at Liverpool Street. After all it would seem to make more sense to get a train at what is more relatively street level than to have to use the Underground which will more often than not be more busy than an off-peak train bound for say Southend Victoria.I just undertake the 5 minute walk to Moorgate and use the Northern line if the Circle Line is knackered or closed.
I think that's only true if there is firm evidence that there is substantial potential demand to visit Stratford Shopping centre by people from France or Belgium. Daz28 thinks there would be but is there evidence? The situation might be different when the stadium reopens, if lots of foreign visitors want to go there.
Those who think the International side is part of the notably busy Stratford mainline/Underground/DLR station have clearly never been there. It's either walk a good 10-15 minutes through the shopping centre (poorly signposted), or make your convoluted way to the generally ghost town DLR station (which is different again to the Javelin one), pay a large TfL fare for one stop, wait up to 10 minutes for the next DLR train, ride for 2 minutes to the "real" Stratford, and then board your mainline train there.
I'm sorry that you take such a dim view on what for me has been a very useful railway with countless benefits.Stratford is my nearest HS1 station. It is however ludicrous to call it "International" when not only have no international trains ever stopped there, but Eurostar never meant to, just keeping quiet about them perceiving there was no demand. It would also waste a lot of time; 18-car trains with passengers booked into reservations in various cars up and down the train can't make 30-second stops - just look at how long trains from Brussels take at Lille Europe.
Those who think the International side is part of the notably busy Stratford mainline/Underground/DLR station have clearly never been there. It's either walk a good 10-15 minutes through the shopping centre (poorly signposted), or make your convoluted way to the generally ghost town DLR station (which is different again to the Javelin one), pay a large TfL fare for one stop, wait up to 10 minutes for the next DLR train, ride for 2 minutes to the "real" Stratford, and then board your mainline train there.
The amount of abandoned (or nearly so) Eurostar infrastructure in Britain, on our supposedly newest railway, is extraordinary. Waterloo, the flyover at Stewarts Lane, the depot at Old Oak Common, Stratford station, the works done on the classic route through Kent, the spur behind Gravesend, the passing loops for freight (haha) on HS1 through Kent, while Ebbsfleet and Ashford stations also give a ghost town impression pretty much all the time. The last time we came through Ebbsfleet, the border control staff appeared to outnumber the passengers.
I'm sorry that you take such a dim view on what for me has been a very useful railway with countless benefits.
It irks me a little when the upgrades initiated by the Eurostar project are criticised. They were investments and they were just that; upgrades that benefit us not only in the short term but in the long term too.
It carried, what, 2 or 3 trains an hour each way for just 13 years, and has lain rusting for the last 8 years. Those whose trains have waited at Woking, Selhurst, or other places, where a continuous succession of conflicting services "do not justify" flying junctions must just wonder who writes the justification rules. What a shame that, unlike old station footbridges, unwanted flyovers cannot be just picked up and used elsewhere.The Linford Street Curve is in-situ so whilst it's immediate usefulness is not obvious, it could perhaps be of use in the future. Either way, it no doubt paid for itself for the duration of Eurostar's presence at Waterloo.