Stairs at London Bridge and Bank

[DynamicSpirit]

I'm trying to plan out a journey from Woolwich to Euston during the morning Mon-Fri rush hour, with the criteria of minimizing the number of stairs - since the person will have a heavy suitcase with them.

So can anyone tell me...
(a) What the situation at London Bridge is currently regarding transferring from SouthEastern to the Northern Line. As I recall, there are normally some steps from the bottom of the escalator to the Northern Line platforms. Are there any additional steps because of the current work at London Bridge?
(b) The same question for transferring from the DLR to the Northern Line at Bank. I know normally it's just going up a shortish, although narrow, flight of stairs, but I'm not sure if the rush hour one way system at Bank changes that?

Also, at Euston, is there much difference in numbers of steps between arriving on the City vs Charing Cross branches of the Northern Line, to exit at the National Rail station?

Thanks!

 

[Barn]

(a) What the situation at London Bridge is currently regarding transferring from SouthEastern to the Northern Line. As I recall, there are normally some steps from the bottom of the escalator to the Northern Line platforms. Are there any additional steps because of the current work at London Bridge?

There are definitely stairs just before the Northern Line platform concourse at London Bridge. There is a lift but it is accessed via the Borough High Street entrance. The current state of the works would allow an exit from the Southeastern platforms towards the bus station and then a 5 minute street level walk to the lift, avoiding escalators.

 

[Hophead]

Is DLR from Woolwich Arsenal an option here? If the bag is a bit of an obstacle, I wouldn't want to be trying to force it onto a busy train, whereas the DLR will be starting here, so you'll get a bit more room and some more time as well. As well as omitting an interchange (and a busy at that).

 

[Blindtraveler]

There is a lift from the LU Ticket hall to National Rail at EUS, although, typically I found it out of order the last time I interchanged with luggage. Always works when Im lightly loaded enough for Escalater use though!

 

[DynamicSpirit]

Is DLR from Woolwich Arsenal an option here? If the bag is a bit of an obstacle, I wouldn't want to be trying to force it onto a busy train, whereas the DLR will be starting here, so you'll get a bit more room and some more time as well. As well as omitting an interchange (and a busy at that).

The options from Woolwich are DLR to Bank, SouthEastern to London Bridge, or SouthEastern to Charing Cross - and then Northern Line from wherever the change is. I don't think any of those routes omit an interchange - it's just a question of which interchange minimizes numbers of stairs.

Fair point about getting on a crowded train. My experience in the past (before the London Bridge works started) has been that Woolwich is far enough out from London that it's not hard to get on trains there - although I don't know whether the lack of interchange at London Bridge has changed things in that regard.

 

[Be3G]

How about something like DLR from Woolwich to Stratford International then HS1 from there to St. Pancras? A walk or perhaps bus could then be used to finish the journey. No stairs needed at all for that journey, though it does sadly mean needing to pay extra for the HS1 journey.

 

[Ianno87]

For step-free, you could do train from Woolwich to Charing Cross, and then the 91 bus from straight outside Charing Cross (on the opposite side of the Strand to the station entrance), which takes you right into the forecourt of Euston.

Maybe marginally longer time-wise than the tube, but really not much in it (the traffic on Kingsway usually flows fairly well at that time of the morning), plus the 91 doesn't tend to get particularly busy.

 

[Barn]

For step-free, you could do train from Woolwich to Charing Cross, and then the 91 bus from straight outside Charing Cross (on the opposite side of the Strand to the station entrance), which takes you right into the forecourt of Euston.

Maybe marginally longer time-wise than the tube, but really not much in it (the traffic on Kingsway usually flows fairly well at that time of the morning), plus the 91 doesn't tend to get particularly busy.

At rush hour the Charing Cross via Lewisham trains are diverted to Cannon Street via Greenwich.

 

[martino]

Also, at Euston, is there much difference in numbers of steps between arriving on the City vs Charing Cross branches of the Northern Line, to exit at the National Rail station?

On the Charing Cross branch, there is a set of stairs (probably 20-30 stairs) from the platform to the underground corridor level. On the Bank branch, this is an escalator. Once you get to the underground corridor level, both are the same - escalator to ticket hall level, then a choice of escalator, lift or stairs to the NR concourse/ground level.

 

[Clip]

The options from Woolwich are DLR to Bank, .

Theres a max about 15 stairs down to the Northern line platform doing it this way

 

[Barn]

The options from Woolwich are DLR to Bank, .

Theres a max about 15 stairs down to the Northern line platform doing it this way

Are those stairs definitely down rather than up?

 

[glbotu]

Well, they can be both, just don't go the wrong way:

http://stations.aeracode.org/

http://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2015/07/12/3d-maps-of-every-underground-station-ab/

So long as you go up the escalators at either end of the DLR platforms, you'll be fine.

 

[Mojo]

Are those stairs definitely down rather than up?

The Northern line is above the DLR, if that is what you are asking.