Crossrail - operating discussion and opening day 24th May

[DynamicSpirit]

I live 10 minutes' walk from Abbey Wood station, so I don't really have an excuse for not looking in on it...

Woke up (somewhat unusually) at 5:45. Thought briefly about Crossrail and popping down to see what was going on at 6:30. Heard rain outside. Went back to sleep.

Woke up again at 6:31. Vaguely thought, 'drat'.

Guess I'm just not committed/geek enough

 

[transportphoto]

I live 10 minutes' walk from Abbey Wood station, so I don't really have an excuse for not looking in on it...

Woke up (somewhat unusually) at 5:45. Thought briefly about Crossrail and popping down to see what was going on at 6:30. Heard rain outside. Went back to sleep.

Woke up again at 6:31. Vaguely thought, 'drat'.

Guess I'm just not committed/geek enough

I rate this approach! I conveniently have plans to be in London this afternoon, I’m hoping that it remains smooth running!

 

[ainsworth74]

Guess I'm just not committed/geek enough

We'll call you a taxi, please hand in your Forum membership to the receptionist on your way out

 

[JonathanH]

Some pictures from along the line this morning. Seems quite clear that more passengers made their way to Abbey Wood and Paddington this morning than the intermediate stations.


[Queue snaked round into Felixstowe Road in the rain at Abbey Wood around 6.10am]


[Picture of queue on approach to Abbey Wood station around 6.30am]


[345011 forms the second train (carrying passengers) from Abbey Wood - 9Y14 0635 Abbey Wood to London Paddington]


[Empty train on the opposite platform at Woolwich, demonstrating that few people had elected to board the first trains at intermediate stations]


[Paddington station platform around 7.05am - plenty of passengers and camera people around]

 

[thomalex]

That will keep the discussion about 'Line' and 'mode's going for another couple of weeks!

Well it does say “Good service on all lines”!

 

[Backroom_boy]

A few station obsevations;

Abbey Wood - main entrance was closed off for the EL presumably for crowd control, but it does feel a little cramped. If passengers really take off here I predict this will be the first station that needs more work done to it.

Canary Wharf - disappointing at platform level, feels like seventies retro VAL station. Much better above where the shops are; appropriate for such a mecca of commerce.

Whitechapel - annoying two flights of stairs with no escalator to the barriers and then down again on the other side. Probably the cause of many future "Why didn't 'they'..." posts

Farringdon - the barbican end is still a block away from barbican proper, just to the east of smithfields market. This station really made me realise how long the platforms are! Lots of day one issues with people at the wrong end for their exit and a lot of crowds walking the full length of the platform.

 

[Mag_seven]

https://twitter.com/geofftech/status/1528971712074768384

Geoff and crowd from the Abbey Wood end, which left a minute late.

They were on the same train as us from Woolwich Arsenal to Abbey Wood to connect with the first EL departure from there (I think the Premier Inn Woolwich Arsenal must have been full last night )

Funny how we were told on arrival at Abbey Wood to join the end of the queue and as a result could not travel on the first train, yet his crowd somehow managed it

 

[Mintona]

Popped down to the new station at Paddington to buy an Oyster card and popped back up. No time for a ride today!

 

[Class800]

Where is the brass band and will the invited guests have a cold buffet for lunch, or did this stop around 120 years ago at openings?

There was a brass band for the Okehampton line opening

 

[JN114]

Paddington EL station evacuated due to “a reported emergency” - hopefully just opening day gremlins not anything serious

 

[Requeststop]

At 0630, BBC1 "Breakfast" went live ...

... to a chicken farm in Yorkshire.

A fallback because their planned Elizabeth Line coverage fell through, or did they really think that it was too much trouble to get a crew to Paddington or Abbey Wood for a live broadcast?

BBC Breakfast now based Up t'Norf these days for some weird reason.

 

[Jamiescott1]

The automated announcements about connection dont say "line"

"The next station is Tottenham Court Road, change here for the Central and northern"

 

[xerosis]

The interchange to the Bakerloo was closed off at Paddington which results in an annoyingly long detour

 

[James H]

Rather poor that even though the service was terminating at TCR, the CIS was still showing all trains as conveying passengers to Paddington and 'good service on all lines'

I also thought it was poor that the person making platform announcements at Farringdon referred to 'LUL services' when describing alternative routes to Paddington - a piece of jargon not familiar to many passengers. It should be drummed into them that they should avoid terms like that.

 

[Searle]

Funny how we were told on arrival at Abbey Wood to join the end of the queue and as a result could not travel on the first train, yet his crowd somehow managed it

Perks of being a semi famous YouTuber I guess!

I was also on the second train out of Abbey Wood, all went incredibly smoothly. Because they could only get a limited number of people on each train (as they leave every 5 minutes), it was super quiet in there, which was really nice.

Very impressed by all the stations, can't believe how massive they are. I exited at Liverpool Street, walked above ground to Moorgate and then entered the station from the other side. Really puts it into perspective!

 

[JonathanH]

The interchange to the Bakerloo was closed off at Paddington which results in an annoyingly long detour

That is hopefully just first day crowd control with it opening once the passenger flow becomes normal.

 

[pdeaves]

platform announcements at Farringdon referred to 'LUL services' when describing alternative routes to Farringdon

I take it the announcement was said like that; "Ell You Ell services", in which case, I agree there is no need for such public-facing terms.

 

[345 050]

They were on the same train as us from Woolwich Arsenal to Abbey Wood to connect with the first EL departure from there (I think the Premier Inn Woolwich Arsenal must have been full last night )

Funny how we were told on arrival at Abbey Wood to join the end of the queue and as a result could not travel on the first train, yet his crowd somehow managed it

Was this the train that arrived at Abbey Wood around 0606? That looked like it had quite a lot of enthusiasts on it.
Perhaps Geoff had special access to the interchange footbridge.

Perks of being a semi famous YouTuber I guess!

I was also on the second train out of Abbey Wood, all went incredibly smoothly. Because they could only get a limited number of people on each train (as they leave every 5 minutes), it was super quiet in there, which was really nice.

Yes, I was relatively close to front of queue and Geoff was already on the platform doing TV when we got there.

Giving out free tube maps was a nice touch.

 

[samuelmorris]

Was calm and relatively ordinary at Liverpool Street by 6:53 when I boarded, other than lots of people taking photographs, myself included. So far so good, the full minute dwell times seem enormous but perhaps that's just because there's no need to have them shortened with only 12tph running.

 

[Wilts Wanderer]

Was calm and relatively ordinary at Liverpool Street by 6:53 when I boarded, other than lots of people taking photographs, myself included. So far so good, the full minute dwell times seem enormous but perhaps that's just because there's no need to have them shortened with only 12tph running.

Is it possibly also to absorb the extra time that would otherwise be allocated to a dwell at Bond Street?

 

[Atomix330]

Found the morning rush at approx 0800 at Abbey Wood to fill the train to Canary Wharf and Liverpool Street. Hope it is a sign that it will be used as intended. Liverpool St very busy at 0830. The stations seems to be absorbing the crowds as designed. Its marvellous! Whooshy in all the right places!

Two notes:

1. The lack of digital advertising is surprising in some of the stations.
2. The lack of WiFi/4G in the tunnel sections is quite frustrating. Will they do the same as they did on the Jubilee extension and retrofit?

 

[kevin_roche]

Was calm and relatively ordinary at Liverpool Street by 6:53 when I boarded, other than lots of people taking photographs, myself included. So far so good, the full minute dwell times seem enormous but perhaps that's just because there's no need to have them shortened with only 12tph running.

The 2022 Timetable Planning Rules which expire in December 2022 have them as 1 minute at Canary Wharf, Liverpool Street, Paddington and Tottenham Court Road.
They also say:

6.2.1 Variation from the standard station dwell values provided in Table 5-6 (e.g. to 45 seconds) may be permitted subject to the provision of a timetable download mechanism from Network Rail Capacity Planning or the agreement of a working timetable overlay facility.

6.2.2 Where a facility indicated in 6.2.1 exists, station dwells should be bid at ½ or whole minute values. For example, two consecutive stations requiring 45seconds dwells should be planned as Station Y ½ minute and Station Z 1 minute.

and

6.2.4 Departures shall be advertised in the public timetable at the truncated minute value.

Maybe it will be 45 seconds once Bond Street opens.

 

[ijmad]

They definitely started passenger services from Abbey Wood earlier than 6:30 right? I was at Canary Wharf at 06:35 and got on a Paddington train that had left Abbey Wood at 06:25, and seemed to have very few people on it. RTT suggests they laid on extra trains earlier but they don't show as passenger services. Did I just get lucky?

Anyway a few observations:

• The stations are massive, the platforms are very long (although Thameslink is just as long so I'm not really that shocked), but they're also very wide, there is a huge amount of headroom and concourse space. You don't want to be at the wrong end of one of these trains if you can avoid it, particularly as the exits are positioned at the far ends of the platforms in most of the central section.
• Tottenham Court Road, Farringdon, Liverpool Street and Whitechapel are almost identical at platform level. I took the same photo from the same door at each of them and couldn't tell which station I was at unless I could see a roundel. I guess it's not a big deal considering there's plenty of roundels and information screens! TCR has a slight curve at the end but it's not all that noticeable.
• Stations definitely have a unique feel compared to the tube, with the curves and the uplighting everywhere from the totems. There are practically no overhead lights. Even the escalators have uplighters between them below glass panels.
• Was surprised at how laggy the platform doors are, it takes them a second or two after the train doors open to get moving. I'm sure we will get used to this if it's a 'feature' but it seemed slow compared to the Jubilee.
• Dwell times seemed quite high but I figured this was just a feature of the initial timetable.
• I remain apprehensive about the provision of escalators at the central stations, particularly Whitechapel which seems like it may have a lot of interchange but is single ended and only has 1 or 2 escalators running upwards, and Farringdon, which again only has 1 or 2 escalators going up to the 'useful' end and only 1 going up at the less useful Barbican end.
• My hands ended up covered in black stuff after pottering about for an hour or so. Not sure from which surfaces. Maybe escalator handrail rubber.

Overall it's a fantastic thing. Obviously keen to see it in more complete form later this year.

 

[samuelmorris]

Agreed on the platform edge doors. It's not a huge deal but they're not quite fast enough, the train doors are fully open by the time the platform doors start opening, which is not the case on the JLE.

I haven't had access to TfL WiFi for over a year now, I assumed it had been shut down for non-Virgin customers as neither my O2 nor three devices can connect to it these days at any station. Without WiFi service, 4G etc in the stations would be useful but I suspect there's no business case for that when you can pay for Virgin WiFi.

 

[JonathanH]

They definitely started passenger services from Abbey Wood earlier than 6:30 right? I was at Canary Wharf at 06:35 and got on a Paddington train that had left Abbey Wood at 06:25, and seemed to have very few people on it. RTT suggests they laid on extra trains earlier but they don't show as passenger services. Did I just get lucky?

The trains at Abbey Wood ran earlier than 0630 but passengers weren't allowed on the platform until the 0625 had gone.

Arriving at 0606, the doors on the 0614 departure were activated (ie had a green surround). The 0625 train from Abbey Wood would have been available to passengers at Custom House, but not before. It clearly then had passengers able to board at subsequent stations.

The pattern is set for this initial phase. Trains start running just after 0530 from both ends but the gates to the platforms won't be opened until the last train before 0630 has departed.

 

[island]

neither my O2 nor three devices can connect to it these days at any station

3 devices which have their network settings up to date can connect automatically to Three_Wifi at participating stations. For O2 it's Wifi Extra. Some configuration may be necessary, check your network's website.

 

[JonathanH]

My hands ended up covered in black stuff after pottering about for an hour or so. Not sure from which surfaces. Maybe escalator handrail rubber.

Yes, I had that as well at Farringdon using the escalator.

 

[setdown]

How is the connection at Paddington between the trains arriving from the west and the trains departing east through the central section? Is it a long walk?

 

[sftfan1909]

The trains at Abbey Wood ran earlier than 0630 but passengers weren't allowed on the platform until the 0625 had gone.

I was the first in the queue at Abbey Wood this morning and we were allowed on at about 0621 when the 0625 was still there

 

[JonathanH]

I was the first in the queue at Abbey Wood this morning and we were allowed on at about 0621 when the 0625 was still there

OK. I guess they decided to allow access once the 0620 had gone. Did anyone get on the 0625 from Abbey Wood?