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Trying to Cross London with Luggage

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Rick1984

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Sorry if this has come up before, but does anyone have great trouble trying to cross London with luggage, or for that matter pushchairs, wheelchair etc?

When me and wife go on holiday we go to Liverpool street and are then faced with limited options. Originally we took the circle to Victoria then the Gatwick express. This involved lugging four bags over several sets of stairs. We then tried Farrigndon which was a bit better. last time we got off at Stratford to go on the Jubile to London bridge as it was step-free, but it was closed so we had to get circle to bank and gave up at that point and got taxi from there to London bridge. Now i'm thinking Straford to Clapham junction but that's an hour without a loo.

hopefully the likes of crossrail and thameslink will help but it is a bad state of affairs when a main line station doesn't have step free access and progress seem's painfully slow.

i just feel sorry for people with reduced mobility that have to suffer this everyday.
 
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GodAtum

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Yes it is a struggle carrying luggage across London or any city for that matter. Slightly easier out of rush hour though.
 

jopsuk

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Under the current mayor the "step free stations" program for London Underground has, regrettably, been scaled back- as you illustrate, it is a program that benefits far more than just those in wheelchairs.
 

DXMachina

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Almost every time I go to london I end up helping someone carry bags, pushchairs, or children up or down flights of stairs. Astonishing how many places can't be accessed by elevator or escalator.
 

neilm

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Good news for you is to go blackfriars the new station is step free, also cheaper train ticket than the gatex.
 

cuccir

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It's a dark stain on London's face that the Tube is not fully accessible.
 

BrianTheLion

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I took my first ever ride on the Overground at the weekend and was amazed at how much more space was inside the train, near the doors, compared with most tube trains.

Im now going to plan my next trips to the capital based around staying near Overground stations because the whole process of travelling with luggage and a pushchair was a lot more pleasant.
 

wibble

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The alternative is to use the bus between Liverpool St and London Bridge - but it'll mean having to pay extra for it - and have dedicated space for a pushchair and no stairs to worry about! Routes 48, 149, 47 & 35 all leave from stop K on Bishopsgate.
 

wellhouse

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If you are flying from Luton or Gatwick, Circle Line interchange to Thameslink is step-free at both Kings Cross/St Pancras and Blackfriars
 

Bungle73

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It's a dark stain on London's face that the Tube is not fully accessible.

You have to consider its age. The majority of the Tube network was built before disabled access was even a consideration. It would require substantial rebuilding at a lot of stations, many deep below ground and quite a few of which are listed. Making the Tube fully accessible is more or less impossible.
 

Rick1984

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The overground sounds like the way forward for now. The problem is until crossrail is built liverpool st will require quite a few steps. I really don't fancy sitting in a bus on a london traffic jam!

As a note in german stations they had little conveyors that you could use to help lug your bags stairs. Unfortunately none of them seemed to work! So much for german efficiency.
 
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You could always take the jubilee to Canada water and then an overground train to Norwood junction where unless you're extremely unlucky it's a cross platform transfer to the Horsham service via gatwick
 

DXMachina

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As a note in german stations they had little conveyors that you could use to help lug your bags stairs. Unfortunately none of them seemed to work! So much for german efficiency.

German energy efficiency: using human power where other countries would use a machine.

No this isn't a dig at their past

Well not much of one, anyway.
 

Bald Rick

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Liv St to Gatwick is down about a dozen steps at Liv St, then Circle to Blackfriars and step free from the platform there.

Although coming back is a bit more difficult!
 

scottishchris

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I remember trying to cross London once after getting off the sleeper so we were straight into the middle of rush hour. Only way we could do it was by taking up the full width of the escalator with our luggage, preventing anyone from overtaking. You could practically hear the blood pressure building up behind us. Brilliant fun!
 

D1009

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You have to consider its age. The majority of the Tube network was built before disabled access was even a consideration. It would require substantial rebuilding at a lot of stations, many deep below ground and quite a few of which are listed. Making the Tube fully accessible is more or less impossible.

You could argue that Merseyrail and the lines which became the Tyne and Wear Metro dated back to the same period, but they've done a lot better than London in this regard.
 

W-on-Sea

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One way to avoid steps changing to the underground at Liv St is to take advantage of the cross-platform interchange between National Rail and the Central Line at Stratford and (if necessary) between the Central and District/H&C lines at Mile End. There are a fair number of useful cross-platform interchanges around the network: it's a pity they are not better advertised
 

Bungle73

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You could argue that Merseyrail and the lines which became the Tyne and Wear Metro dated back to the same period, but they've done a lot better than London in this regard.

They're not even close to comparable. Which of those has stations with platforms 192 feet below ground level? Exactly.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also 72 LU stations have Listed status. That severely limits the work that can be done on them.
 

34D

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Do I understand correctly that your journey is somewhere in Essex (on the GEML) to Gatwick, and your ticket is ± any permitted?

Surely the best step-free route is simply Stratford regional, jubilEe to London Bridge, up the ramps to platform 5, thence FCC?

Failing that, I believe there is a ramp at liverpool st from the mainline concourse to the LU one, and from the LU barriers there is step free access to the outer rail platform (only). Take the outer rail to Blackfriars, where there is step-free access from both subsurface platforms to the FCC station.
 

Barclay

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They're not even close to comparable. Which of those has stations with platforms 192 feet below ground level? Exactly.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Also 72 LU stations have Listed status. That severely limits the work that can be done on them.

Listing doesn't severely restrict the scope of work, just means care is necessary to ensure any alterations are sympathetic to a listed station's character and appearance. A lift would certainly not be out of the question.

Ironically many deep level tube stations were originally accessed by lift, which were replaced by escalators at a later date. Many lift shafts must still be there, even if the building at the top is in private ownership and worth a fortune!
 

jopsuk

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but some of the stations that ARE still lift-access only are not "accesible"- Covent Garden is a prime offender, there's steps between the bottom of the lifts and the platforms.
 
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