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Dangerous overcrowding at Stratford 31st Jan

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ValleyLines142

ValleyLines142

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All of this at Stratford was because of a one-under on the Central Line at Bond Street on Friday, so that's why there was all this chaos. But I expect it's probably like it all of the time anyway!
 
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Chris M

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In the evening peak, when all the railways are operating normally, the eastbound platform 3/5 island is extremely busy but not quite overcrowded. Whenever either the Central line or TfL Rail has a hiccup though...
 
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Class 170101

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I imagine the derailment at Leyton Midland Road isn't helping matters either with passengers diverting at Gospel Oak via NLL to reach Stratford and thence to Forest Gate or Manor Park. Freight is probably also being diverted via Stratford out of course and at all times of the day.
 
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TrainGeekUK

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Stratford is a complete nightmare when everything goes up the spout. I've been there where they've tipped out central line trains at rush hour in the platforms because of various issues further into town.

I agree the station is probably no longer fit for purpose given the current design and ideally needs a complete re vamp. More especially with the defunct use of the Eurostar services at International.
Also, having a West Ham play there probably wasn't a consideration when the station was expanded ( I stand to be corrected if inaccurate).
 
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Clip

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lordbusiness said:
Basically the station cannot handle the volume of passengers coming in and out of the area and it's likely to get worse. Once again, the area round the station has been developed with housing, offices, Westfield, WHFC etc without any thought being given to the station being able to cope. It doesn't help that the station was redone on the cheap for the Olympics, the stairs to the platforms for example are lethal when its wet. You're absolutely right that one day there will be a serious incident there.
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Its now been 8 years since the Olympics. How long without a 'serious incident' would you class as your assumption being wrong?

I mean if things were as bad as you claim then there wouldve been one by now wouldnt there? Im only speculating because i cant read your mind and im not saying the station is great but you seem to be wishing things bad even before something is bad
 
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sprunt

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TrainGeekUK said:
Also, having a West Ham play there probably wasn't a consideration when the station was expanded ( I stand to be corrected if inaccurate).
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Given that the expansion was targeted at the Olympics, wouldn't it have been designed to cope with event crowds greater than would be attracted by a West Ham match (as there were at least three games venues other than the stadium that I can think of) being served by the station? I think there was always an assumption that one team or another (Tottenham was mentioned, even though that would have been daft and West Ham were the obvious candidate) would end up playing at the stadium after the games.
 
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EssexGonzo

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sprunt said:
Given that the expansion was targeted at the Olympics, wouldn't it have been designed to cope with event crowds greater than would be attracted by a West Ham match (as there were at least three games venues other than the stadium that I can think of) being served by the station? I think there was always an assumption that one team or another (Tottenham was mentioned, even though that would have been daft and West Ham were the obvious candidate) would end up playing at the stadium after the games.
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I do recall that Leyton Orient were the party with whom West Ham argued with about use of the stadium. If the O's had won that argument, at least the weekend throughput of fans might have only been 10% of what they are now........:lol::rolleyes:
 
Mojo

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Taunton said:
Alas that doesn't happen, apart maybe from planned works on quiet Sundays. In the case a few months ago it was a police incident on the Chiltern tracks at West Hampstead, and it was determined to close the Met/Jubilee alongside as well. Although the principal depot on the Jubilee is at the east end, all the intermediate turning points face west, and you ended up with the whole line being closed. Then the DLR at Bank got overwhelmed with diverted passengers from Canary Wharf, so that was closed as well. I'm sure Stratford then got pressed as well.
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No you don't. Services are regularly reversed at Finchley Rd, Waterloo and London Bridge during disruption. Similarly, an incident at Marble Arch allows the Central line to run a service as far as Liverpool St utilising crossovers at Liverpool Street, with an additional one at Bethnal Green.

During last Friday's incident services _were_ running to Liverpool St. Obviously utilising such crossovers takes time because of the necessity to detrain, drive into the tunnel, change ends, and then go back into the platform, so you won't get even half of the usual service, but they are used during periods of disruption.
 
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StephenHunter

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Chris M said:
In the evening peak, when all the railways are operating normally, the eastbound platform 3/5 island is extremely busy but not quite overcrowded. Whenever either the Central line or TfL Rail has a hiccup though...
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Don't you mean 6/8? 3/5 is the westbound platform.
 
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Alex McKenna

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The Eastbound Central line platform could be made much safer by removing the staff room at the top of the stairs, which would at least give passengers somewhere to move to, other than the tracks! When people are piling out of trains on both sides, it really is scary.
 
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Alex McKenna

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When we all had to pile out of the Central Line at Liverpool Street after the accident, there was little to no information about how we could get home. This was pretty much "last train home" time, so in panic I chose to run to the Overground platforms and squeezed onto a train to Stratford. We were given one piece of information though, that trains were running from Leytonstone... Not being familiar with local buses, I did find one that got to Leytonstone (eventually) which had so many people squashed in I was up against the front window next to the driver. At Leytonstone, after another sprint, we were met by a bored-looking young man who seemed to have no idea about anything, except there were no trains. No information. Which bus to get now? Lots of running around to various bus stops in the area... but I eventually got to South Woodford about 1am, having done lots of cardio...
 
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Alex McKenna said:
When we all had to pile out of the Central Line at Liverpool Street after the accident, there was little to no information about how we could get home. This was pretty much "last train home" time,
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Which “accident” are you referring to? As the opening post relates to overcrowding caused by an incident which is referred to in post #32 and happened just after 16.00.
 
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