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Photo of the Day: Caption Required #28
The uncircling of the Circle line will go ahead on December 13th, according to posters and leaflets being distributed on the network, and TfL's own website
The plan, you'll recall, is to have trains start at Hammersmith, nip up through to Edgware Road, then perform a complete loop of the existing Circle line track before terminating at Edgware Road, then unwinding back through the line and ending at Hammersmith. TfL say this will mean increased service between Hammersmith and Royal Oak, and a better service overall for the Circle line, allowing easier recovery of defective trains and no more nerve-shredding 20 minute waits for the next service. Another benefit is that trains from particular destinations will now stop at the same platform at Edgware Road, meaning an end to the current guessing game of trying to work out where to wait.
On the down side, Circle line trains travelling from the main loop up toward Edgware Road will now terminate there: anybody hoping to get from, for example, High Street Kensington to Farringdon will be forced to change. There are also concerns about the ability of Edgware Road to handle its increased responsibility. Earlier in the year Diamond Geezer went along for a trial run of the new system, and reported that staff described it as a "nightmare"; anyone familiar with Edgware Road will know that it's not really built to handle mass inter-platform movement, and the new arrangements will dramatically increase the number of passengers dwelling there.
The new line, as shown in full in this PDF, has lost its former vaguely bottle-shaped layout (appropriate for those pub crawls) and now looks more like a... hmm. A teacup. Or maybe a petrol pump. Definitely not a Circle, though (not that it ever really was of course). The most inaccurately named line on the Tube network surely deserves a better title.
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The Cochlear line?
The Voluted line?
If it gets really slow...The Snail!
I still think it should be called the Yo-yo line
Is that a Pynchon reference? If so, I likey.
Teapot? Petrol pump? To me it looks like one of those deep-sea angler fish that dangles a light in front of itself to attract prey. Scary thought..
That wins a prize for the most imaginative suggestion yet. Maybe we can simplify it and call it the Fishing line?
Looks like a fucktrumpet to me.
Call it the intravenous line
Has anybody else seen the other cock up with this plan:
Any regular commuter from Farringdon direction to Paddington will have to change trains at Edgware Road or end up at the H&C line station at Paddington.
The H&C will be become the primary station for commuters arriving from the east (who aren't brave enough to risk changing trains at Edgware Road and missing their evening train home!)
Anybody who has tried to get up the stairs from the H&C at Paddington in rush hour will know its a nightmare, factor in the added passengers (and more regular trains?) and it will be impossible. On the plus side I suppose it will be more tourist free than the Circle line station...
Good point that, Lee. Those Hammersmith & City platforms are due a spring-clean as part of Crossrail, but that won't be for a few years yet.
There's also going to be a lot of confusion for people used to getting the Circle line anticlockwise to Paddington and suddenly finding themselves on the H&C platform; maybe a name change for that part of Paddington, a la the recent change to Shepherds Bush Market, should be considered?
Paddington platforms 15/16 are over crowded and the single stairs a nightmare at present, often the TfL person at the top stops those coming down to prevent accidents, meaning of course that the doubling of services between Paddington and Hammersmith that this new combined Cirle and H&C will offer will be lost due to the one way traffic on the stairs.
But all is not lost, this part of Paddington station is due for an uplift to accomodate Crossrail, the work starts in 2014....
Also once this new service is up and running, just where at Edgware Road will the District line trains terminate?
Now me being the sort of look between the lines (so to speak), see this as the start of even more changes on the tube. Like..
Why have multiple services offered by the H&C/District and Met from Aldgate out east? - combine the circle/H&C totally, change to district at Tower Hill for all points east.
Run the District line from Wimbledon/etc along the south of the circle line, not up to Edgware Road,
Now where are the other multiple routes that could be cut?
Hmm, change of name for platforms 15/16 - how about its original name - Bishops Road?