Tube link closure looms
Tuesday July 20, 2010
One of the busiest tube links in the borough is shutting down for more than three weeks, disrupting commuters and hitting businesses.
The Hammersmith & City and Circle lines will close completely between Hammersmith and Edgware Road from Saturday, July 24, to Sunday, August 15.
The main reason is to carry out major work at Paddington station linked to the new Crossrail route - but London Underground has seized the chance to do maintenance and improvement work at all the stops on the line.
Platforms are being extended so they can cope with the longer, newlook seven-carriage air-conditioned tube trains due to be introduced in 2012.
It means that for just over three weeks there will be no service at Hammersmith, Goldhawk Road, Shepherds Bush Market, Wood Lane, Latimer Road, Ladbroke Road, Westbourne Park, Royal Oak, Paddington or Edgware Road.
The District and Piccadilly lines will still serve Hammersmith, from the station in the Broadway Centre, 200 yards away.
Replacement buses will chug along the tube route, linking all the stations by road, but journey times will rocket, especially during the morning and evening rush hours. Existing tickets are valid on buses.
A Transport for London spokeswoman told h&f news: "We are putting out customer information advising people of the closure and there will be rail replacement buses serving all the closed stations.
"It coincides with school holidays, so it will be less busy anyway."
She said that news of the closure was being circulated via the TfL website, station posters, platform announcements, newspaper adverts and leaflets.
Businesses which rely on passenger trade will be badly hit by the closure, but could benefit long-term as cool air-conditioned bendy trains make travel less sweaty and daunting in hot weather.
Nigel Holness, London Underground service director, said: "We apologise for any inconvenience and advise passengers to check for alternative routes at www.tfl.gov.uk (opens new window)."
The new generation tube trains which will start running in a year and a half allow people to walk from carriage to carriage.
They will be the first air-conditioned trains in use on the tube, and also feature improved CCTV, alarms and on-board customer information.
The air-con is thermostatcontrolled, so it won't get unbearably cold - a criticism of some new-style overground train carriages - and if anything (or anyone) gets stuck in the doors, they will be able to open and close a fraction by themselves a total of three times, giving passengers time to wriggle in or out.
