Free event takes place in London on Friday September 23rd, at the Building Store in London showing plans for Crossrail. The new Elizabeth Line will open not next year but the end of the year after, December 2018. But here's a chance to see preview, and possibly influence the decisions. The line is set to link up London and transform stations from Haringey over in the east to Hillingdon in the West on the Heathrow side of London.
Major historic stations in central London will also be enjoying a re-fit. Streets now shrouded in scaffolding will emerge in their new glory, sparkling new and clean.
I am happy about the development, and hopeful that the new stations will provide state of the art artworks, entertainment, traditional history and modern design, and safety measures.
New pictures out of Crossrail plans. They are having a meeting in London to display the plans. Meanwhile, a few photos are online.
I looked at the escalators and felt nervous. We have had escalator accidents on London underground, in undergrounds and shopping malls in Singapore and China.
What are the causes? Children, drunks, daredevils, suicides, accidents. People caught in steps, falling, leaning, jumping, riding over rails, sliding down the handrails and edges. Teens and students sit on barriers chatting and eating ice cream or taking photos with legs having over concourses above stairwells and atriums.
Exits
I am also concerned about quick exit in the case of emergency, and signs to exits.
Singapore Safety Measures
Singapore has constant videos in four languages with subtitles on avoiding troubles. I watched videos about gaps, leaning on doors, getting bags caught caught in train doors.
Signs everywhere tell you how to alert staff, how to escape. (I did see emergency escape pictures on trains in Wales.
Singapore also has signs showing where to find alternative transport in an emergency.
Also signs to lifts for those with baby buggies, sticks, wheelchairs, suitcases on wheels.
Advantages Of New Stations and Routes
What is planned for Crossrail? You can visit their Facebook page.
In addition to the advantages for commuters, after the lull during building works shopkeepers will have more customers. People buying and selling property can expect that the new stations and train services will make property more saleable, quick sales, less stress, properties only empty briefly between sales and rentals, and prices for home owners and investors might rise.
In Singapore the development of the new train lines has been a delight. Good signs tell people to give up seats to the pregnant, and elderly.
The art on Hong Kong stations is wonderful.
I look for modern stations, shops and eating places on the move, free clean toilets. See my previous posts on stations in Hong Kong and Singapore and London.
Best station sights and sites?
London
Paddington
- see statues of Brunel;
and loving couple, not kissing goodbye but hello - the statue is called The Meeting;
Baker Street
- Murals of Sherlock Holmes inside Baker Street station and a statue of Sherlock Holmes outside.
Hong Kong:
The apple on the concourse at a station.
Videos on the airport express - like riding in a plane. All you need to add is a running commentary on the sights through the windows.
Singapore Stations (MRT)
Tanjong Pagar
- Modelled after Finland's Helsinki Central Railway station. Four statues outside. Inside, arched ceiling and six tall oblong coloured panels showing ships and houses and landscapes and the four characters and industries - like a cathedral but modern.
Little India
- Drawings of elephants on corridor walls.
Botanical Gardens
- Panels around entrance about the trees and plants in Singapore.
see www.remembersingapore.org (Tanjong Pagar station)
http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/news-and-information-about-crossrail-events
See my posts on London stations, Welsh stations, stations in Hong Kong, and stations in Singapore.
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.
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