Bond Street - No Central Line until 17 June 2014

From today until Tuesday 17th June 2014, the Central Line will not be calling at Bond Street.

Central Line passengers will need to use stations either side (Oxford Circus or Marble Arch). 

Jubilee Line trains will still call at Bond Street, but for entry / exit only. It will not be possible to change lines at Bond Street because Central Line trains are not stopping there.

Well that was a little strange

I am not even sure how I found out (because I wasn't following him on Twitter), but today is Geoff Marshall's fortieth Birthday. Happy Birthday Geoff!

Before today I had never met Geoff and had never spoken to him either. Our only interaction had been a brief exchange of emails some years ago.

Just to give some background, Geoff was for a period the World Record Holder for travelling to every London Underground station in the shortest possible time. He also undertook a road trip to visit a place in each of the forty eight connected US States that had the same name as a London Underground station (and blogged about it). I am sure that you will notice a certain theme here - probably not a million miles from the sort of stuff that I have been known to blog about.

Anyhow, there I was up in Birmingham, about to catch a Chiltern Railways train home when I discovered that Geoff was organising a flashmob at five forty this evening at Forty Lane in Wembley.

I decided to go....

I did the proper thing and picked up an appropriate birthday card at Marylebone Station. I then checked my phone to discover that the Metropolitan Line service to Wembley could best be described as 'erratic'. While on the train, the adjoining Jubilee Line was suspended, followed shortly thereafter by the Metropolitan Line. Fortunately I had successfully wended my way through the tube detritus to reach the appointed place, about twenty minutes early.

Being just about the warmest day of 2012 so far, I needed no excuse to sit outside the local pub, soaking up the late afternoon sun. Meanwhile Geoff was tweeting away, mildly swearing and generally berating the misfortune that he and his friends were having trying to reach Wembley.

We were communicating by tweets, but at the appointed time it was clear that without Geoff & Co the flashmob was to consist of one person. Me.

It didn't happen.

Having had notice that the mob had arrived at Wembley Park shortly after the arranged time, I wandered back down towards the station. I then successfully stalked the party crowd up the road and successfully merged into them as they approached Forty Lane.

All a bit weird really.

Anyhow, I was made to feel most welcome, took a group picture, handed over aforesaid birthday card, and then travelled with most of the group back down to Baker Street, having been asked to sign a tee shirt on the way.

I am not sure why that all happened and, as I say, it was a little strange, but all in all it was rather fun.

Happy Birthday Geoff!


Oh, and check out the professional show reel - Geoff's pretty good at what he does for a living.

What a load of tosh!

The Transport for London Press Office has just put out a press release saying how well TfL coped with last night's snow.

I have copied the text at the foot of this note for posterity.

• Please note that late yesterday evening. the Central and Jubilee lines were totally suspended.
• Thousands of of people struggled to get home from an Olly Murs concert at the O2 Arena last night. Roads in the area were log- jammed and, as I say, there was no Jubilee Line.
• A Chiltern Railways train was stuck behind a Metropolitan Line train for over an hour, I think out in the Chorleywood area. The Metropolitan Line was stated as being suspended North of Wembley Park, late in the evening.
• Annie Mole has captured the status of the London Underground as a whole, as at 11.30 pm yesterday evening. It was not good.

Personally I think that a piece of PR puff should include an acknowledgment of what real people actually experienced, rather than just stressing the the things that didn't break. If you read TfL's version of the truth, one might gain the impression that everything went swimmingly well with transport in London last night. Hmmmm.

---

**********************************

TfL works to keep London moving through snow
05 February 2012

Leon Daniels, Managing Director of Surface Transport, said:

• "We have worked tirelessly from Saturday afternoon and throughout the night, gritting the Capital's main roads every few hours and running de-icing trains along the London Underground network"
• "Around 2,000 tonnes of grit has been spread by TfL and boroughs and all main roads and the vast majority of local roads are open and traffic running smoothly."
• "Bus routes are all operating this morning and there were only a few curtailments on night bus routes overnight."
• "Tube services have started well this morning, but with some issues on the outer reaches of the Central and Jubilee lines. We are woking hard to get these sections running as soon as possible."
• "So London is open for business today, but clearly people should take care on the roads and allow plenty of time for their journeys."

Bad Day All Round

This morning's journey to Canary Wharf was bad due to the Jubilee Line being part suspended and Bank being closed due to overcrowding.

Unfortunately, the day is now getting worse.

Currently I am sat on a Chiltern Railways' train in West London, stuck behind a broken down Wrexham & Shropshire service. This is not good because they are apparently having to send a fitter out, by road.

Have been stuck here half an hour so far.

Still, I suppose it isn't a good idea to run a train with defective brakes.

No doubt more to follow later.

A fresh mode of transport

I regularly have to travel out to Canary Wharf, the large office development that has been built over the last quarter of a century in East London on the Isle of Dogs.

Usually I manage to escape before the evening rush hour. Tonight I didn't.

At about 18:10 I got down to the Jubilee Line platforms to head back over to central London. It was horrendous. So far as I could tell, there was nothing wrong with the train service, the problem was that there were simply so many people trying to get on the trains.

After a few minutes I decided that getting on one of those trains was, on that occasion, not for me. I returned to street level and pondered what to do next.

Then I had a brainwave - it was a nice pleasant Summer evening, so what could be better than a trip on the river? It took me a while to find Canary Wharf Pier, but eventually I found myself a Riverboat and had a very pleasant half hour trip up to Embankment, from where I caught the Bakerloo Line up to Marylebone and then a proper train home.

Much nice, most civilised and just £3.55 with a Travelcard.

Door to door the journey took a bit longer than just catching the Jubilee Line, but I could shave some time off the journey because (a) I now know where the pier is and (b) If I were to make the trip regularly I would plan the start of the journey to fit in with the riverboat timetable.

So a new way home, for use in emergencies. Plus we saw Tower bridge in the Up position, something that I don't recall having seen before.

A close shave

After my quiet commute in to town today, I later had to travel out to Canary Wharf.

I wandered down to the Bakerloo Line, down to Waterloo and then caught the Jubilee Line out to Docklands.

Coming back, I noticed that the electronic boards at the entrance to the station said that there were severe delays to the Jubilee Line. I whipped out my phone and the Live Departure Board confirmed that this was indeed the case.

I then trogged over to the Docklands Light Railway, caught a train to Bank, the Central Line to Oxford Circus and the Bakerloo Line up to Marylebone. I then had to walk half way to Hampstead (well Platform 4 at Marylebone anyway) to catch my Chiltern Railways train home.

I was dripping (ugh).

I've just noticed that the Jubilee Line is now part suspended with severe delays on the DLR.

Could be a fun journey home for many.

If you are reading this on a normal web page, the Live Service Updates should show to the right.

What a waste of time

I regularly have to travel over to Canary Wharf for meetings.

Today's meeting lasted 25 minutes.

I traveled for two hours to get there and it took me two and a half hours to get home.

The Jubilee Line was suspended on the way, which meant that I diverted from Baker Street along the Hammersmith & City Line to Moorgate, then took the Northern Line one stop to Bank and then the DLR out to the East End.

Coming back, I did catch the Jubilee Line, but the gaps in service were such that I missed my train.

I know that dialing in or video conferencing ought to be the name of the game (the meeting room is set up for that), but it isn't, and my boss is rather self centred.

Bottom line - I do as I'm told!

Watch out if you are heading to North West London on the Underground this weekend

If you are in or are heading towards North West London this weekend, the chances are any underground journey will be disrupted.

The Metropolitan, Jubilee, Bakerloo and Piccadilly Lines are amongst those with part suspensions.

Visit the tfl website for more information (this link should always show the current position for planned weekend engineering works).

Q & As

Q: Can I get the Central Line from Baker Street?
A: No. There are many possibilities, but the easiest ways to get to the Central Line from Baker Street are to catch either the Southbound Bakerloo Line to Oxford Circus or the Southbound Jubilee Line to Bond Street.

Q: Is the Central Line running on Sunday 3rd January 2010?
A: According to the tfl website, the Central Line is running a normal service this weekend.

Sourced from an analysis of the Google searches used to find this blog today.

Clarification

The National Rail Live Arrival/ Departure boards at Marylebone state that there are currently no Jubilee or Metropolitan Line services operating from the station, due to engineering week.

I have already mentioned that there is indeed much engineering work going on this weekend on the London Underground. This significantly affects most of North West London.

However, for the avoidance of doubt, the fact that the Jubilee and Metropolitan Lines are not stopping at Marylebone is not because of engineering work. Neither of those two lines ever stop at or go through Marylebone. However they do both normally serve nearby Baker Street.

Call me a pedant if you wish!

The Bakerloo Line is working normally, just be careful where you want to go.

Wemberleey!

For a reason that I haven't really been able to fathom out, Saracens are playing this afternoon's rugby match against Northampton Saints at Wembley Stadium. Somewhere around 35,000 / 40,000 rugby fans are expected on what could be a Bluebird Day (if it had snowed last night, which obviously, it didn't).

It suits me fine as it save a drive to Watford and the dreaded Match Day Parking CPZ around Vicarage Road - Today I can let the train take the strain, and possible have a sherbert or two, something I cannot normally do.

Chiltern Railways have extra trains stopping at Wembley Stadium - great for me, but with engineering works on the Amersham branch, and no Metropolitan Line from Northwood to Wembley Park and the Jubilee Line also out for engineering works, I suspect that London Midland services (serving both Northampton and Watford) at Wembley Central will be a bit busy.

Hopefully the rugby will not play second fiddle and it should be a great afternoon.

It's not too late to go - tickets are £10 on the door, £5 for children. Shades and shorts required.

Along the Central Line

Nowadays, it is something that I don't do very often - that is, travel "Along the Central Line".

There are four reasons for this:

1. I no longer live two hundred yards from Northolt Underground Station. Northolt is on the Central Line in Travelcard Zone 5 - it used to be a simple journey to Tottenham Court Road station, the nearest station to where I usually work.
2. Tottenham Court Road is currently in the early stages of a major rebuilding programme, as part of the building of Crossrail. This means that it is a little more difficult for me to enter and leave the station than was previously the case, so I tend to go elsewhere.
3. I walk a lot more now than I used to. As most of my tube journeys are confined to Zone 1, walking is often a realistic option.
4. One of my frequent journeys is from the West End (London's central shopping district) to Canary Wharf, the upstart business district in the East End. Escalator works at Bank station mean that travel via that station is often impractical, so I tend to go via Waterloo which means that I use the Jubilee Line in preference.

So, Saturday saw me traveling from Central London back out to Northolt.

It seemed that half of the Underground system was out of service this weekend due to engineering works. My journey down from Marylebone caused me to see; the closure of the Southern bit of the Metropolitan Line, the closure of the Jubilee Line and the closure of the Southern bit of the Victoria Line.

It was therefore of some relief that my journey out to Northolt was hassle free, quick, quiet and actually pretty enjoyable.

A couple of weeks ago, I'd heard on the radio one evening of serious road congestion in Northolt due to a serious fire.

Spot the difference:

Although the picture I took on my phone (below) is pretty rubbish, you will probably be able to tell that "serious fire" is probably a bit of an understatement.

The Plough in Northolt is currently closed.It was never my favourite pub, but for 18 years it was what I saw when I looked out of my window. For that reason alone it is sad to see it in it's current state. I suppose thatch and modern city life don't really mix.

Hopefully the brewery will rebuild and reopen the pub. Only time will tell whether or not it is improved.

Lazy writing

One thing that I really dislike is companies and organisations being lazy when disseminating information for general public information.

Sometimes that laziness simply leads to information being wrong while quite often it leads to over-spin.

Overnight, my Bloglines RSS Feed brought me a news release from Saracens, the Rugby Union club at which I am a season ticket holder.

Saracens play at Wembley Stadium, against Northampton Saints, on Saturday 12th September. It should be a good afternoon out.

The news release is all about how to get to Wembley. It is more or less the usual pre-pack of blurb put out by Wembley. Among other things, it extols the virtues of the Metropolitan Line and the Jubilee Line.

The only problem is that both of these lines will be seriously affected by engineering works on 12th September, meaning that they are pretty useless if traveling from Watford, where Saracens usually play.

The engineering works are mentioned in a set of comprehensive asides, but so far down the article that you can only see them if you subscibe to the website! Grrr.

+Posted in a rush from my mobile+

Live blogging on the Underground doesn't work

First of all, you have to follow up disruption news - for a sporadic blogger this is a pain.

Secondly, most of the stuff that matters to people happens, by definition, underground. This means that Live Blogging isn't live at all as only a tiny proportion of the stations with platforms below street level have effective mobile coverage.

Thirdly, the tfl website is far better at it than me.

Lastly, it is really boring to read!

BTW The Jubilee Line wasn't too bad just now. Two minutes and eight minutes till the next Westbound trains from Canary Wharf does indeed count as 'minor' delays at this time of day.

Jubilee Update 18 May 2009

Following the earlier suspension of service between North Greenwich & Stratford, the Jubilee Line is up and running again. Allegedly with 'minor' delays - I wouldn't bet my house on 'Minor'.

Retarded

Every Monday I have to be in Canary Wharf for an eleven o'clock meeting.

This morning my Jubilee Line ground to a halt at Bermondsey at 10.45.

Have just arrived into daylight at Canary Wharf. See time stamp.

Grrr.

Makes me look like a fool.....

A Success Story

For reasons I won't bore you with, I left our offices in Canary Wharf at 21.00 this evening.

I was in High Wycombe before 22.00 and in my front door at 22.18. Now that is a good result.

It was achieved by way of:

• The Jubilee Line running really well,
• A brisk walk from Baker Street to Marylebone,
• Chiltern Railways offering their usual on-time service (NEVER expect their trains to run late!) and
• My car not breaking down (it doesn't*).

You'll gather from these timings that it has been a little difficult finding the time to blog over the last few days.

* Yet (touch wood)

Eeeek!

There I was at lunch time today at Waterloo. I had just got off the Northern Line and was turning the corner to go onto the travelator in the direction of the Jubilee Line.

I don't know whether it was a he or a she. You can't always tell by appearances. Anyhow our paths crossed right on the corner. We made eye contact.

It was certainly a surprise. I jumped and I think they did too. Neither of us said anything - I carried on my way while my friend did too, carefully trying to keep out of the limelight.

The problem is, I can't remember my friend's name. It might have been Mickey or possibly Minnie. I'm really not sure.

The last week

This time last week (Sunday), I had safely returned from Gatwick airport, unpacked, put the washing machine on and was about to go grocery shopping. Unfortunately I fell asleep for hours in the afternoon which wasn't in the Master Plan.

On Monday, despite still being officially on holiday, I started to plough through 17 days of work emails. I also edited down my holiday pictures and uploaded them for printing.

On Tuesday I went to work and stayed happy and smiley all day.

On Wednesday I had an early meeting at Canary Wharf so had to catch a stupid o'clock train to get there on time. My single meeting then turned into several so I only just made my 3 o'clock meeting back in the West End on-time . Stayed happy and smiley all day. Ordered new broadband package.

On Thursday I really didn't want to get up. I did. Slightly less happy and smiley today but still good. People seemed to have realised that my endless weeks away from the office (4 1/2 weeks out of 6) are over and have started to form queues at my desk. Leave early, to work from home for a specific purpose. Get home to find that my broadband order has been cancelled and then spend most of afternoon doing the BT shuffle. Pick up holiday snaps, go shopping, spend a mini-fortune on new home-office chair.

On Friday got to office early. Received text message from BT confirming that my re-order of broadband from yesterday had not been cancelled. Act as query resolution point for most of the day, leave on time, out for curry with friends, home late.

On Saturday woke up at 0935 with sun streaming in through gap in curtains. Go to post office, do shopping, plant two clumps of nerines (very long story), attack buddleia, take ex-buddlea to tip, go to see Gran Torino the latest (and possibly last) Clint Eastwood Film. Good day.

And so the cycle continues...

Public transport: Chiltern Railways, Bakerloo Line, Jubilee Line, Docklands Light Railway, Central Line, Hammersmith and City Line and Metropolitan Line.

So you got a new bag for Christmas...

I can see you got a new bag for Christmas. It looks as though it might have a laptop in it. It may only contain a few manky sandwiches, but I can't tell. Your bag is well attached to your shoulders. Up in the real world it is quite cold, so it may be helping to keep your back warm.

However, the Jubilee Line at Baker Street in the morning rush hour is not the place to be impersonating a camel. Take the bloody thing off your back and let some more people on the train.

Thank you.