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Don't use Victoria for a year: Tube warns commuters to stay away in evening rush-hour
Dick Murray28 Jan 2011
Millions of commuters were today told to stay away from Victoria Tube station at evening rush-hour for an entire year.
Underground bosses issued the unprecedented warning because overcrowding is set to worsen during a £700 million redevelopment of the station.
Passengers on the Victoria, Circle and District lines will all be affected by the revamp, which involves the closure of escalators.
Victoria, one of the capital's busiest stations, is already often closed by congestion caused by more than 220,000 travellers a day.
Their daily journeys will be even more chaotic from Monday, when London Underground starts work on each of the three long escalators there. The rush is on to get the work completed in time for the 2012 Olympics. One escalator at a time will be out of action from Monday.
Because more passengers leave the station in the evening than enter, the remaining two escalators will only carry people up from the platforms to the concourse. This means very restricted access into the station.
Victoria line passengers will have to enter via the District and Circle ticket gates and then go through a crowded, complex series of stairs, passages and smaller escalators - a process that could take more than 15 minutes.
Ticket offices will also be shut from 4pm to 8pm, meaning tickets will have to be purchased before entering the station. The changes will also mean far worse crowding getting to and from the Circle and District lines.
Howard Collins, LU's chief operating officer, said: "The station is one of our busiest, with 80 million passengers a year expected to reach nearly 100 million a year by 2016.
"It is crucial we do this escalator work as part of modernising and enlarging the station." He told customers to use other routes and avoid entering Victoria Tube station at evening peak times. Victoria line users are advised to walk or get the bus to Green Park or Pimlico stations. District and Circle line users should travel instead from St James's Park or Sloane Square.
National Rail users into mainline Victoria station and heading on to the Tube are advised to use London Bridge, Elephant and Castle, Cannon Street or Vauxhall stations instead.
Commuter Margarita Thvorostova, 32, a lawyer from Essex, said: "This will cause a lot of inconvenience. Victoria is a massive station. In the long run, I am sure it's a good thing but on a daily basis it's a nightmare for commuters.
"I have no easy alternative and don't want to queue in the rain for buses."
Naomi Spurr, 28, a project manager from East Croydon, said: "I travel through Victoria every day both ways.
"Now I'll have to get out of bed 20 minutes earlier. This constant battle to get around on the Underground is becoming boring."
Jeffrey Dalman, 21, a student at Royal Holloway, said: "Sometimes it feels like I'm in the third world in London."
Reader views (33)
700 MILLION, of which 250 million is for consultant fees for Boris Eton buddies.
- dave, london, 31/01/2011 08:04
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I see Melvyn Windbag is at it again, mouthing off about things he patently knows absolutely nothing about, and probably doesn't have much to do with over in the oasis of joy that is Canvey Island. But hey Melvyn, why let a mere matter of the truth get in the way of your party political broadcast, eh!
- MD, London, UK, 30/01/2011 23:11
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Motorbike any day...its the only way to get round in London. Cheap, breeze past traffic jams, seat all the way and guaranteed journey time. Simple.
- Matt, Islington, 30/01/2011 21:03
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TFL have recently converted to block closures so the question as to "how much sooner the work on the escalators at Victoria could be done if the Victoria Line was closed 24/7 needs to be asked?".
Of course to do the above Boris would have to overcome his problem with Artic buses as they would make the perfect replacement buses with extension of the Artic 73 to Vauxhall Station and a replacement services linking Oxford Circus to Vauxhall via Green Park and Victoria Stations.
Incidently passengers who use the Northern Line at Tottenham Court Road will be the next to be affected by plans to close this line at TCR from April to the end of the year for Crossrail works take place.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 30/01/2011 19:26
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TFL have recently been converted to "block closures" so How much sooner could the work at Victoria Station be coompleted if the Victoria Line was closed 24/7?
Of course to do this Boris would have to overcome his phobia of Artic buses as those he has made spare could be used to provide high capacity tube replacement services by extending the 73 to Vauxhall (and keeping artics till work completed) and a shuttle from Oxford Circus to Vauxhall via Piccadilly Circus and Green Park.
Tube passengers on the Northern Line will be the next affected with plans to close the Northern Line at TCR as part of its Crossrail update from April to the end of the year.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 30/01/2011 19:17
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To Amos Aaron,
In response to:
"Jeffrey Dalman, 21, a student at Royal Holloway, said: "Sometimes it feels like I'm in the third world in London."
Actually I quite agree with young Mr.Dalman 100%. London DOES feel like a third world country. We are made to suffer unprecedented congestion due to uncontrolled immigration into the U.K and London. And aside from this, most of our immigrants these days are "Third-worlders", which is changing the demographic and cultural makeup of the U.K in a rather frightening fashion, and particularly that of London. So the young man was spot on by all accounts. It's you, Amos, who is out of touch with reality. You must walk around with your eyes closed.
- Angelica, Londonistan, U.K, 30/01/2011 18:03
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Get some of the Olympic lot to give a hand , keep them in trim ,this project will take a few years,another gigantic waste of cash , never stops does it !!
- Davey-buoy, Chertsey, 30/01/2011 17:14
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Errr.... £700m to refurb a train station?
That's ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!
No wonder the country's gone bust
- rex lombard, london, uk, 29/01/2011 08:53
The £700 million is to totally re-build Victoria Underground station and includes a new seperate entrance to the Victoria Line under Bressenden Place and full step free access to all platforms and enlargement and modernisaton of the whole station.
The real reason why its costing so much is because of the penny pinching of the Tory government that authoriesed the Victoria Line in the early 60's when planned 2nd entrances were cancelled and middle escalators were replaced by long fixed staircases and of course no-body in this country had heard of step free access then. Even though some stations when originally built a century ago had a step free access via large lifts!!! - (wonder if any of these old shafts could be re-used for modern lifts?).
As for Victoria Boris has as usual messed this scheme up by giving priority to the brand new part when the daily choas would be better dealt with by demolishing Terminus Place and installing termporary extra entrances.
On Terminus place it was reported that Boris demanded payment towards Crossrail from the developer who said they could see no benefit to them of crossrail, What Boris should have done was to get the developer to part fund Victoria Station in a similar way to how Canary Whalf has done with the development integrated to save costs.
- Melvyn Windebank, Canvey Island, Essex, 30/01/2011 16:02
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in response to....
"Jeffrey Dalman, 21, a student at Royal Holloway, said: "Sometimes it feels like I'm in the third world in London.""
Ignoramus... you having to wake up 30mins earlier is trivial. Comparing your inconvenience to a third world is insensitive, stupid, silly, misjudged and highly offensive please think hard before you talk to a journalist, and to the journalist please think twice before you enter juvenile comments in your articles.
- Amos Aaron, Wembley, London, 30/01/2011 00:49
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Errr.... £700m to refurb a train station?
That's ONE BILLION DOLLARS!!
No wonder the country's gone bust
- rex lombard, london, uk, 29/01/2011 08:53
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Long ago I was a student living in digs in London
and wonder how many others remember the modernisation work at King's Cross Underground in 1961-2.
We walked round a labyrinth which used to change subtly from week to week. But one fixture seemed to be a very tall policeman, his helmet making him about 7ft 6ins, who used to stand at the top of two down escalators. The crowd had to part around him to queue on to the escalators, whilst he gently pushed to left or right anyone who got shoved up against him.
- Mike, Cardiff UK, 28/01/2011 18:10
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Commuters - don't complain, walk. It's good for you and will make you feel better.
Victoria to Pimlico tube station is just over half a mile so walking it should take ten minutes.
- Tim J, London, 28/01/2011 17:51
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Paul and John - when I worked Paddington back at the end of the 90s it was undergoing a refurb, LUL were instructed by HMRI (now ORR) to make certain passageways “exit only” and put up barriers, from your description it sounds as if the same thing happened at Bank.
Even though we had no choice in the matter I had plenty of arguments with passengers who couldn’t understand why they could go the way they wanted.
The problem with escalator replacement is that you have to remove the old one and bring in the new one, something that cannot be done while there are passengers around.
They only have the “engineering hours” between station closing and station opening to haul large lumps of metal in and out of the work site. Fitting can be done in “traffic hours” but that still leaves very little time to do the fetching and carrying.
Jay - any strategies have to be approved by politicians who are only guaranteed to be in power for a short time and the majority are only interested in schemes that will see fruition while they will still be in office.
- ASLEF shrugged, Leyton, UK, 28/01/2011 16:07
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There are huge numbers of buses that stop outside Victoria station, which anyone with a travelcard can use for free. There are at least 3 other tube stations within a 10-minute walk. Many rail commuters could route themselves via Waterloo or London Bridge instead.
The escalator has to be rebuilt in situ. They can't do heavy engineering while there are passengers using the other escalator next to the work, so it has to be done in short overnight shifts. There's no spare escalator. Blame short-sighted penny-pinching when the Victoria line was built, and now we are stuck with the consequences.
- Nigel, London, 28/01/2011 15:32
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I used to walk every morning from Putney to Park Lane where I worked. No problem and got the bus back after finishing my shift.
- Charly, Iondon,
That is some walk, Charly,about five miles or so?
I guess you have no fat belly and bum....LOL.
- mickinlondon., london, 28/01/2011 15:17
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@John
Too right! To get to the DLR you have to go along the Northern line platforms and down the stairs and rather than let you straight onto the platform via the exit next to the stairs you're forced to double back and walk along the walkway between platforms (which has been halved by a barrier) to the other end. Useless flow control. Lost count the number of times I've missed a train I can see in the platform because we're made to walk to the other end to get to it.
The escalators down to the DLR were replaced a couple of years ago. No real surprise when you can hear the escalators going up to the Monument exit from the other end of the platform. The loudness of the squeaking says that maintenance and lubrication isn't what it could be.
- Paul, IoD, London, 28/01/2011 15:16
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If they manage to get it done in 12 months, Victoria station passengers will be very, very lucky indeed!
Bank station escalators leading to DLR have effectively been out of action for the last 4 yrs and the disruption extends throughout the station affecting every other line because of the ridiculous barriers they have put up and the convoluted route you are forced to follow to get from one line to the next.
They really must have neanderthals working on the escalators and managing this work!
- John, London, 28/01/2011 14:51
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TS, London & Paul, IoD London - I totally agree with you regarding Band station!
The place has been a nightmare for well over two years now. For example, after closing Bank to the DLR in late 2009 for a month or so, they then decided to work on one the escalators then, and so cause serious disruption. We then had both of them working for a short spell only for work to start again!
I just hope all this work is done in time for the Olympics next year, else we'll all be told that all stations will have to close!
- Scott, Docklands, London, 28/01/2011 14:35
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They should just come out and say..."Avoid public transport during the rush-hour".
The underground in the morning and evening rush hour is like a battlefield. Having to wait for 3 or 4 trains to go by hoping that you can get on the next one and also having the privilege of paying an extortionate price to be treated worse than cattle on the way to the slaughterhouse.
Disgusting!
- HendonGooner, London, 28/01/2011 14:19
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Kevin,
Why not buy a second hand 50cc scooter to go to work. Cheap to buy (£500 buys a good one) cheap to tax and insure and they virtualy run on fumes.
No more waiting for the train that never arrives and always guaranteed a seat. Judging by what you pay a month it will have paid for itself within 4 months (tax etc included) and after that the rest stays in your pocket.
Just one suggestion for sticking two fingers up at the rail comapnies.
- Daddy, Kensington, 28/01/2011 14:18
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Bank station is getting a new Northern Line platform, I believe.
That will be rather like the Northern Line station has been "widened" at London Bridge, with the old tunnel used as a circulating area for passengers.
- Jay, London, 28/01/2011 14:13
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"If the Underground wasn't there already, it sure wouldn't be built from scratch today !"
Well, we would build mostly through-lines for full-size trains across central London, with few if any railway terminuses. We would use long trains, and have two separate surface buildings a long way apart for each station, one for each end of the platforms. You could call it 'Crossrail' for the first line, or 'Thameslink' for a good earlier attempt.
We could also put much greater resources into orbital rail lines in outer London, to create a proper mesh of fast public transport across London. There would be less travel into the centre, and also contra-flow outwards, to reduce the huge demand for trains for only short periods of the day.
We are where we are, but we could at least try to develop strategies, and not just short-term thinking.
- Jay, London, 28/01/2011 14:10
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- Kevin T, Beckenham, Kent, 28/01/2011 13:13
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Get over the costs of travel. Just because you paid a certain ammount doesnt give you a right to demand to get to that station even when works are taking place.
They have given you pre warning of the works so you can work around it.
Least you could cancel your gym membership for the year and use this extra walk as your work out.
When changing from C2C to circle line I dont use tower hill which is nearer. I just walk to aldgate or liverpool street
Underground stops are not that far apart!
- Anon, London, 28/01/2011 14:09
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If it's anything like Bank's escalator refurbishment it will be painful. They seem to actively make it more difficult to make your way around the station by placing barriers where they're not needed and blocking previously open exits. Anyone trying to get to the DLR will tell you what it's like in the evenings.
- Paul, IoD, London, 28/01/2011 14:06
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how about Bank station?..........
- TS, London, 28/01/2011 13:54
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I used to walk every morning from Putney to Park Lane where I worked. No problem and got the bus back after finishing my shift.
- Charly, Iondon, 28/01/2011 13:45
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Kev, just be thankful that previous generations had the energy and foresight to built the Underground in the first place, and had then had to put up with the disruption whilst it was being built. If the Underground wasn't there already, it sure wouldn't be built from scratch today !
- Paul, Berkhamsted, 28/01/2011 13:36
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I use Victoria railway station every day, and often see that the tube entrance is closed, with passengers only being allowed to escape, rather than enter. I'm glad that my commute does not involve using the underground station.
- Arfur Towcrate, Staffycher, 28/01/2011 13:20
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Nice attitude, "Anon". Is that what I pay over £180 a month for? So I can get up extra early and get off trains 1 stop early just to get into work on time and feel I'm being treated like a human being?
It's time to make the train companies' franchises depend far more strictly on timekeeping and customer satisfaction.
- Kevin T, Beckenham, Kent, 28/01/2011 13:13
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"Naomi Spurr, 28, a project manager from East Croydon, said: "I travel through Victoria every day both ways. Now I'll have to get out of bed 20 minutes earlier"
Well Naomi, as a PM, if you can't do it, no-one can. You go girl.
- Johnny Drama, Five Towns, 28/01/2011 12:55
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"Now I'll have to get out of bed 20 minutes earlier. This constant battle to get around on the Underground is becoming boring."
Maybe leave ample time to get to work rather than being one of those who looks that a train will arrive at 08:58 and thinks "that one will do"
"I have no easy alternative and don't want to queue in the rain for buses."
how about get off just one stop earlier and walk?
victoria isnt that far from surrounding stations?
- Anon, London, 28/01/2011 12:51
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Quote: Millions of commuters were today told to stay away from Victoria Underground station at evening rush-hour for an entire year.
Good News for travelers; the rush hour is now gone.
- mickinlondon., london, 28/01/2011 12:30
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if you at most of the people jeffrey, you will see that you are
- mick, london, uk, 28/01/2011 12:26
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