Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Tag: London Liverpool Street

  • Gdansk Group Trip – Day 0 (Norwich to Stansted Airport via London Liverpool Street)

    Gdansk Group Trip – Day 0 (Norwich to Stansted Airport via London Liverpool Street)

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    After a successful little sojourn in the Queen of the Iceni we meandered back to Norwich railway station amidst a deluge of torrential rain. There were no issues with late running trains, whatever issue there had been at Romford had been resolved. I do little some adventure when things go wrong, but on this occasion I was just keen to get to Poland without too many issues. It’s more interesting to watch other people have random adventures when things go IRROPS anyway.

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    There’s our train on the right, ready to board half an hour before departure.

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    A suitably decadent meal deal from the Co-op of roast beef monster munch, a prawn sandwich and a Dr Pepper, for only just a little bit more than the Tesco version would have cost. I intended to save all this for when I got to Stansted Airport, but I finished the crisps before we left the railway station and the sandwich by the time we reached Ipswich. All the food and drink met my expectations and I also successfully completed the Gogen puzzle in the Evening Standard. I was going to do the cryptic crossword as well but I didn’t know any of the answers.

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    Our train arrived in at 22:55, just five minutes before the Greggs at Liverpool Street station closed. Fortunately, they were still opening with no early closing going on here. This is the first time that I’ve been here (at this outlet, I’ve obviously been to Greggs before, I’m not a heathen), I was surprised and delighted at the friendly service and how much they had left just before closing which I think goes off to the homeless. All very efficient.

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    And a sausage roll safely acquired.

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    I toasted the King’s Coronation weekend with my sausage roll.

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    I mutter and moan about the Stansted Express train operating the Norwich to London Liverpool Street mainline, not least because it has no tables. This is though its natural home and I thought this would be a good time to eat my sausage roll, I had waited long enough.

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    I can cope with this lack of table provision on the relatively short journey from London Liverpool Street to Stansted.

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    It wasn’t overly busy fortunately.

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    And safely at Stansted Airport railway station just after midnight, with only several hours left before we can go through security. This isn’t the ideal situation, but who needs the luxury of hotels at Stansted when you can meander around the terminal and coach station for a few hours to amuse yourselves? The main thing is that we had arrived safely, ready for the flight in the morning and the delights of Gdansk.

  • London – City of London – London Liverpool Street Proposed Upgrade

    London – City of London – London Liverpool Street Proposed Upgrade

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    There seems to have been some opposition to the proposed upgrade of London Liverpool Street railway station, but for what it’s worth (which I accept isn’t a great deal), I’m in favour of the whole thing. There’s a little exhibition area at the railway station, along with some external posters explaining the reasoning for the project, although I fear that it’ll all be in vain as there appears to be organised opposition against it, not least from the Victorian Society.

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    The concourse design dates primarily to the 1980s upgrade which was modern and vibrant when it was completed, but the whole railway station is now struggling with passenger numbers. The toilets aren’t large enough, there’s insufficient seating, there are no power points for passengers and the disability access is terrible (as I’ve experienced with trying to manoeuvre a wheelchair around the concourse). It’s over-crowded, cluttered and I think needs modernising and extending.

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    This all looks quite creative to me, the historical elements that I want preserving do remain in place. Over-shadowed perhaps, but they’re kept.

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    I accept that it’s not necessarily the most inspiring of building designs and it will obscure some exterior views of the railway station, but functionality seems to be more important to me. And since the floors placed on top of the building will be profitable for the developers, that means no cost to the rail passenger or taxpayer.

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    I’m less convinced about the need for this, but I suppose it’s a useful amenity.

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    We’ll just have to see what the planners and ultimately Sadiq Khan think about the whole arrangement, but as I’ve mentioned, I think it’s overall a positive addition to the railway station. The Victorians hacked about with their stations all the time, expanding and improving them. Although perhaps the developers could also fund the restoration of Brandon railway station which is currently falling down since Greater Anglia have ignored it (or tried to demolish it). Maybe they could put a swimming pool, or lido, on top of that as well.

    For anyone interested, the plans are at https://www.upgradelss.com/.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Norwich station now that travel has been opened up again, the 11:00 service to London. The railway station wasn’t particularly busy, but there were plenty of staff available. This was a £10 fare booked directly with Greater Anglia, but I only seemed to be able to get a ticket downloaded to my phone rather than a paper ticket.

    The train was ready and waiting on the platform, and, it still looks beautiful.

    And then I realised this is one of Greater Anglia’s Stansted Express trains, dumped onto the mainline between Norwich and London. I don’t like these trains as there are no tables, so people have to prop laptops and food on their laps and it just leads to drink spillages and people putting their feet on the seats. Unbelievably, or at least to me, Greater Anglia say the reason is “it makes the carriages feel very open and spacious”. I’m really not convinced that customers prefer it like this, but, even if Stansted customers hate tables then there’s always the risk that the trains get used elsewhere. Like on this journey.

    Anyway, moan over, I expect this was another one of Jamie Burles’s little ideas.

    The train remained pretty quiet until near London. As it’s the train from Stansted, there’s no buffet car, but there was a trolley service for customers. For the first time in months, the conductors are checking tickets again, which I think surprised a few customers. One didn’t have their railcard, but after much debate, the conductor decided that this wasn’t a problem. I’m not sure why he made it a problem in the first place, but I quite enjoy drama like that.

    And safely into London. The train broke down for 13 minutes at Diss, but they were able to make up much of that time, which annoyed me again as I was hoping for a delay repay claim, although it was handy to arrive nearly on time. Anyway, the next debacle then starts as Greater Anglia’s lovely new ticketing system doesn’t work, so there’s a queue of customers who have to have their tickets on phones checked manually by gate staff. Lesson learned for me, I’ll get a paper ticket next time…..

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    So, back to London Liverpool Street today, and this is my train having safely arrived into the capital.

    This wasn’t ideal when I arrived at Norwich railway station at 11:05, my train had been cancelled. I say not ideal, I wasn’t that displeased, as that means a delay repay gets triggered.

    I was travelling First today, which wasn’t some decision to switch to a more decadent lifestyle, but just because the price was pretty much the same as standard. I don’t think I’ve been in First on the new trains, they look all smart and tidy.

    The individual seats and I like these raised ones, there’s a ledge for my bag and also easily accessible power points. Despite the service having to cater for the 11:30 passengers as well as the 12:00 passengers from Norwich, it wasn’t overly busy.

    First class passengers get free snacks and drinks, so I merrily meandered to the cafe bar to collect my refreshments for the journey. There was a very friendly staff member at the cafe bar, although he told me something which I’ve suspected, which is that the InterCity 125s now removed from the route were more stable than the current new trains. He mentioned this as he was being flung about, as was I, and I can’t imagine how difficult it is to try and work like that. I had wondered if the trains were going faster and that was the problem, but he thought not. So, all that money and Greater Anglia have bought more rickety trains than the ones they already had.

    These new trains don’t really seem to be perfect in numerous ways, it was a train fault that caused the cancellation of my 11:30 journey. The automatic announcements also went wrong as it kept repeating that we were stopping at stations that we clearly weren’t (stations such as Goodmayes and Romford are not stops which this service ever calls at to my knowledge), which led to the driver (or guard, whoever does the announcements) having to clarify the situation. The train was though clean and all was comfortable.

    The fare for this journey was £18, more than the usual £10 that I pay. The train delay means that I get 50% back, so the journey cost me £9, which is entirely agreeable to me. So, all rather lovely.

  • London – City of London – London Liverpool Street – Fur das Kind

    London – City of London – London Liverpool Street – Fur das Kind

    I’ve wanted to take a photo of this numerous times before, but there have always been people sitting either on the sculpture or perched on the seat like thing next to it. Since London is suffering from a lack of visitors and workers at the moment, the railway station is quiet and there were few people around at all.

    The sculpture is designed by Flor Kent and not by Frank Meisler as I had thought, although he designed the sculpture on the main concourse and the one in Gdansk. They commemorate the same thing though, the Kindertransport which saved thousands of Jewish children from death. Unfortunately, the transports were brought to a halt by the start of the Second World War, but the lives of 10,000 children were saved.

    Originally this sculpture was placed on the main outside concourse of the railway station, but just the girl, which is a life size cast of one of the survivor’s grand-children. Along with the girl was a large perspex case of actual items that had been brought over by the children. Today, the figure of a child has been added and the case is no more, and they have been placed in the railway station as a reminder that this is where many children came on their rescue mission. I’m not sure that it’s best placed by the entrance to the underground station as it’s easily missed because of the people who often stand in front of it.

    There are other similar sculptures across Europe which note other parts of the journey that children went on. It’s a very emotive piece and a reminder of what went on here.

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich (with Bus Replacement)

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich (with Bus Replacement)

    And, here we are again, at London Liverpool Street with a rail service back to Norwich. Or, in this case, a service to Ipswich and a bus took me the rest of the way. I was placed to note that the toilets are back open at London Liverpool Street, all newly remodelled and still free of charge.

    The trains are announced much earlier than they used to be, half an hour before the departure time in this case. I was one of the first couple of people to board, as is evident in the above photo.

    The carriages were from the Stansted Express service, the 745/1 FLIRT cars, which I think are the same (with one caveat below) as the standard services from Norwich to London Liverpool Street. But, I don’t know my trains well enough to say (write) that with any certainty.

    One difference is evident inside, there are no tables at any of the seats and there is some extra space for cases. I don’t know why there are no tables, it’s a bloody nuisance, and I imagine it’s another one of Jamie Burles’s good ideas. There are though power sockets and everything worked as it should, with the train being clean and well presented.

    Another shot of the carriages. The service ran to schedule and the conductor seemed friendly enough in his announcements, although they kept breaking up. He said when we were near to Ipswich that the bus replacement service would depart from Platform 1, which entirely confused me. He changed this when we pulling into Ipswich to say that the bus service was now operating from outside the front of the station and this did make more sense. He’d probably had a long day. There were only two of us in the end carriage and although the other carriages were a little busier, it was still a relatively quiet service.

    I’ve moaned, indeed moaned quite a lot sometimes, about how bus replacement services can be really badly managed. Although at least there were staff around, unlike the little incident that Nathan and I had with Deutsche Bahn last year. This was really rather good, there were staff making clear announcements that customers going to Stowmarket and Diss needed to get a certain bus, with those going to Norwich needing another. All very clear. The service was operated by Wrights Coaches, who I haven’t heard of, and everything seemed professional with them.

    I think there’s a vague plan to try and get buses fitted with seatbelts when they’re used on bus replacement services, but there’s no such requirement at the moment. Ideally, perhaps, there would be. But, the bus was clean and not over-filled, it was all comfortable enough.

    And back safely into Norwich, four minutes ahead of schedule. The fare was the usual £10 (I say usual, it isn’t always that price, but it’s the price that I’m prepared to pay, so it’s become my usual) which I think is pretty decent value for money. The bus section of the journey is always a faff, but it was handled as well as it could have been, and full marks to Greater Anglia. Although they need tables on their trains, as I like them.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    This is the third time that I’ve taken the Greater Anglia service from Norwich to London Liverpool Street over the last month, another £10 bargain fare. Although the first train service into London for that price left at 13:00, arriving under two hours later.

    As with my previous journeys, the train was quiet in Norwich. It was also clean and well presented, with all of the power points working well.

    The train became busier towards London, although it was nowhere near packed. There were frequent announcements that made warning that customers might be fined £100 if they didn’t wear a face mask, but I’m not exactly sure who was meant to be doing this enforcement. I haven’t seen any presence from the British Transport Police on any of my recent journeys, so I suspect it’s just said more out of hope than anything else. There was high compliance with the rule though, with customers not moving around the train much.

    The train arrived into London Liverpool Street on time and, unfortunately (or probably fortunately really), it was all rather uneventful. I still think that this new train looks beautiful and graceful, just a slight shame that there are so few people on the bloody thing.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    So back off to London, on another £10 fare from Norwich with Greater Anglia and there’s a high availability of this price when travelling off-peak. Unlike my trip last week, the barrier staff are back at Norwich railway station, although most of the food outlets on the concourse are still closed.

    The outbound 10.30 train was the inbound 10.27 train, which meant that there was no time to properly clean it down, although a cleaner came through to collect rubbish. But, the carriages all looked clean and well maintained, but there’s not exactly a huge passenger load on them at the moment.

    The train pulling up onto platform 2 at Norwich railway station. The journey was uneventful as everything worked well and the train arrived at Colchester railway station a few minutes early. It wasn’t a particularly busy service, a handful of customers in each carriage and every customer I noticed was wearing a mask.

    The guards aren’t walking up and down the train due to the current health issue, but there was an announcement mid-way through telling a passenger with a grey t-shirt to get their feet off the seats. I liked that the guards were clearly looking at CCTV, it’s reassuring from a general safety point of view, as well as helping to ensure that the train stays clean and presentable.

    And safely in London Liverpool Street, all on time. It still seems a shame that these new trains are sweeping up and down the country with so few passengers on them, but at least it made for a comfortable journey for me.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    My last train journey was from Chesterfield to York in March 2020 and I didn’t expect it would take until August 2020 for me to make another. Norwich railway station looks different to when I last used it, with the ticket gates now left open and unmanned. There’s now directional signage around the concourse and a couple of the food outlets, West Cornwall Pasty and Starbucks, haven’t re-opened, nor has Marks & Spencer. It felt moderately busy, but nowhere near what I would have usually expected for a Monday morning.

    Waiting at platform 2, the new style train which serves the Norwich to London line.

    There was plenty of space for customers on board, just a handful of passengers in each carriage. The power points and on-board screens worked on the train, although it wasn’t doing a very good job of air conditioning and not for the first time this week I muttered to myself that it was too hot.

    Safely at London Liverpool Street railway station, the train arrived dead on time.

    The barriers were operating as usual at the station, with revenue protection officers and police questioning a couple of people as I walked by. So, although there’s no ticket barrier at Norwich and tickets aren’t checked on board, there are still mechanisms to ensure people have paid their fares. The concourse was relatively quiet and someone asked me how they could get out of the railway station, something I didn’t think was particularly challenging, but there we go. Once outside, it became evident to me just how quiet London currently is….

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Something new that I’ve learned today, this is DVT 82121, with the DVT meaning Driving Van Trailer, a push-pull service which means that the driver can operate the train from the other end of it. Very useful.

    It wasn’t very busy.

    All was going very well until we reached London, when the train suddenly stopped and the driver made an announcement that he didn’t know why. He repeated that announcement a couple of times, which filled me with confidence, before announcing a few minutes later that there was a signals failure near Stratford. This became evident when we saw a freight train stuck in the middle platform of a station, whilst our train used an unusual platform when it eventually got into Stratford. But at least it meant that I will be able to make a delay repay claim, albeit for the lowest possible sum as the delay was relatively minor.

    The other end of the train after we arrived into London Liverpool Street. The staff were friendly on the journey, with the guard being thorough with ticket checking (which I like since rules should be followed…..) and the announcements were appropriate and informative. The ticket cost the bargain sum of just £10, so again, good value for money. And, as a bonus, the power sockets and wi-fi worked perfectly throughout, with plenty of table seats available for those who wanted them.