what to do about Paddington

Oh! I suppose they could. On the other hand, those actual locations are nowhere near the stations/platforms, so I think it would addle the passengers. <scratches head>

There are 2 Paddingtons now, and it is only locally that they are known by Circle / Suburban etc. But I (think) I know what you're getting at. There will be 2 Paddington stops on each Circle trip. But then again there will also be 2 Edgware Road stops on each trip.

Heading west, is there any real difference between the 2 except where you exit the station. Paddington is Paddington, and do we honestly want to complicate things by telling people they can reach this "other" Paddington by changing at Edgware Road. People familiar with the area will be able to make their own decision, but those unfamiliar will have another decision to make: "Is it Paddington Main we want or Paddington Circle?"

Coming east, you may have started your journey on the Hammersmith branch, and will simply stop at "Paddington" en-route to Baker Street. Or you will have started your journey say at Earls Court, and will simply stop at "Paddington" en-route to Edgware Road.

Again, those familiar with the area will understand the difference between the 2 stations, but for those unfamiliar, it will introduce an extra level of decision making.

With the T-cup trials hailed by LU as a success (what a surprise!) and passengers at Paddington to be directed to the H&C station, what progress is there on providing a staffed ticket office, instead of NR self-service machines, or a second staircase to relieve the current narrow access? None I guess, proving as always that, on LU, "trains are from Mars and stations from Venus", with little joined up thinking. Meanwhile, now that the new duty sheets have gone up at Edgware Road and Hammersmith depots the balloting is already being organised. On the last (final) trial, one T/OP PNR at Edgware Road shut all three lines down in the area for 20 minutes. Happy days ahead!

Just gone up on the website, together with a date for the change - Dec 13th
www.tfl.gov.uk/gettingaround/13280.aspx

The District Line station will be called Paddington.
The H&C station will be called Paddington.

(Why not Praed St and Bishops Road?)

Why not? It used to be done for Euston Square.

Of course, it hasn't come to "knee-jerk" Boris's attention yet, so it will probably be changed back if enough people complain.

To be honest, this is showing signs of the "what if" syndrome.

It is often laboured on here how things can be made easier for the visitor to London.

So, just before Christmas, a visitor passing through London makes his way to the Heathrow express. Leaving Liverpool Street he studies the map and wonders where the "Paddington" that the National Rail person told him about is. He can see Bishops Road. He can see Praed Street. He can also see that both of them are National Rail interchanges. But he cannot see Paddington.

There is no real case to make drastic name changes that will simply add to the confusion that this timetable will introduce.

My use of the word "success" was surrounded by quote marks ;D

Fair enough, if the word Paddington is still visible that would help. But then again, apart from satisfying a minority that the 2 stations are distinguishable by having different names, what other advantage would there really be?

I know what some of you are looking for here, but it's not going to happen.

We don't have Cabbell Street and Harrow Road Flyover, we have Edgware Road. We don't have Beadon Road and Broadway, we have Hammersmith. And of course there are more. And both stations in both examples are a short distance apart and serve completely different lines and purposes.

It's probably why Paddington is Paddington and was renamed from its old names.



Passengers will learn. How many regular commuters through either Paddington station would actually notice (or care) that the name has been added to. To them, as long as the station is in the same place (for when they're walking on auto-pilot) and the trains arrive (let's forget the detail for a minute ) it's still the station they use.

Tourists, on the other hand, will be looking for Paddington, and then realise there are not just 2, and not just 2 on the same line, but 2 differently named ones on the same line. Do they get off at Edgware Road and change or not? Much better to let them get to a "general" Paddington station and then sort out the finer details if it's needed.

Hmm. I see what you mean, but when I look at the map, there is only one Edgware Road station. What I mean is, it's adjacent platforms on the same bit of track, whereas the 'two Paddingtons' are actually separate 'stations' so to speak, so they are almost like the two Shepherds Bushes (of yore) or the two Hammersmiths.


How do you mean when you say 'east' and 'west'? For instance, if I start at Tower Hill and head to Paddington, I could go via Westminster or Euston Square - to me I'm still going west. Ditto if I start at Pad and head to Tower Hill. Not being pedantic here (well, maybe I am!), just trying to clarify.


Back to the comment that a few of you have made that it wouldn't serve any purpose either for regular commuters or occasional visitors, that's a very good point and one I hadn't really thought of. I'm thinking of it from a tubegeek point of view I spose! ;D

"My" east and west as I see it from the control room at Baker Street ;D ;D
So to clairfy, heading west towards Paddington in my eyes, is Aldgate, Liverpool Street, then via Kings Cross. East is from Earls Court to High Street Ken, then on to Paddington / Edgware Road / Kings Cross.

Actually, all trains on both platforms 2 (Circle) and 3 (District) will go to Praed St. All trains on platform 4 (through westbound) will go to Bishops Road.

Don't rename anything. The T-cup won't last a year.

Paddington North and Paddington
Paddington Faraway and Paddington

:-)

Paddington-next-to-impossible-to-cross-road.
Paddington-tucked-away-in-hidden-corner.