Walthamstow blockade and preparations

I've been keeping an eye on the Victoria Line Twitter feed which has been posting pictures! The link however is just as, if not more informative

Sorry what is this referring to?

EDIT

For a moment I thought you were referring to the LO lines. I see what you mean. Scrap my question!

Although isn't the plan to have no Seven Sisters reversers during the peak?

Wasn't it a 15 min service on Sunday?

You would presume that they will run some test trains over the weekend if they haven't already!

I certainly remember the old northbound pattern on Sundays if you were between Victoria and Kings Cross - it went KX terminator, Seven Sisters and then Walthamstow each on a x12 headway giving x4 across the centre and 4-8 north of KX. I used to hate having to wait 12 minutes for a Vic Line - utterly ridiculous even back in the 1980s. I believe the Walthamstow services typically started at Victoria so not even a through service end to end.

I see in another posting the work's finished early. Well no great surprise there then - clearly had a slice of float in the programme as you would expect on such a big job.

Good service has resumed.

Will they run 34tph on the whole line now or will they start running all northbound trains to Walthamstow when the 36tph timetable is introduced?

Why the sudden change in plan? Are there infrastructure issues that need to be addressed elsewhere before 36tph can run?

A quick Walthamstow Central update having had a quick look this morning.

No great change at surface level except the "cage" has gone from the Chingford platform. Ticket gates not switched on at the Overground entrances. No sign that the old interchange "hole in the wall" on the Liv St platform is being worked on (at least from the platform side).

At LU level the ticket gates remain in operation as before. The ticket office is shut and the windows are stickered over. The POM enclosure has been removed and tiled over. A new gateline has been installed in the subway link just to the south of the fire doors. There are two wide walkways and two normal walkways. It is not switched on yet. The POM enclosure has craftily been moved under the flight of stairs to the Bus Station - one MFM and 2 FFMs. Posters and lealfet racks have also moved near the bottom of the bus station stairs. An interesting compromise but any length of queues at the ticket machines will block access to / from the lift to the bus station.

The up escalator is hoarded off and being worked on so that'll cause lots of lovely queues and congestion upstairs and down.

My guess is that TfL is possibly waiting until it can complete the surface works at WWCS to recreate open interchange with the Chingford Line. I also wonder if they are waiting to see other stations on the Chingford Line be gated to reduce the risk of people entering elsewhere and having open access to the Vic Line. In short a fair bit of work has been done but more remains to be done.

Oh and no sign of rail replacement buses except the direction signs for the drivers and a lonely hi-vied chap at the Market bus stop with no one to help!

I did consider going this way on my way to work this morning (to Stratford via route 97) but instead stuck to the RRS at Hackney Wick which if anyone is interested was Arriva Wood Green's HV110

Regarding the Walthamstow Central upgrade, I also thought that the new entrance from the stairs on platform 1 into the station square could be reused in future for any engineering purposes. This is on the assumption that the brick wall that was buit on the platform side can quickly be dismantled. If it is taken down and now that the cage has gone, things will be back to how they were. Logic tells me that as soon as this happens then all three gatelines would be brought into operation and the old gateline at the top of the escalators removed. I sure this would happen sooner than later because reading previous comments, the escalator refurb is going to take until next April and the gating of other Chigford line stations is going to take even longer. One other benefit of creating the exit to the station square was that passengers could gain access to platform 1 whilst the old booking hall was being refurbed although I think that it was finished before the blockade started. Once again I would like to know who funded the  "the Hole in the wall' and 'the cage' what a waste of money.

Turntable -- who funded the cage and blocked exit? I'm tempted to say, in his dotage, the same person who as an apprentice did the refurb of West Green Station and closed it 3 months later!

Oh dear! Many complaints by Walthamstow residents that the upgraded line is very noisy in their houses:

www.facebook.com/groups/280918722070235/permalink/490958564399582/