Step-Free Access developments

I wonder if making the O2 Centre car-free will also mean the closing of the adjacent Sainsburys car park?

I also wonder what local people will think of this?

In the past few weeks I've found myself visiting this Sainsburys, arriving via the Metropolitan line and departing via the North London Line. Neither the Underground nor the Overground stations are accessible, so I had to carry a heavy shopping trolley down the stairs. The lack of weather protection on the stairway made me thankful that the weather was neither wet (nor even worse) cold & icy.

On both sides of the somewhat spartan North London Line station building there are boarded up patches of waste ground which create the impression that there was once a much larger and grander station building here. In the present era the boarded up space could possibly be suitable for installing accessibility lifts - hopefully in a way that does not disbenefit all other passengers by increasing the walking distance between street and platforms (as was done at West Hampstead Overground station).

The walk between the Overground station and the O2 passes by the site of a former Midland Mainline station and the steeply graded road access to the car park. Some sort of inclined lift would help making this route fully accessible.

jimbo - thanks so much, link now fixed and here: www.ianvisits.co.uk/articles/west-hampstead-tube-station-to-get-step-free-access-61633/

Apparently, I’m hearing from the TFL website that Knightsbridge has been pushed back to Winter 2024/25. Can someone confirm this is true?

It seems that Knightsbridge planned works are completed, but ...
TfL Investment programme report Quarter 4 2023/24 (10 December 2023 to 31 March 2024)

Well I hope that there are no line closures for the substandard* works at Leyton.

*does not reinstate an entrance for people who live near the eastern end of the station

Hopefully it doesn’t. But I won’t be surprised if we get a couple of closures between Bethnal Green and Leytonstone.

Whether new staircases will require closures will depend on how much of the platforms they take up and how close to the track they are. It may be possible to do it all in engineering hours.
A new footbridge will almost certainly require track closures, but how many and whether they extend beyond engineering hours will depend on the detailed design and construction plans.

I'm no expert, but I would be very surprised if the construction of those staircases and lifts required any line closures. In terms of platform closures, something of the order of 2-4 (long) weekends total (start and end of construction, 1-2 between those points) seems most likely. The footbridge will require a track closure to install but again almost certainly only on the order of days not weeks and it's not impossible some of the platform works could be done concurrently. It's also likely that it could be coordinated with other closures.
As I said though it will depend on the detailed design (the power point graphics are not detailed) and construction plans, which will be drawn up by people who actually are expects.

I believe the Leyton detailed design & site contractor engagement has just been completed so will be interesting to see how it has developed based on the constraints of the available space and considering the existing facilities at platform level; in particular will be interesting to see what they do about a station supervisors office (prospectively a lot of kit to relocate) - this used to be on the WB plat in the area of the new lift/stairs. Is there an operationally more desirable position?
Also looks to be challenges with regards heavy deliveries/craning in prefab parts such as overbridge, lift frames, piling rigs, palletised materials etc

Or delivery by train ?

Yes the previous SFA project team eventually found this for similarly difficult sites like Hanger Lane - once they understood what the options were and the booking process (and that it can be nil cost to the project !!!).

Big step-free developments today:

Design work has started at Alperton, Arnos Grove & Eastcote stations on the Piccadilly Line to make all three of them step-free.

Croxley, Neasden, East Finchley, Northwood, Turnham Green, Colliers Wood & Tooting Broadway will all undergo assessments for step-free access feasibility.

More information in this press release:
tfl.gov.uk/info-for/media/press-releases/2024/august/tfl-confirms-the-next-12-tube-stations-to-be-prioritised-for-step-free-access

Finchley Road will likely have its work done during the redevelopment of the O2 centre. Rayners Lane will most likely happen later the line as well.

That’s interesting. I didn’t even think about them possibly using the old escalator shafts to make the new lift shafts. I wonder how they can make the other stations mentioned step-free?