Accessible Possible
The word accessible means "able to be reached" so an accessible toilet is, literally, one you can use! But the word has now come to mean, not just "accessible" but "accessible by those with mobility difficulties".
The idea that Notwork Rail should spend nearly 8 million smackers on a footbridge at Harlington (Beds) without lifts is, in today's environment, ludicrously stupid.
But making London's underground stations "accessible" is a much more challenging problem.
The clever people at London Underground came up with a cunning plan for Knightsbridge.
Although the pre 1934 station buildings were long gone, with Brompton Road ...
.jpg)
... and corridors connecting them to the platforms. Looking at the diagram of the picturesque pink painted "pipes" ...
... we can see a lengthy saveloy running from a staircase between the two platform tunnels to a U bend further back under the building. 
The route was closed when the escalators were installed and in use from 1934, but it was all still there. This includes the two lift shafts from the pink sausage up to the hinterland of the pre-1934 station.
Various chunks of video are available on YouTube where visitors have been taken to see these old tunnels. The old signs were still in place ...
... and Siddy Holloway can slaver over the gorgeous tiles.
The lift shafts were still intact ...
... and we can see the long corridor as it reaches the steps down between the platforms.
On a later visit we see work in progress removing the tiles.
And very dusty it was too!
You might expect Siddy to be under some sedation at the loss of her beloved tiles but, as we now know, although the old tiles have been removed (and offered for sale at the London Transport Museum), the whole area has been retiled ...
Two lifts have been installed in one old lift shaft ...
... self service of course and very shiny ...
... with the duo fitting neatly in one of the old shafts as seen below at street level.
... in the traditional style.
But, we hear you cry, these lifts did not reach down to the platforms, there was still a flight of steps from the "pink" corridor.
The steps are still there, but supplemented by a single lift..jpg)
At the foot of the lift and steps, you pop out onto the platforms.
To help the slightly bemused passenger in need of this new facility, all is explained ...
...with a very clear diagram.
There is also a warning that the current Piccadilly trains are not fully accessible ...
... but, it appears, that the new ones will be.
But you won't find this new infrastructure at the Harvey Nicks (eastern) entrance; you won't find the "accessible" lifts at the Harrods (western) entrance.
.jpg)
fbb has bodged a poor quality diagram of the "pink sausage" which might help our readers put everything together..jpg)
Or it might not!
.jpg)
The double lift shafts are shown as light blue and the short descent to the platforms is a pale purple. Only one of the not-quite-parallel corridors is now in public use.
The way in for the mobility impaired passenger (and fully ambulant who live or shop nearby!) is in our old friend Hoopers Court.
Along here, a new entrance and new booking area has been re-created from parts of the old pre-1934 access..jpg)
The entrance has a border of Leslie Green style ox-blood glazed tiles to help with the nostalgia.
.jpg)
The name plate at the entrance to Hoopers Court from Brompton Road also announces the new entrance.
But what is stunning is the skilful and sensitive re working of an entrance area that closed in 1934.
What goes around comes around!
Next Oxford blog : Wed 21 May
“Accessible” in this context means accessible to everyone, not just disabled people.
ReplyDelete