26 August (Part 1) - Everything runs late or even not at all
It’s
been two months since the last batch of Crossrail photos was brought to your attention so it is
time for another lot. Very little of note has happened since June, the
minuscule public car park has been finished off and the Felixstowe Road ticket
barriers have been installed, beyond that not a lot. Because construction is
now down only to snagging jobs the next batch of photos will be stretched through until
December, opening day if we are lucky.
I had almost forgotten but when Bexley Council first announced that they were
going to rebuild Harrow Manorway as far as the Eastern Way roundabout and refurbish the flyover they said that both jobs would be done by August 2018.
File names on Bonkers are frequently date related and I chose 26th August for
both photo sets. For the time being at least the relevant pages retain the somewhat optimistic
date ID. Flyover pictures and
Harrow Manorway pictures to date
are available, both sets pushing 300 photos so please be patient while they download.
Some of the initial flyover delays would have been due to the difficult integration with
the new station but ten months on from its opening that excuse must be wearing thin.
At
the beginning of July Bonkers’ favourite highways engineer
told the
Places Scrutiny Committee that the flyover would probably be resurfaced on 23rd July.
“We are currently working on the flyover outside Abbey Wood station, final
adjustments are being made to the bridge joints prior to resurfacing of the
route round about 23rd July.”
Since then three out of the four flyover pedestrian walkways - initially all
four - have been inconveniently closed and for long periods no one has been seen
working there, although recently more bridge joints have received attention.
I think we can safely say that Bexley Council’s initial and recently restated ambition to have Harrow Manorway, Felixstowe Road and
Gayton Road ready for the opening of Elizabeth line services was wishful thinking.
While on the subject of railways, may I be permitted a personal rant?
I can’t remember the last time I went to Dartford but I needed to get there this
morning. Yesterday I checked the timetable at Abbey Wood station, making sure I
was in the DA (for Dartford) section and looking at the red print because I
would be travelling on a Sunday.
SouthEastern services were listed at every 30 minutes with a once an hour Thameslink
train listed as running four minutes before one of them.
I went out to catch the ‘isolated’ SouthEastern but it was not listed on the
departure board. Fortunately I was at the station with time to spare and an
unlisted Thameslink train was showing but running 30 minutes adrift from what was
shown on the station timetable; so no harm done, within a few minutes I was in Dartford.
I thought I had been lucky but had no idea just how lucky.
I was back at Dartford station at 11:40 and puzzled by what I was reading on
the departure board, all trains were due to go via either Sidcup or Bexleyheath,
nothing at all on the Greenwich line except the hourly Thameslink train. A 35
minute wait except that it was already announced ‘Cancelled’. Should I wait an hour and
a half to maybe see the 13:15 train cancelled too?
I took the Sidcup train but it just missed the Abbey Wood (loop) connection from Crayford so I continued to Bexley
with the prospect of half hour or more on a 229 bus. The toilets
at Bexley station were ‘permanently closed’, the rain was near torrential and the station bus stop has
no shelter. I jumped on a 132 to reduce the risk of drowning and eventually got
home just before the Thameslink train was due to leave Dartford, if it wasn’t cancelled!
Once home I checked the National Rail Live Departures site. It is true. Under
this bloody awful new timetable there are no SouthEastern Abbey Wood to
Dartford trains on a Sunday. Which over-paid lunatic thought that was a good idea?
