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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2006 18:42:45 GMT
ISTR reading a rumour about the construction of the station building at Hatton Cross - the rumour stated that the building was designed to have something put on top of it, such as an office building or parking garage. Is this a total load of s**te or is it plausible?
Also, is Hatton Cross likely to get a stair lift like the one at Hounslow West?
Finally, are the dwell times at Hatton Cross artificially high? I've been through there in the off-peak and the trains have waited in both platforms for as long as 90 seconds.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2006 18:49:43 GMT
HI mate Thats right hatton cross was designed to have a car park on top of it
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Oracle
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Post by Oracle on Nov 21, 2006 18:51:19 GMT
I knew David Bird, the W C French Civil Engineer i/c of the Hatton Cross project very well. He now lives in North Wales, and my family keep in contact. I heard a lot about the extension works, and the incidents, e.g. at the River Crane crossing.
Yes, the original intention was to put a Car Park on the top of the building and if you look at it you will see that it still has (or did when I last looked) a perimiter fence that would have bounded the parking area. The Park would have required a ramp obviously, but I have no idea why it was abandoned. They out a "Kiss and Ride" layby in initially for people to drop their commuting folk off and then drive off. I can only imagine that the problems with traffic flow in the immediate environs, plus the need to locate the Bus Station, put the kybush on the plans. I believe that there are now structures on the roof which would prevent its use? Also, there is a nagging thought in my mind that there was concern on reflection about the strength of the concrete roof?
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2006 18:57:55 GMT
I knew David Bird, the W C French Civil Engineer i/c of the Hatton Cross project very well. He now lives in North Wales, and my family keep in contact. I heard a lot about the extension works, and the incidents, e.g. at the River Crane crossing. There were incidents at the River Crane? Yes, the original intention was to put a Car Park on the top of the building and if you look at it you will see that it still has (or did when I last looked) a perimeter fence that would have bounded the parking area. The Park would have required a ramp obviously, but I have no idea why it was abandoned. They out a "Kiss and Ride" layby in initially for people to drop their commuting folk off and then drive off. I can only imagine that the problems with traffic flow in the immediate environs, plus the need to locate the Bus Station, put the kybosh on the plans. I suspect that traffic flow was what did the garage in - the nearby intersections and roads are extremely busy and would get jammed quite rapidly if the garage approaches were to get clogged. I believe that there are now structures on the roof which would prevent its use? Also, there is a nagging thought in my mind that there was concern on reflection about the strength of the concrete roof? You would know better than I would. All I can say is that while the platforms are in good shape the station building is starting to look rather nasty. Tube Lines would do well to improve the interior - if they joined up with the London Buses folks they could provide a fully integrated TfL ticket & travel centre like the one at T123.
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Oracle
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Post by Oracle on Nov 21, 2006 19:01:22 GMT
EVENING STANDARD - 14 July 1975) The Underground moves one step closer to busy Heathrow Airport on July 19 when Hatton Cross station is opened. This new Piccadilly Line station on the Great West Road (A30) will serve the maintenance areas on the south side of the Airport and the large housing districts of North Feltham and Bedfont. There is at present no car park but London Transport hopes to provide one later on. Hatton Cross will be served by 900 trains a week. On Mondays to Fridays, trains will run every four minutes in rush hours, every ten minutes during the middle of the day, every 7½ minutes in the evenings. Trains on Saturdays will be 10 minutes apart and on Sundays, 15 minutes. IIRC the station building was a different contractor to that of the extension builders. I was a young trainee lawyer at the time, just, and we had various scares about concrete structures collapsing because of High Alumina Cement, and then some time later Sea Dredged Aggregates.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2006 19:05:00 GMT
Shades of the NATM gymkhana during the construction of HEx!
I find it rather amusing that only 6tph was provided during the off-peak - if the Picc tried that these days the line would go to pieces!
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Oracle
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Post by Oracle on Nov 21, 2006 19:08:34 GMT
There were incidents at the River Crane? Yes. The River Crane looks innocuous enough... a small stream virtually at time? However when the engineering design work was carried out, exploratory tests were made to see how deep the mud was beneath the river. It was originally thought that it might be possible to tunnel beneath the river, but experimental piles put into the mud just, well, disappeared! So they put more on..they went in! It was clear that the boggy ground was so far down that it was impractical to go underneath at the level that the rest of the line is, just a few feet in the cut-and-cover section, and so they had to go over the top instead! It would be interesting to see how a short stretch of canalised River Crane would have been accomodated over the line, as per the Fleet perhaps? I believe that the Kiss and Ride stop was a short loop? It jammed up, caused problems and was with hindsight a stupid idea.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 21, 2006 19:52:27 GMT
I am surprised that they got a stable formation to pour the concrete retaining walls! I always wondered why the Picc went over such an insignificant watercourse, and now I know!
Just out of curiosity, why is the ceiling at Hatton Cross so high?
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Oracle
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Post by Oracle on Nov 21, 2006 22:31:27 GMT
I am pretty certain that the workings were flooded at least once by water! As to the building's height, I can only imagine that it was meant to stand out and be imposing. As teachers say: "Could do better"!
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Post by tubeprune on Nov 22, 2006 10:57:21 GMT
I am pretty certain that the workings were flooded at least once by water! As to the building's height, I can only imagine that it was meant to stand out and be imposing. As teachers say: "Could do better"! I recall that the interior ceiling of the booking hall collapsed shortly after the station was built. I was working at White City at the time and they brought all the framing and ceiling panels and dumped it in the old loco shed.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 22, 2006 14:11:11 GMT
Has the roof ever been open to the public?
Would make a great vantage point to watch the aircraft.
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Oracle
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Post by Oracle on Nov 22, 2006 14:47:25 GMT
In a word "NO", not to my knowledge...unsafe, bad design, security and all that. I regret to say that by then we had the IRA attacks and aircraft were a stone's throw away on what was then 28L.
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