Examination of Witnesses (Questions 180
- 199)
180. Turning to paragraph 6, the Crossrail tunnels
deep underground run more or less east-west underneath two existing
stations, Liverpool Street Station and Moorgate. The Crossrail
passenger who arrives deep underground between those stations
at a place I shall call the `Livergate platforms', or `Livergate'
for short, has a choice. He or she can either go out of the western
end of the Livergate platforms and emerge at Moorgate Station
or they can go east, in which case they have only one option,
that is, to use the two escalators and two tunnels I have just
mentioned and emerge into the existing London Underground ticket
hall at point F. That ticket hall is called `ticket hall B'. There
are two other ticket halls, A and C, but these are not of immediate
concern. That is because the Crossrail passengers who leave the
Livergate platforms in an easterly direction must first go via
the two escalators and two tunnels to point M and from there into
ticket hall B. Sir, if you look at the first of the diagrams that
are put before you, the one labelled `Exhibit A Liverpool Street
Station' at the bottom, you can see from that in the top left-hand
corner a rather small, current isometric view which you can make
sense of if you compare it on the left with the larger layout
mainline station, concourse layout, on the right and that will
also enable you to identify ticket hall B, not so labelled, but
you see the words `ticket hall' under the `49' and it will also
enable you to see that what is ticket hall A is to the south of
that where you see the little letter `d' on the current isometric
view. Just to the left of that `d', you will see the words `ticket
hall' identifying the ticket hall to the south and the third of
the three ticket halls shown on the current isometric view, ticket
hall C is the one a bit further to the north that serves purely
the Central Line. Unfortunately we have not got the C, the B and
the A on the isometric view, but I hope it is tolerably clear.
You go from south to north, A at the south, B in the middle and
C at the top.
181. Now, sir, I return to paragraph 7. Once
these Crossrail passengers arrive at ticket hall B, they have
various choices.
182. Mr Binley: Mr Laurence, could I
just clarify this please because I am slightly confused. I am
looking at the current isometric view on the front and I see two
ticket halls and I am not quite sure I understand the relevance
of those two. I understand the one you are talking about being
Liverpool Street, but what is the second?
183. Mr Laurence: We are talking about
three ticket halls, A, B and C, at Liverpool Street Station.
184. Mr Binley: Thank you.
185. Mr Laurence: I was also earlier
referring to Moorgate which is a separate entrance/exit altogether
further to the west.
186. Mr Binley: That is what confused
me because I thought one of these might be Moorgate, but it is
not.
187. Mr Laurence: In order to assist,
because it is very helpful if members of the Committee indicate
when they are confused, I have called the platforms deep underground
by a name nobody else has coined and I find it useful to identify
that place by a name, Livergate. I describe it as that because
at those platforms you have the choice of either going out at
the westerly end of the platforms up to Moorgate Station or out
at the eastern end up to Liverpool Street Station and it helps
you to keep in mind that it is the level at which you are discussing
the subject matter that determines the appropriate name to give
to the place you are talking about.
188. Sir, on to paragraph 7. Once these Crossrail
passengers arrive at ticket hall B, they have various choices
and for that I would suggest that the current isometric view is
not helpful and it would be helpful to have the lower part of
the plan put on to the screen. They can turn a sharp left at point
M and go down to the Central Line at point P, or they can turn
right and go down to the Circle and Metropolitan Lines, the so-called
`sub-surface lines', at point Q, R and S, or they can go straight
on and exit at one of the 16 gates shown, although not numbered
one to 16 on the sketch, and hence, after walking up the stairs
at E, on to the mainline concourse and from there on to National
Rail or up further escalators, ramped walkways and steps to the
street. You need, in order to understand the journey that the
type of passenger I have just described would be taking, to go
from the lower of the two drawings to the upper one to see how
you emerge having gone through the gates, how you go up at E,
up the steps on to the mainline concourse, and you then have various
choices, one of which is to go on to National Rail, another of
which is actually to go out and emerge at street.
189. Immediately before Crossrail opens, and
this is where it is going to start getting a bit more technical,
let us assume in 2016, as the company CLRL, the company assisting
the Promoter with the Bill, predict, that there will be 11,000
passengers who will want to get out of those 16 gates in the morning
peak, 4,100 of them emerging from the Central Line escalators
at point P and the other 6,900 emerging into ticket hall B from
the sub-surface lines via Q, R and S. Picking up the lower of
the two drawings again, the Central Line passengers emerge into
the ticket hall at point B in a southerly direction, the sub-surface
line passengers, that is the Met Line or the Circle Line or the
Hammersmith & City Line, they emerge into the ticket hall
travelling in a northern direction through exits Q, R or S. Therefore,
before Crossrail opens, the prediction is that in the morning
peak hours, 7 to 10am, there will be 11,000 such passengers.
190. Immediately after Crossrail opens, some
of these London Underground passengers will obviously have transferred
to Crossrail, that is to say, they will arrive at Liverpool Street
via Crossrail, not London Underground, but the total number of
exiting passengers CLRL predict will want to use those 16 gates
in the morning peak will be 13,500, that is to say, 2,500 more
than the 11,000 predicted to be wishing to use the gates to exit
before Crossrail opens. We concentrate on the morning peak because
recent pedestrian count surveys show that ticket hall B has higher
overall numbers in the morning peak.
191. The total number of people in and out,
whom CLRL predict will wish to use the gates in the morning peak,
will not change materially before and after opening in 2016. The
relevant numbers are: before 2016, ie, without Crossrail on my
assumption, 33,100; after Crossrail opens, on CLRL's predictions,
33,300. The predicted increase of 2,500 in the total numbers of
those wanting to get out, which I just mentioned above, will be
compensated for by a 2,300 decrease in the numbers of those wanting
to get in. No doubt some National Rail passengers will have transferred
to Crossrail. To meet London Underground's April 2005 Station
Planning Standard, 15 gates will be needed to accommodate the
predicted 33,100 morning peak passengers before Crossrail opens.
After Crossrail opens, 16 gates will be needed. That is because
there will, on CLRL's figures, be an extra 2,500 passengers who
need to exit the gates after Crossrail opens and the formula which
prescribes what the number of gates must be is slightly biased,
as you would expect, in favour of those exiting as opposed to
those entering.
192. The Standard, which I just referred to
a moment ago, states in terms that it is London Underground's
response to requirements laid down by HMRI, Her Majesty's Railway
Inspectorate, and Railway Safety Principles and Guidance.
Paragraph 2.4 requires the Standard to be used "to ensure
that station proposals meet the requirements of HMRI Railway
Safety Principles and Guidance, Part 2, section B, Guidance
on Stations". The document also states under the heading
"Safety Considerations" at 5.2.1 that, "Failure
to apply the criteria set down in this Standard is likely to result
in poorly planned and congested stations. This is likely to cause
passenger distress and the need for temporary station closures".
The declared purpose of the Standard is to "define the space
requirements for public areas ... in stations" and it is
stated to be "applicable for all works to stations that affect
passenger movement or that have an impact on the overall station
size". Paragraph 3.1.1 requires space for normal operations
in stations to be planned to minimise congestion and to be resilient
to surges in demand and train service disruption.
193. It should be noted that the predecessor
of this document was a 1999 publication called London Underground
Limited Station Planning Standards and Guidelines. Sir, I
am not sure whether the reference to guidelines meant that it
was not really mandatory. It is clear that the differently titled
April 2005 Standard from which I have been quoting paragraph 10
is mandatory. The document tells us that, that is the 2005 Standard.
A Standard is defined as a mandatory document which sets out the
minimum requirements expressed as outputs or a mandatory document
which defines an interaction or a commonality which meets a defined
LUL requirement.
194. Now, sir, on CLRL's figures, there is superficially
no problem caused by Crossrail at ticket hall B. The total number
of entering/exiting passengers using the gates stays about constant.
That, however, raises a vitally important point, in our submission,
which is this: that before Crossrail opens, on Crossrail's own
figures, there should be 15 gates at ticket hall B to cope with
the 33,100 passengers out and in, then wanting to use them. As
soon as Crossrail opens, the total number of passengers needing
to use the gates will be, as I have already mentioned, about the
same on CLRL's figures, that is to say, 33,300, although the actual
gateline requirement will increase to 16 for the reasons I mentioned.
The number of gates actually available is 16. In other words,
passengers in the peak period will have just enough gates to enter
and exit UTH B, underground ticket hall B.
195. You cannot play fast and loose, it goes
without saying, with LUL's recently adopted Station Planning Standard.
Mr Joe Weiss for the Corporation and Mr Tim Spencer of SDG, that
is Steer Davies Gleed, for British Land will be telling you in
detail why not. They will also be telling you that the actual
need will be well in excess of 20 gates. If you accept their evidence,
you have sufficient reason to require a solution other than the
Promoter's to the problem of getting to and from the Crossrail
platforms. Since Parliament has given its assent to the principle
of the Bill, a principle we fully support, it makes no sense whatever
to have a Crossrail design which does not from the beginning address
and solve the gateline capacity problem. The mandatory requirements
of the Standard are seriously breached because the connection
of the Crossrail tunnel to ticket hall B at point M involves work
that, within the words of the Standard, we say very substantially,
"affect passenger movement" within the meaning of paragraph
1.2 of the Standard and so entail the mandatory obligation to
observe the relevant requirement of the Standard in relation to
gate provision.
196. There is much more to this, however, than
just the Gateline Standard. There is also the matter of sensitivity
testing of the robustness of the demand forecast and capacity
assessment. The station at Liverpool Street being planned by CLRL
for that station is not being designed for 2016. It is meant to
have a 60-year design life. The relevant guideline document, which
is called Guideline Document Station Demand Modelling,
states in a paragraph that I would like to read in a moment what
is set out on page 8 of my draft, but can I, however, begin with
a reference to one other passage right at the beginning of that
document under the heading "Introduction" where this
appears:
197. "These guidelines define a standard
approach to station demand modelling. Station modelling can support
the following projects/processes", and then there are a number
of bullet points of which I would just like to read the first,
if I may, sir: "station rebuilding—major rebuilding
exercises needed to be assessed to ensure that the capacity of
the rebuilt station will be sufficient both at projected demand
levels for the appraisal year and at the upper limit demand levels
that may be reached during the appraisal period", and paragraph
5.7 of the document reads as follows:
198. "Sensitivity testing of scheme design.
A number of uncertainties exist around forecast levels of demand,
including:
199. "The accuracy of assumptions regarding
which large-scale schemes (for example, new or extended lines)
are implemented in any given future year scenario. Large schemes
may well have a significant effect on the demand forecast for
the station being considered: for example, at Victoria, Thameslink
2000, if it proceeds, would reduce demand by diverting passengers
away from it.
|
