Examination of Witnesses (Questions 820
- 839)
820. Mr Laurence: Sir, the old-fashioned
method was to have the witness with their back to the advocates
and, quite frankly, with amplification and as long as you do not
mind our occasionally saying we did not follow, it might be better
if Mr Weiss sat here with his back to me.
821. Sir Peter Soulsby: Can we spend
two minutes now enabling Mr Weiss to turn to face us.
(After a short pause)
822. Ms Lieven: Can I just say for the
moment that is fine and of course I will proceed in this way,
but perhaps we could all work towards a better long-term solution
because trying to question let alone cross-question somebody only
seeing the back of their heads is difficult. Perhaps if we could
move back at some stage to having the note takers over there.
823. Sir Peter Soulsby: We will make
do for this morning and see if we can have some informal discussions
over lunch.
824. Ms Lieven: Mr Weiss, let us not
get into an argy-bargy about how much you do or do not know about
Pedroutes. The fact is you have seen the earlier pedroute modelling
plans I assume?
(Mr Weiss) Yes, and these are based of course
on Crossrail figures where we have an issue that perhaps they
are significantly under-estimating for the number that would be
coming through here plus the 35% on that route.
825. To the degree that the Committee wants
to know about individual blocks and gates and so on, we can ask
Steer, Davies & Glebe about that. Can I just ask one broad
question. Looking at O20 which is the Crossrail base plus 35%,
applying Mr Rees' test, can we agree that this shows a station
which is capable of operating?
(Mr Weiss) A station capable of operatingI
could not disagree with that.
826. Could I then show youand I do not
think any of us have seen this beforethe pedroute plan
for Victoria. I think Victoria is a station that you are familiar
with, Mr Weiss?
(Mr Weiss) I am indeed.
827. And it is a station that most Londoners
know has extreme congestion problems at the moment; yes?
(Mr Weiss) Correct.
828. I think it is top of LUL's congestion relief
list. Can I apologise in that we have literally got this this
morning and one of the team has scribbled on the lines to try
and orientate us. Can we call it document 86.[22]
The Victoria line is running top to bottom, do you see that?
(Mr Weiss) Yes, I do.
829. The District and Circle line is running
left to right.
(Mr Weiss) Yes.
830. And the main Victoria line ticket hall
is the big splodge towards the bottom.
(Mr Weiss) Yes.
831. Sorry, that is not a very technical way
of describing it! My recollection of Victoria is that the Network
Rail concourse is off the bottom of the page!
(Mr Weiss) If you say so.
832. During the evidence-in-chief you gave a
few days ago about being stopped at the entrances and the shutters
coming down and the klaxon goes off, that is right at the bottom
of the page.
(Mr Weiss) I see where you are coming from,
this yellow as against blue or green.
833. Sir Peter Soulsby: It is somewhat
difficult for members of the Committee. Could you take us through
the colour scheme for this.
834. Ms Lieven: It is not coming out
very well.
835. Sir Peter Soulsby: A lot of it is
coming out as dark, is the best I can describe it.
836. Ms Lieven: Can I put myself in the
Committee's hands on this. We do have copies but not enough copies
for everyone. Of course we can undertake to do so over lunch.
837. Sir Peter Soulsby: I think what
you are trying to do here is provide us with come broad comparison
and context for what we were talking about earlier on. I think
you can probably do that if you just tell us what the colours
are and we will get to the impression that I am sure you are trying
to give.
838. Ms Lieven: If we go to the middle
of the Victoria line ticket hall concourse, Mr Weissand
perhaps Mr Bennett can put his pointer on itwe see a dark
patch that is dark purple and that is the highest level of congestion.
To the right, so I am not misleading anyone, there is a route
down which is an alternative route to the street and that is blue,
that is completely uncongested. Mr Bennett, thank you very much.
Then the passage through between the Victoria line and the District
line, which is a very notable passage at Victoria, is yellow and
the two central blocks are blue and green.
(Mr Weiss) I see that.
839. Then if we go down the escalators to the
Victoria line on the rightMr Bennett there, that is itthose
are yellow, and at the bottom of those escalators there is a combination
of purple and yellow.
(Mr Weiss) Yes, I am with you.
22 Committee Ref: A11, Victoria Line 2001Demand (0845-0900)
Pedroute (SCN-20060124-002). Back
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