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Stroke of Genius

Top marks, today, to the brilliant minds at Metronet, Tfl and WAGN trains, who have decided, in their infinite wisdom, that for the next year or so while the escalators at Moorgate are being replaced, WAGN trains will not be stopping there, but will instead terminate at Old Street, the stop before.

Until today, my daily change of trains from WAGN to the Northern line at Moorgate has been about as easy as changing trains in London ever gets–the WAGN and Northern line platforms at Moorgate are close to each other, and, crucially, (and this is the key fact that the new plan seems to have overlooked) lots of people get off the Northern line at Moorgate. This meant that it was always quite easy for myself and all the other people switching from WAGN to get on the Northern line train. More often than not, I even got a seat.

If today’s experience is anything to go by, the effect of the change is that all the people travelling to Moorgate (who were supposed to be walking or catching a bus from Old Street) are now changing onto the Northern line at Old Street instead and getting off at Moorgate anyway.

So, in fact, not only has this new plan failed to solve one problem (reducing the number of people at Moorgate during the rush hour), it has actually created a second (where there used to be both a tube and a train carrying passengers into Moorgate, there is now only a very packed tube).

Genius! So now every morning I get to wedge myself between the door space of the Northern line and a grey-suited businessman’s armpits for one stop before the train virtually empties and I get to sit down.