# Bank Station! Damn it. **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [November 10, 2008, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029 "2008-11-10T13:49:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/21 "2008-11-11T12:12:02Z")
Isn’t there _still_ no interchange between Bank and Monument? I’ve been living in London for a year now and I’ve never been able to change there. The Jubilee line in NW London is lovely in the mornings (at least, until Baker Street – not sure how it is once you get into the city centre). I used to have to take the Victoria Line into work, from Victoria station. NEVER AGAIN. ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 12:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/22 "2008-11-11T12:35:27Z")
I work within close walking distance of the DLR station, although I’d prefer not to openly identify my employer as I do not wish my personal views to be seen as representing them in any way and things are a bit sensitive right now as you might imagine. I can say that while I don’t work for Lehman Brothers, we do rent a floor over there and it is reportedly “very quiet these days”. ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/23 "2008-11-11T15:57:32Z")
I used to love Bank’s Central Line platforms: Mind The Gap! ---
**Author:** ![ticker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d07c76/32.png) [@ticker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ticker)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/24 "2008-11-11T16:02:03Z")
> [@Gyrate](#): > > Yeah. And they could call the other one something like…oh, I dunno… “Monument”. When the escalator is working (is it working again yet?) changing from the Northern Line at Bank to the District/Circle at Monument is a whole lot easier than from the Northern to Central lines all within Bank. ---
**Author:** ![NinjaChick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/71c47a/32.png) [@NinjaChick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinjaChick)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/25 "2008-11-11T16:19:27Z")
> [@Tracy\_Lord](#): > > Isn’t there _still_ no interchange between Bank and Monument? I’ve been living in London for a year now and I’ve never been able to change there. > > The Jubilee line in NW London is lovely in the mornings (at least, until Baker Street – not sure how it is once you get into the city centre). I used to have to take the Victoria Line into work, from Victoria station. NEVER AGAIN. IIRC - though I probably don’t, because I haven’t been in London for two years\* - you can in theory get from any one line to any other within the Bank/Monument clusterfuck. I believe that I once in fact managed to visit every damn platform within the station(s) in an attempt to change lines (forget which ones). I also believe that it’s a pain in the ass no matter what. \*goddamnit, I miss that city and want to go back. ---
**Author:** ![Tracy\_Lord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@Tracy\_Lord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tracy_Lord)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/26 "2008-11-11T16:39:32Z")
No, I know there theoretically is, but every time I take the Central or C&D lines, the conductor reminds us that there’s no interchange between Bank and Monument and to “plan alternative routes”. Ah! Here we go: [No interchange between Bank and Monument stations](http://www.tfl.gov.uk/corporate/media/newscentre/archive/7763.aspx) (March 2008): > [@](#): > > Transport for London is warning passengers using Bank and Monument stations that changing lines between the stations will not be possible, except between the Docklands Light Railway and the Northern Line, from March 31 until summer 2009. I hate walking around that area, too – some of the least attractive buildings in London, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/27 "2008-11-11T21:14:50Z")
> [@Isamu](#): > > Sorry, but if we’re playing Lord Cardington’s Rules, you can’t take a Northbound Line immediately after an _entente_. Look, you posted this on a Monday (GMT, of course) and I don’t want to have to call foul, but certainly this qualifies for a plaid-purple card. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Kew Gardens ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 11, 2008, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/28 "2008-11-11T22:02:51Z")
> [@GomiBoy](#): > > South Ken station still has one of those - Metropolitan and Southern I think, in the wrought iron at the station entrance. Oh, old railway companies on stations and infrastructure, that’s all over the place. But on the trains? I’m talking about the late 1980s, and Wikipedia confirms that I’m [not going mad](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:487-DM-Southern-Railway-logo.jpg)! ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/29 "2008-11-12T00:37:43Z")
With the on-going escalator work screwing the whole place up, in my experience they’ve been shutting Bank entirely on average about one rushhour a week recently. However what I find daily annoying is the whole current detour for getting from the DLR to the Northern Line. What is usually just up the two (albeit narrow) stairs has been turned into up the escalators, round into the hallway that they seem to be funnelling everything through and queuing to get back down again. The one interchange in the station that doesn’t normally involve any escalators at all is being made appalling by the work on them elsewhere in the station. I do see that the decision was made to avoid conflicting flows around what are now the only escalators up from the DLR, but it does have the annoying side effect of forcibly moving the one set of interchanging passengers whose normal flow isn’t part of the current blocked parts directly into an area where we do become part of the extra congestion. ---
**Author:** ![AK84](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/85e7bf/32.png) [@AK84](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AK84)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/30 "2008-11-12T11:37:11Z")
Yes but why is it only Bank which is to use that quaint Americanism; a clusterfuck. Why not Kings Cross or Waterloo both of which are bigger. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 11:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/31 "2008-11-12T11:40:56Z")
Is this a game of Morning Crescent? ---
**Author:** ![bluecanary](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bluecanary/32/3614_2.png) [@bluecanary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bluecanary)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/32 "2008-11-12T12:00:54Z")
> [@Giles](#): > > Could it be … Paddington Station? Or is that too obvious? I’m still PMSL at this. Brilliant. ---
**Author:** ![Subway\_Prophet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecb155/32.png) [@Subway\_Prophet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Subway_Prophet)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/33 "2008-11-12T13:21:37Z")
> [@bluecanary](#): > > I’m still PMSL at this. Brilliant. I guess it doesn’t do me any favors to admit I was aiming for being called out on a whoosh? I figured if I mentioned the name of the station three times in a row then it’d be just a little obvious. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7993a0/32.png) [@Jamaika\_a\_jamaikaiake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamaika_a_jamaikaiake)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/34 "2008-11-12T13:54:44Z")
> [@Subway\_Prophet](#): > > …and try to remember if a vindaloo is something I visit before or after eating. Oh man, I just saw this. Priceless! ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/35 "2008-11-12T21:08:14Z")
> [@AK84](#): > > Yes but why is it only Bank which is to use that quaint Americanism; a clusterfuck. Why not Kings Cross or Waterloo both of which are bigger. That, as **GorillaMan** alluded to, is largely a matter of history. Four out of the five lines involved were built into or through the City essentially independently and the current station is largely an amalgam of the stations built for those. The [Wikipedia entry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bank_and_Monument_stations) goes through when the different bits were built. The exception is the much later DLR and its platforms are extremely close to the Northern line ones - it’s the bit built knowing that it was part of a larger scheme. Now, while it’s equally true that most of the lines passing through Kings Cross and Waterloo developed in a similar fashion, in those cases there were the existing mainline railway stations. All the different lines were _aiming_ for their stations to be in the same narrow area. That made the eventual amalgamation much easier. The centre of the City was a much vaguer target when the different developers were originally deciding where to deliver their passengers to. (And Kings Cross-St Pancras is still really two underground stations that developed based on the two adjacent mainline stations. Remember, it’s only in the last year that you can get between the two halves underground seamlessly.) As for the current particular mess of the escalator upgrade, Kings Cross doesn’t need that because its are all only twenty years old and hence relatively new. But that was because of the fire. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2008, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/36 "2008-11-12T22:07:53Z")
> [@bonzer](#): > > And Kings Cross-St Pancras is still really two underground stations that developed based on the two adjacent mainline stations. Remember, it’s only in the last year that you can get between the two halves underground seamlessly. Holborn is another example of two stations becoming one. Ever wondered why it’s a mile-long walk to change lines? Because the Central Line used to have a British Museum station instead, the original platforms of which are still visible from the train. ---
**Author:** ![bonzer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/45deac/32.png) [@bonzer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bonzer)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 12:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/37 "2008-11-13T00:12:35Z")
Entirely incidentally, while on the subject of “lost” platforms at Holborn … As someone with the interest in the history of physics, the bit of the station I’d like to see is the area used by Patrick Blackett and others for cosmic ray observations. From [this obituary of John Barton](http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/john-barton-605602.html): > [@](#): > > He began a series of experiments to determine the nature of cosmic rays that could penetrate deep underground. These experiments were performed in the “Holborn Laboratory”, a series of rooms deep in Holborn Underground station. A spare platform at Holborn had been converted to offices during the war. Immediately after the war it was used as a staff hostel, and later many of the rooms were used by physicists for experiments needing a deep location. > The laboratory rooms were reached through a service door on one of the Piccadilly Line platforms. They were linked by an extremely narrow corridor, only wide enough for a single person, running along the edge of what had once been the platform. It was a dry and dusty environment and there were occasional problems caused by rodents chewing cables, but it was none the less an extraordinarily convenient site to work. ---
**Author:** ![Promethea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Promethea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Promethea)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 10:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/38 "2008-11-13T10:39:55Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > Holborn is another example of two stations becoming one. Ever wondered why it’s a mile-long walk to change lines? Because the Central Line used to have a British Museum station instead, the original platforms of which are still visible from the train. A small nitpick but more precisely you can see the big gap where the tunnel suddenly widens to show where the platforms originally stood - the platforms themselves are long gone. Plus, the orginal white tiles on the wall are still there (as I’m sure you know), now almost totally obscured by soot. I love looking out for the ghost stations on the London Undergound 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/39 "2008-11-13T16:30:10Z")
Good nitpick 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2008, 4:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029/40 "2008-11-13T16:52:44Z")
Not all that long ago you could occasionally go stand on the platform at Holborn for the Aldwych line, and it was frequently used for filming. It was interesting to see all the old pre-closure adverts on the walls. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-station-damn-it/472029.md?page=3)