#underground trains

[wikipediapictures]

Berlin Hauptbahnhof

[thisisengland]

Piccadilly Circus tube station, London.

[aagdolla]

Atlantic Avenue Train Station ( #2 Train )

Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center (formerly Atlantic Avenue/Pacific Street) is a New York City Subway station complex shared by the BMT Fourth Avenue Line, the BMT Brighton Line and the IRT Eastern Parkway Line, located at Atlantic, Fourth, and Flatbush Avenues and Pacific Street in Downtown Brooklyn. The complex is served by the:

2, 4, D, N, Q and R trains at all times

3 train at all times except late nights

5 and B trains weekdays only

W train during rush hours only, with a few trips in the peak direction

Neighborhood = Brooklyn NY 11217

Transit connections = NYCT Bus: B37, B41, B45, B63, B65, B67, B99

MTA Bus: B103 LIRR: City Terminal Zone 

This station is always busy and never really empty but during the COVID 19 pandemic I got some clean shots of it being as empty as it can be. 

📷by aagdolla ©2020

[b-beams]

Taking the Tube when you’re Autistic - what to expect

If you’ve never taken the Tube or don’t know about it, it’s the London Underground Train system. It’s often A Lot for autistic people...

The pros: quick to get between places (...?)

Maybe there are more pros, but taking the tube is really not my favourite because of all:

The difficult things:

- so many people

- people will bump into you, brush past you, lean against you and generally get in your personal space because it’s so crowded. Their bags or clothes might also do the same.

(- as with anywhere crowded, danger of pickpocketing? it’s not happened to me but it’s something to think about)

- the suspicious underground breeze. I guess it’s because of the trains moving through tunnels, but having a breeze underground is odd to me + it weirded me out the first time I went on the tube! Sometimes it’s warm, sometimes it’s cool. 

- sometimes the suspicious underground breeze smells a bit. You’re also in a crowd of people often, so you might have to deal with their smells too. Maybe if you have a smell you like in a little pot (like a hand cream or something?) you could carry that with you to smell?

- the carriages are often hot, so it’s good to wear layers! it’s good to take off your outside layer before you go underground (at the underground tube stations it’s often crowded + there’s not much space for manoeuvring). I prefer to wear something sleeveless (yesterday I wore a gilet over a zip up jumper over a buttoned up flannel shirt over a t-shirt - I took off the jumper on the street, then when I was on the tube undid the gilet, unbuttoned the shirt, and rolled up the sleeves to be a bit cooler.)

- it’s Loud. The brakes of the trains often do a big squeak when they’re stopping which is loud. There’s also a big rumble when the trains come out of the tunnel and into the staton to stop. (You can also feel the rumble through your feet on the ground.) There are lots of people too so there’s all their noise as well. I wouldn’t take the tube without headphones!! I don’t listen to music so I can have some awareness of what’s happening around me, but the noise without anything to muffle it would be Too Much.

- it’s underground so there’s all artificial lighting. You might want to wear sunglasses (it doesn’t tend to be overly bright in my experience but sometimes artificial light is just overwhelming in general)

- lots of advertising - it’s bright and colourful and some of the adverts move which can be overwhelming. It might be helpful to wear a cap to block out some of the visual input (or a hood if you don’t get too hot, although this might look ‘suspicious’ to some people so be aware). (A cap might also help with the artificial lighting situation.)

- the peak times are when the trains are busiest. It’s also super busy just before the peak times start, because everyone with off-peak tickets is trying to get to where they need to go before the peak time starts! (that was definitely true with the ‘end of the day’ peak time when i went on Friday, but I'm not sure what the crowds are like after peak time ends, and also both sides of the ‘start of the day’ peak.) If you can avoid these times, there are fewer people and it’s better all around.

- can be easy to get lost or disorientating - it’s underground so there are no landmarks around you. There are lots of train lines going to different places across the city that intersect each other at intervals. There are lots of signposts though! Often there are westbound and eastbound versions of the same train, on platforms on opposite sides of a tunnel, so you have to make sure which direction you need to travel in or you’ll end up really far in the opposite direction (that’s not the end of the world, just get off and get back onto the opposite direction version!)

It’s a good idea to prepare before you go, like by looking up online which stop you need and which line. Also, the stops are called the station names, not the name of the places that are nearby (that might be intuitive, but maybe not!) so make sure you know the station name for where you’re going! If you’re going somewhere well known, the announcement for the station might say something like “the next station is Green Park. Alight here for Buckingham Palace”, telling you to get off at that station if you want to go to that place. 

- tickets! there are different ways to pay depending on where you’re coming from. If you getting a train into London and then the Tube around the city, it might be cheaper to book in advance and get a Day Travelcard. You can also use a contactless card to pay as you go. Or you can just get a tube ticket from inside the stations. That’s another thing to look at in advance. 

- accessibility -  some stations are accessible for wheelchairs from street to train (there are lifts and ramps, and you can ask for assistance in the station).

- it might be better to take the bus? There are lots of buses in London, so you can get to where you need to, although they are slower than the Tube so it will take longer. They tend to be less busy though, you're above ground so there’s less weird sensory stuff, and you can see outside. The buses themselves are also quieter. Or if you do need to take the Tube, maybe get off a stop earlier than you need to and walk the last bit? 

[thelasttraintoarcady]

“The Tunnel” collage by Steev Burgess. Sorry to blitz you with so many arties at once, I’ve got limited access to the good scanner at the moment.

[handdrawnhistory]

Have you ever wondered how engineers address building London underground trains in the 1860s? It's a fascinating topic, full of challenges and incredible solutions. From the construction of the Thames Tunnel to the design of the trains themselves, there's so much to learn about. If you're curious, be sure to check out this video and discover the story behind the creation of the London underground trains.

[newsbites]

La station de métro Vieux-Port sera accessible aux personnes à mobilité réduite en 2024

À la fin du printemps 2024, les quais de la station de métro Vieux-Port seront accessibles aux personnes à mobilité réduite.Les travaux de mise en accessibilité de la station de métro Vieux-Port pour les personnes à mobilité réduite (PMR) ont démarré en janvier sur la place Gabriel Péri.La Métropole Aix-Marseille-Provence, en charge du chantier, indique que « des reconnaissances du sol sont actuellement en cours et que les forages commenceront courant mars ».

À l’horizon 2025, ce sont six nouvelles stations qui devraient être accessibles aux personnes à mobilité réduite : Vieux-Port, La Rose, Timone, Jules Guesde, Rond-Point du Prado et Saint-Charles. Les travaux de la station de métro Castellane ont en revanche été différés « pour ne pas interférer avec le chantier de l’extension du tramway », précise la Métropole. Sa transformation devrait intervenir en même temps que les autres stations du réseau, à partir de 2026.

At the end of spring 2024, the platforms of the Vieux-Port metro station in Marseille will be accessible to people with reduced mobility.

By 2025, six new metro stations in Marseille should be accessible to people with reduced mobility: Vieux-Port, La Rose, Timone, Jules Guesde, Rond-Point du Prado and Saint-Charles. Work on the Castellane metro station, on the other hand, has been postponed "so as not to interfere with the construction site for the extension of the tramway", specifies the Métropole. Its transformation should take place at the same time as the other stations in the network, from 2026.

[Via Google Translate]

[timestechnow]

MARL delivers efficient lighting for London Underground trains

MARL International has commenced delivery of energy-saving lighting for the Bakerloo line rolling stock operated