On April 23rd a meeting was held at the Drayton Court Hotel to update residents on Crossrail’s plans for the new station at West Ealing. Crossrail will move the entrance from its current location to the corner of Manor Road and Argyle Road. Both platforms will be step free, and plans already cater for a cafĂ© with tables outside!Plans already made that are of relevance to cyclists range from putting down red tarmac at the junction of The Avenue, Manor Road and Argyle Road, removing the Waitrose traffic island, putting bicycle markings on the road, upgrading Jacob’s Ladder (the footbridge to the west of West Ealing station) to become more cycle friendly by laying down a gutter to run alongside the steps, to most importantly installing covered cycle parking for up to 250 bikes using the double stacking method on the western side of the station.
I highlighted to the Crossrail representative the council’s magnificent ambition to turn Ealing into a mini-Holland and asked him to review the capacity to double it. The design consultant accepted the point, and will try to see if it’s now possible to come up with a design to include cycle parking on both sides of the entrance, which, if it goes through, will consist of enough storage to hold a total of 500 bikes.
Construction will start early next year and be completed in 2017. It is comforting to know that TfL has already assigned Ealing £1.5 million to make improvements afterwards, or to put right poor design features! - Ben Owen