Westfield Shopping Centre finally opens to Transport hitches

If you're a Londoner but have been living on Mars for the past couple of days, you might have missed the news that Westfield Shopping Centre finally opened today. Over the last few weeks I'd already blogged about all the new London Underground stations (Wood Lane & Shepherd's Bush stations), and transport links set up to support the masses of people who'll be heading over to Shepherd's Bush / White City for a shopping extravaganza at Europe's largest new shopping centre.

However, the transport system had some technical hitches this week. Safety technology and a lift were not working at Wood Lane Tube station today, and one of the new 3 million quid escalators at the new Shepherd's Bush station broke down on Monday. Meanwhile over on the Hammersmith & City Line, the screens which show drivers when it's safe to shut the doors aren't working at Wood Lane station.


The Evening Standard earlier reported that "The current problems come after the opening of the new Shepherd's Bush overground station had to be delayed because the platforms were 18 inches too narrow. A TfL spokeswoman dismissed the problems, saying: "Three of the lifts at Wood Lane Tube station have been commissioned and provide enough capacity to meet passenger demand. The fourth lift is waiting for a part."

She said that platform screens would be working "shortly". TfL insisted the two escalators at Shepherd's Bush would cope.

The broken escalator was "swiftly repaired" and the station remained open, the spokeswoman added.

Hammersmith & Fulham council leader Stephen Greenhalgh said: "We intend to hold TfL to its promise of providing step-free access. We will not let this matter rest."

Let's hope that TfL can keep up.

I love shopping and can shop till I drop, but like Debbie Davies, I was somewhat bemused to see the rather err... worshipful advert for Westfield Shopping Centre's opening.


I couldn't have put it better than Debbie who said "Oh get over yourself! It's a glorified shopping mall, not a cure for cancer."

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