Oxford Circus Central Line Interchange Changes?

Can anyone help with the strange interchanges at Oxford Circus London Underground or the Direct Access to Central Line Conundrum. London Lass sent me an email about some puzzling goings on at the station last night.  She wrote: 

"Why I am putting fingers to my keyboard, is I was hoping you might be able to shed some light about what's going on at Oxford Circus Tube Station. 

Photo by mattbuck4950

On arriving at the station last night I was greeted by a blocked off accessway (that usually takes you to a little escalator which whisks you down on to the Central Line platforms) covered with a plethora of construction and planning notices. 

An LUL member of staff was standing next to the blocked off accessway so I asked him what was going on? He replied, dont worry, the Central Line was still working. Ok so why has the usual accessway been blocked off?, I chirruped back. He replied that it was nothing for me to worry about. Oh, well is it works being carried out?, I chirruped further. Escalator, he chimed back, follow the notices on the way for alternative route to the Central Line. 

And do you want to know how long it takes to use their `alternative' route (esp. in the middle of rush hour)? Another 5-10 minutes on your journey (depending on how fast you walk) as it takes you to another bank of escalators, on to the southbound Bakerloo Line platform, which you then have to walk down, exit, walk on further, round and round, and then walk up and down steps, until you finally manage to come full circle to reach the Central Line platforms. 

Aside from the odd disgruntled comment on Twitter I havent been able to find any reference to these works on-line (not even on LU's website) and wondered if you might have any information on how long this accessway/escalator will be closed down for?"

If anyone knows what this is about or how long it's going on for please let us know.

Update - Just heard from TfL's Press Office who said "Due to planned escalator maintenance work, the single escalator that leads down to the Central line platforms will be out of service to passengers. Customers wanting to use the Central line from Oxford Circus will be directed to alternate routes around the station by staff and signage that is up at the station. The works which commenced this week are due to be completed by early November. We apologise to customers for any disruption this may cause to their journeys."  So now we know.

London Underground; Tube Posted by annie mole Wednesday, October 03, 2012 Permalink COMMENT HERE
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