Yesterday l was pleasantly surprised to see one of the national papers, the Guardian editorial taking an interest in a very local interest for many using the tube in central London, where’s the Circle line gone?  

I welcomed the change made in December 2009 to extended the service to Hammersmith, making it more reliable with fewer delays as well. Little did l realise it would put a stop to the service going anti-clockwise (Westbound) from Edgware Rd tube station as the Guardian editorial suggests and appears to be the case from my own useage of the station. So rather then a Circle line we have a Lasso line, as it extends itself to Hammersmith.

Now it should not be to hard to have Circle lines trains going westbound from Edgware Rd, as its central to any improvements. The thing which would really transform the service is removing the dated signal box at Edgware Rd tube stations which dates back to the 1920’s and still controls amazingly one of the busiest junctions on the tube map.  Improve this and you could have more trains going through the junction in both directions.

On the same matter, Simon Jenkins takes a different angle in his column of the 18th of December in the Evening Standard. He is right to look forward to celebrating the Metropolitan line’s 150th birthday in 2013 but l am not sure its being getting the respect it deserves as the Metropolitan ( between Paddington & Farringdon line )line falls well behind other younger lines like the Victoria, Jubilee & Northern lines in its upgrade works. As a result the signal box in Edgware Road dates back to the 1920’s and in Baker Street rain regularly gets down to platform 5 from the Marylebone Rd above. You would have thought these oldest line would be first, in the queue to get upgraded. Instead much newer lines like the Victoria line opened in 1970 and the Jubilee extension has had alot more attention by London Underground both within the PPP and outside it. If these signal upgrades and platform works were done before the celebrations of London’s public transport heritage, that would be more fitting way to celebrate their 150th birthday.

So lets see the Circle line brought back with improvements at Edgware Rd tube and in particular the updating of the signal box at the tube station. In the meantime, it should be known as the lasso line.