Post by Basil JetPost by ReclinerPost by CJBhttps://www.ianvisits.co.uk/blog/2018/02/18/reopening-the-piccadilly-lines-disused-york-road-tube-station/
The cheaper Maiden Lane option is interesting, particularly as the nearest
LO station is inconveniently far away. That could generate net extra usage,
whereas York Road would not.
Escalators might indeed be too expensive, but how about an inclined lift
in a new sloping shaft from the Piccadilly platforms to the Maiden Lane
site, where a new station would serve Piccadilly and NLL? A stepped
funicular (with flat counterweight) just tall enough for someone in a
wheelchair, with a few dozen seats in front or behind, would only
require a tunnel with about a quarter of the cross-sectional area of the
Southwark single escalator shafts.
Even simply reinstating the old York Rd Piccadilly line station, with
lifts, would be too expensive, both initially, and in running costs.
Building an all-new Piccadilly station to the north of the current
site would be much more expensive, and hence a non-starter. The
existing station platforms are too far south to be linked to a new LO
York Way station (HS1 is in between them).
Probably the only way this could happen is to built a pretty standard
LO York Way station, with stairs and disabled lifts. There's room, and
the tracks are almost straight:
https://binged.it/2BEPRDB