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Should the Circle line be replaced with a travelator?

Isabelle Aron
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Isabelle Aron
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Back in 2009, the Circle Line got stripped of its 'circle' status when TfL added an extension to Hammersmith station - and now a London architect firm wants to do away with the tubes too. Apparently the Circle Line is so goddamn slow that the folks at architect firm NBBJ reckon we'd be better off replacing the whole thing with a high-speed moving walkway and making the journey on our own two feet.

Their idea is to create a three lane system with a 'slow lane' reaching up to 9mph, a 'middle lane' with a maximum speed of 12mph and a 'fast lane' whizzing by at 15mph. But to stop any speed demons just jumping straight on at 15mph, passengers would step onto the travelator from feeder walkways going at 3mph before making their way into the 'slow lane' to start. At the moment, it takes about an hour to travel the length of the Circle Line but the firm think the travelator could get it down to 56 minutes if someone was walking at around 3mph in the 'fast lane'. If nothing else, at least it would put a stop to seat politics on the tube. Although we'd probably all start fighting to get in the fast lane instead.

Want more tube news? Delays on the underground are getting worse.

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