Saturday, 24 June 2006

Update to 'The Impossible Train Journey'

This first section of Mind the Gaps Part 1 is updated to include more information:

THE IMPOSSIBLE TRAIN JOURNEY

It was originally announced that the men had taken the 0740 train from Luton to Kings Cross Thameslink on the morning of July 7th. An eyewitness later stated that she had been at Luton station that morning and that the 0740 never ran that day. Thameslink Rail later confirmed that not only had the 0740 been cancelled but that all trains that morning ran with heavy delays due to problems further up the line. This confirmation first came from Marie Bernes at Thameslink Customer Relations and then from Chris Hudson, the Communications Manager at the time for Thameslink Rail at Luton.

When it was later reported that the men had taken the 0748 train, it was found that this scenario could not be the correct one either. The 0748 did not reach Kings Cross Thameslink in time for the men to have made the journey to Kings Cross station to have been captured on CCTV “shortly before 8.30am” as the police stated. The 0748 did not reach Thameslink until 8.42am; seven minutes after the Eastbound Circle Line train had departed from Kings Cross, which later exploded between Liverpool St. and Aldgate.

The 0730 train actually left Luton station at 7.42am. Again, this train arrived at Thameslink station four minutes after the first of the bombed tubes had already departed Kings Cross.

The men were shown on a single CCTV image taken from outside Luton station, apparently entering the station six seconds before 7.22am, according to the timestamp on the image. On this basis, the earliest train they could have caught would have been the train that left Luton at 7.25am. This train arrived at King's Cross Thameslink at 8.23am.The Government narrative of the London Bombings states that the men caught the non-existent 0740 train and that it arrived at Thameslink at 8.23am.

The narrative then says that the men were caught on CCTV at King's Cross Thameslink at 8.26am, whereas it was previously reported that this sighting had occurred at Kings Cross mainline station. The narrative goes on to say that the men were seen again, four minutes later at Kings Cross mainline, where they proceeded to split up in different directions, giving the impression that each man was off to board a tube train. The quickest route from Thameslink to the tube lines is through an underground subway but the narrative does not specify their alleged route from King's Cross Thameslink station to the mainline station.

TFL Journey Planner advises to allow 6 minutes to transfer between King's Cross Thameslink station and the mainline in the rush-hour, which doesn't allow sufficient time for the accused to transfer between the Thameslink and the mainline stations. The narrative states:

"The 4 are captured on CCTV at 08.26am on the concourse close to the Thameslink platform and heading in the direction of the London Underground system."

From the concourse of which the narrative is speaking, there are four directions in which the men could have gone:

1) Back down to the Thameslink platform they just came up from
2) Down to the northbound Thameslink platform
3) To the main exit out onto the street and
4) To the underground via the subway.

By saying the men were "heading in the direction of the London Underground system", the narrative is implying the men took the underground subway route. There have recently been refurbishments at Kings Cross station which now allow access from the Thameslink station to all tube lines. However, in July last year, it was only possible to access the Northern, Victoria and Piccadilly lines this way. Therefore, this route would only have facilitated the journey of Lindsay, who is alleged to have boarded the Piccadilly Line train; the other two men who were alleged to have been on the Circle Line trains would have had to have found an alternative route to the Circle Line platforms, necessitating their splitting up and making it extremely unlikely they would have been seen together again at 8.30am, as the narrative reports.

If we bear in mind that the eastbound Circle Line train left first, at 8.35am, and that Tanweer was reported to have still been on the Thameslink platform at 8.26am, they would have had to have moved at a fast pace for him to have caught this train. There are no reported witness sightings of four men with large rucksacks running. It is extremely difficult to see how Tanweer got to the Circle Line platform so quickly, if he either had to go overground or take a complicated journey to the Circle Line platform from another of the only platforms he could have reached via the Thameslink subway.
We must also factor in that the narrative states:

"At around 08.30am, 4 men fitting their descriptions are seen hugging. They appear happy, even euphoric. They then split up. Khan must have gone to board a westbound Circle Line train, Tanweer an eastbound Circle Line train and Lindsay a southbound Piccadilly Line train. Hussain also appeared to walk towards the Piccadilly Line entrance."

The narrative does not state whether it was a sighting by a CCTV camera or a witness, or the exact location in Kings Cross station . However, this scenario of the men splitting up could only have occurred in the underground ticket hall of Kings Cross mainline station. There is only one entrance to the underground at Thameslink and also from the main concourse of the mainline station, so it would not be logical for the men to "split up" there.

Also confusing is that the Metropolitan police stated in a press conference that the men were already at Kings Cross mainline by 8.26am when they appealed for information about the movements of Hussain "between 8.26am at King's Cross and 9.47am on the no. 30 bus when the explosion occurred."

This states that 8.26am was the last sighting of the men, as opposed to the time of 8.30am given by the narrative and it is hard to see how they could have been on the concourse at Thameslink station at 8.26am and also at Kings Cross station at that time.

In conclusion, the incorrect train given by the narrative cannot be put down to simple error. Even if the men had taken a train from Luton which ran that morning, it still would have been extremely difficult, if not impossible, for them to have been sighted at Kings Cross at the time they were said to have been seen, or for them to have caught the underground trains which were later bombed.

The narrative even says there were witnesses on the non-existent train who believe they saw the men. How could this be so when there was no such train? The anomalies in the narrative account regarding the train, its arrival time and how the men could have been sighted at Kings Cross only serve to cause much confusion.

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