Matt at the Londonist is a long time friend of this website and former KX worker. I was delighted he gave me permission to re-run this astonishing diagram of the lifts at Kings Cross station. I am often totally bewildered by the signage 'Regents Canal' and loads of people moan about the anti-human design of the station but this takes the biscuit. A fine example of Network Rails alternate planning reality. We can now add 'phantom lift B' to the oddities of Platforms 9 and 3/4, Platform 0 and the sheer madness of signing Regents Canal. Here's the Londonist's take:
'Stumbling drunkenly through King’s Cross recently, we decided, for incoherent reasons, to take the lift rather than the escalator. We discovered a parallel world, with a network of lift shafts so complex they require their own stylised navigation chart.
With a bit of study, the chart is reasonably clear, given that it must describe nine separate systems communicating with four different levels. But where are lifts B and I? And what the Otis would happen if we took lift A up to Regent’s Canal?
The situation is likely to get even more complex when the new western concourse opens in about a year. So, any design tips for TfL to make their lift maps as legible as the Tube map? And are there any stations (Bank, perhaps?) where the elevators are even more fiendish?'
Kings Cross Environment 
