Perhaps because they represent a mysterious unseen underworld, disused Underground stations seem to fascinate a lot of people – including those who aren’t generally interested in trains. You could be forgiven for thinking that Underground sidings would carry the same cachet, but they seem to be a subject that is often overlooked.
Continue readingAuthor: Pedantic of Purley
Politics and London Transport
At London Reconnections we tend not to be introspective. After all it is transport you are interested in, not us. Amongst other things we try to maintain our reputation (and our readers) by being objective …
Continue readingTwo of Our Carriages Are Missing: Bringing Twelve Car Services to Hayes
If you use Hayes station in the peak period, you will notice that the trains stop about two carriages short of the buffer stops. This means that you, and everyone else, have to walk two …
Continue readingStretching the Line: Why We Do (and Don’t) Extend Tube Lines
With Crossrail under construction and extensions to both the Bakerloo and Northern Line being mooted, it seems a pertinent time to provide a brief reminder into some of the whys and wherefores for those less …
Continue readingCrossrail: Why Branch To Abbey Wood?
As regular readers have no doubt spotted, we are currently missing one final part of our London and South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) roundup – the proposals for West Anglia services into Liverpool Street …
Continue readingLooking East to the GEML – Not As Simple As It May First Appear
At first glance, the Great Eastern Main Line out of Liverpool Street would appear to be a doddle in RUS terms. Mentally, this author had expected to write a short paragraph on the lines out …
Continue readingJourney To The West: When Will Crossrail Open (And Does it Really Matter)?
With Crossrail now entering a more visually impressive phase, it is easy to forget that there are still some key elements yet to be finalized. This is something that several sources have reminded us of …
Continue readingLooking North: The Future of Kings Cross and Moorgate
The next stop in our random jaunt around the latest RUS is King’s Cross and the line from Finsbury Park to Moorgate. Historically King’s Cross has had to deal with a lot of terminating trains …
Continue readingPlaying The Waiting Game: Rail’s Future in London’s South East
To complete our round-up of what the London and South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) proposes for routes south of the Thames we look at the south eastern sector – essentially the routes into Charing …
Continue readingA Question Of Carriages: Increasing Services on the South West Main Line
One thing that swiftly becomes apparent when looking at the recent London and South East draft RUS is how the proposed solutions to capacity problems are very different for the different lines, which all have …
Continue readingThameslink and London Bridge – Background, Progress and Still Some Confusion
The original intention with this article was to write a short piece on what is to happen at London Bridge in the next seven years. Unfortunately, for reasons that will become apparent later, this has …
Continue readingExtending the DLR
The last time we addressed this subject was in reference to the speculative DLR Horizon 2020 report. Now, however, TfL have – without any accompanying publicity – put up a new map of potential DLR …
Continue readingThe RUS: The Windsor Lines and A Question of Crossings
And now for something completely different. Well, almost. The recent RUS defines the Windsor lines as ‘routes via Putney’. To put it another way these are South West Trains routes that originate at Waterloo and …
Continue readingThe East Croydon Problem – A Look At the Brighton Mainline
Given the impact it has on (and the commuters it carries to) London, it makes sense to take a brief look at some of the issues on the Brighton Main Line. It also makes sense …
Continue readingThe RUS: Thameslink Technicals and Hypotheticals
As most readers will know, the Thameslink Programme is a £5.5 billion project to upgrade and expand the the Thameslink service. More accurately, it is the name given to two related projects. One is lead …
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