We like to think it is not often we get caught out at London Reconnections. Often there’s a hint, either spotter or official, if not an openly advanced warning, about significant announcements. Other times we …
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A Study In Sussex part 4: Victoria (the Brighton Line)
The Brighton Main Line (BML) from Victoria (and London Bridge) needs more capacity. This has been known for years but more recently it has been clear that demand has been accelerating and showing no indication …
Continue readingA Study in Sussex Part 3: HS1 to Hastings?
In part 2 of our look at Sussex we made much of the economic problems of Hastings. In this part we will look at a radical proposal to improve the service from London to Hastings …
Continue readingA Study in Sussex Part 2: Getting Politiconomical
In part 2 of our Study in Sussex we look at the politics and economics behind the railway debate currently underway – both of which are playing a key role in determining what service provision …
Continue readingA Study in Sussex Part 1: An Overview and a Rather Curious Announcement
Sussex may not at first glance appear to be part of our self-imposed London-related-only remit but an awful lot of railway activity that goes on in Sussex does relate to London. We are thus going …
Continue readingKing’s Cross and A City of Two Tales
In a look around King’s Cross we saw the remarkable transformation that is going on in this area. We are not the only ones to have observed this. Evan Davis, the BBC broadcaster, used the …
Continue readingIn Pictures: A look Around King’s Cross
At London Reconnections we often look at railway schemes and station enhancements but, perhaps inevitably, tend to view these solely from a railway perspective. So let us take a look at the area around King’s …
Continue readingAsphalt and Battery: The future of the London Bus (part 2)
In the comments following part 1 of The Future of the London Bus we saw how controversial just about every single aspect of a London bus can be. Size, style, configuration, means of procurement and …
Continue readingRoute Mastery :The Future of the London Bus (Part 1)
We are ashamed to admit that there is a distinct bias on London Reconnections towards trains. Despite the fact that it is used for 50% more passenger journeys than the Underground, the venerable London bus …
Continue readingLondon Bridge: The First Sign of Things to Come
Its been almost exactly a year since we last gave an update on the Thameslink work at London Bridge. Since then a lot of work has gone on. Some of this is visible at the …
Continue readingCrossrail: Reading the Future
At yesterday’s TfL Board Meeting “Crossrail Enhancements” were discussed, in a non-public session, and agreed. These enhancements were the extension of Crossrail to Reading, which will be officially announced today. That Crossrail will be extended …
Continue readingOff-peak on the London Overground and the DLR
We recently looked at the off-peak service on the eastern Crossrail branches. We have also seen what future plans there are for the off-peak service on London Underground, which to a certain extent did not …
Continue readingLondon Underground: Off-Peak Practice
As we covered in our look at Crossrail’s upcoming off-peak service, when talking about frequencies on London Underground (LU) it is an almost inevitable fact that minds concentrate on the peak period services and the …
Continue readingCrossrail: A Fit Off-Peak?
We have already seen how population estimates for growth in London have been seriously underestimated and how there is concern in some quarters that Crossrail will be “full up” when it opens. The presumption was …
Continue readingQuestioning Capacity: How Quickly Will Crossrail’s New Trains Fill Up?
We had gone for quite a while without looking at Crossrail other than to publish some of the dramatic pictures made available showing the progress of the construction works. That had already started to change …
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