It is easy to forget sometimes that for an “Underground” railway, Crossrail will spend a considerable amount of time on the surface. We have covered the North-Eastern arm of Crossrail on various occasions. The most …
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Why They Call It The Blues: A Look at Crossrail’s Launch Plan
Back in November last year we covered TfL’s plans to launch the first Crossrail services under a TfL Rail brand. As we explained at the time, the idea of launching the first MTR-run Crossrail services …
Continue readingMind the Branding Gap: First Crossrail Services to Launch as TfL Rail
Back in July, MTR were awarded the contract to run all Crossrail services. It would be easy to assume that this translates to services starting in 2018, when the central tunnel section is due to …
Continue readingLondon 2050 (Part 4): Towards Maximum Rail capacity
The well-being of London and its hinterland as a World City will depend heavily on its effective transport offer. We look at what the various main line projects (and more) mean for the Capital.
Continue readingLondon 2050 (Part 3): Tracks to the Future
How might we shape the pattern of London’s growth and development to help bring about a more sustainable outcome? In this part (and the next) of our continuing series we’ll look at the ‘quantity and quality’ schemes arriving at this electronic platform now for rail (above ground and below), surface transport and integration and interchange.
Continue readingIn Pictures: Crossrail Site Webcams
Long-time followers of Crossrail will be aware that for sometime the company has had webcams in place at a number of key construction sites. Over the years these have produced a number of interesting static …
Continue readingLondon 2050 (Part 2): Whether the Forecasts
In part 2 of our detailed look at London 2050 we look at what it forecasts for both jobs and population – and how these affect the proposed transport strategy to be found within it.
Continue readingCrossrail to Tring: An HS2 Hijack
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 …
Continue readingMTR To Operate Crossrail Concession
We wrote recently about how Crossrail would operate and now we know who – it was announced this morning that MTR have been selected as the successful bidder for the £1.4bn, eight year (extendable to …
Continue readingPurple Reign – How Crossrail Will Be Run
There was a time when your humble Editor worked in the Civil Service. From this period of personal history two clear memories stick out. Firstly that there was once a genuine publication titled Guidance on …
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 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 readingIn Pictures: Crossrail’s Eastern Tunnels & Canary Wharf
As Pedantic of Purley pointed out recently, it has been some time since we properly paid Crossrail some attention. As much as it is important to delve into the world of timetables and capacity though, …
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 …
Continue readingMore Than Politics: Bombardier Gets Crossrail Rolling Stock
As had been widely anticipated for some time, this morning the winner of the Crossrail rolling stock and depot contract was announced. The (approximately) £1bn contract covers the supply of 65 nine car trains (which …
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