As the Overground has grown, calls have increased to provide its sub-lines with clearer identities of their own. Behind the scenes, TfL have been working to do just that. Those new identities have now been …
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Covenants, Easements & Wayleaves: Mind the Gap of London Infrastructure Knowledge (Part 3)
This series has revealed a hitherto unknown complex and often murky relationship between London’s underground railways and its environment. Unsurprisingly in the twenty-first century, with so much of London having been tunneled, excavated, bombed, developed, …
Continue readingDay Travelcards – Their History, Importance, & Salvation (Ticketing Part 2)
Digital is the mainstream now in fare payment, but it does little for those like on no or small fixed incomes, recent immigrants, those without bank or Oyster cards, people uncomfortable or unable to use …
Continue readingChristmas Quiz 2023 Answers
As promised here are the answers to the Christmas Quiz. Comments are based on a limited number of responses sent in. Please mark your own work and tell us how you got on. The limited …
Continue readingHS2 – A High Speed Beeching
We have noticed a plethora of different analyses and realisations of the impacts of the recently-announced HS2 Phase 2 cancellation. Initially, there was a new article about it almost every day. Lately, it has slowed …
Continue readingLondon Reconnections 2023 Christmas Quiz
Our annual quiz continues. 2023 seems to have provided sufficient questions for roughly the same number of questions as is usually asked. This year, there are no ‘trick’ questions in the sense that in none …
Continue readingThe State of Rail: Breaking Down The Numbers
With discussion of ticket office closures and rail passenger numbers a political hot potato, it’s easy to forget that firm data on the state of rail in Great Britain does exist. We take a look at the ORR’s latest figures (April – June 2023) and TfL’s recent Crossrail Usage report.
Continue readingReconnections’ Miscellany: Technical Plots – October 2023
More Autonomous People you’ll meet in Transport BDSM – Buses do so much BESS – battery energy storage system Comment Colonels – Armchair experts ready to comment to the death on their favourite topic, armed with nothing …
Continue readingGetting more bang for your buck – The Bangkok rail explosion
Having recently discussed how the laissez-faire approach to transit and urban planning in Jakarta is holding the city back, in this City Snapshot Dr Chris Hale focuses on one of Jakarta’s competitor Southeast Asian cities …
Continue readingBrightline Trip Review – The new US private passenger railway
“Florida has North America’s best passenger rail service.” That was my thought after riding Florida East Coast Railway’s Brightline passenger rail service which runs between Miami and West Palm Beach. Unfortunately, I also experienced what …
Continue readingReconnections’ Miscellany: Lord Dawlish speaks! – August 2023
London and South East Region Line Nicknames Transport for London’s Lineage Organisation Brand Reports to Date Metropolitan, Great Northern, and Metropolitan East London Railways Metropolitan Railway shareholders 1863-1933 Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL)[financed …
Continue readingHow Montréal’s REM learnt from the Paris RER – Automatic for the People
Move over RER, Montréal’s new fully automated Réseau express métropolitain (REM)’s first segment has opened. Once fully completed, the REM line will link directly across Montréal Island north, south, and west. Essentially, a Regional Express …
Continue readingFloors – The Next Dimension in Safety and Wayfinding
Station and platform floors have traditionally been unadorned, and only recently has their potential as a blank canvas for relaying information to passengers been utilised. The floor is the stage on which the drama of …
Continue readingPhoenix Rises – Return of the Airship
Spy balloons over the US and Canada, with some being shot down, have been a major news story in recent months. But what is not in the mainstream news is the spotting of what appears …
Continue readingThe Stairway to Heaven: the greatest disaster ever on London’s Tubes
There’s an oddly shaped war memorial in Bethnal Green Gardens, the park next to my local tube station. It looks like an upside down staircase, made of what I’m assuming is wood but looks to …
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