Long reads Archives - Page 3 of 8 - London Reconnections

Floors – The Next Dimension in Safety and Wayfinding

On 13 July 2023 By Long Branch Mike In Design, Long reads, Nudges, Stations

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 …

Phoenix Rises – Return of the Airship

On 22 June 2023 By Long Branch Mike In Aerial, Long reads, Technology

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 …

The Stairway to Heaven: the greatest disaster ever on London’s Tubes

On 8 June 2023 By Jonn Elledge In History, Long reads

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 …

Poem on the Opening of the Elizabeth line: First Anniversary

On 24 May 2023 By Long Branch Mike In Arts, Crossrail, Long reads

With thanks to Jonathan Baggs MCIPR for this poem and allowing us to republish it on the anniversary of the final stage opening of the Elizabeth line 24 May 2022. Twas the Night before Crossrail, …

Crossrail – the May 2023 ‘final’ timetable

On 17 May 2023 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, Long reads, Night

Much has already been written about the Elizabeth line 2023 timetable – the so called ‘final’ timetable signifying the completion of the Crossrail scheme with all the proposed services implemented and 24tph (trains per hour) …

Rail Ticketing in a post-Covid World

On 8 May 2023 By Pedantic of Purley In COVID, Long reads, Railways, Technology

The Covid pandemic has had a lasting impact on Britain’s railways. Undoubtedly the most significant impact has been on changing travel patterns in general and, in particular, a reduction in commuting and other business travel …

Superloop: Analysis, hopefully not paralysis

On 27 April 2023 By Martha Lauren In Buses, Long reads, TfL

Someone at City Hall found the box of crayons. On the 28th of March, Transport for London unveiled a map of a new transport proposal. It featured a colour scheme to rival the New Jersey …

The Great Western Main Line to Reading in the era of Crossrail

On 17 April 2023 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, GWR, Long reads

Much has been written about the Crossrail project and the benefits of the Elizabeth line. Nearly everything written about its benefits looks at the benefits to users of the Elizabeth line. But often transport projects …

The Flowering of Overground lines & colours – How Soon is Now?

On 4 April 2023 By Long Branch Mike In Design, Long reads, Maps, Overground, Rail devolution

In his 2021 London Mayoral Election Manifesto, Sadiq Khan proposed giving names (and potentially their own colours) to London Overground lines to give them a unique identity. “TfL’s London Overground network has grown considerably over …

The Mysterious Case of the Gidea Park Shorts

On 21 March 2023 By Pedantic of Purley In Central line, Crossrail, Focus, Long reads, Railways

Just in case anyone thought this might be a whodunnit concerning a pair of minimal trousers, let it be known that its current use is to describe an apparently strange feature of the Crossrail timetable. …

Everything I learned from Scotrail’s automated station announcements

On 9 March 2023 By Jonn Elledge In Long reads, Stations

Just occasionally, something good happens on the internet. Jon Brady, a reporter at Scotland’s Daily Record newspaper, tweeted that he’d unearthed a two hour MP3 containing all ScotRail’s automated station announcements. A coder named Matt Eason split them into 2,440 individual …

Meetup: Change of day and change of location

On 5 March 2023 By Pedantic of Purley In Long reads, Meetup

We are changing our pub venue and day of the week when we will meet. We will give more details nearer the time, but for the moment please note that from March onward we will …

The Slow Death Of Heathrow Express

On 21 February 2023 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, Heathrow, Long reads, Old Oak Common

When discussing Crossrail, commenters have often speculated on the ultimate demise of Heathrow Express – the private train operating company that runs a non-stop express service between Paddington and Heathrow. This speculation is generally predicated …

Pop Art tunnel Michelangelo – Dragados & the Art of Tunnel Scanning

On 15 February 2023 By Long Branch Mike In Infrastructure, Long reads, Technology, Tunnels

On July 20, 2022, the heat from an exploratory drill inside Montréal’s century old Mont-Royal railway tunnel, advance work for the city’s modern Réseau Express Métropolitain (REM) automated Métro line, caused an explosion. It was …

Jakarta’s Transport & Urban Planning – Progress?

On 19 January 2023 By Chris Hale In City Snapshot, Infrastructure, Long reads

Jakarta, the (current) capital of Indonesia and home to over 10 million inhabitants, has long been plagued by choking traffic and air pollution. It spent the previous decade developing integrated public transport to increase modal …