London Reconnections

Suburban Commandos: Transport and London 2050

On 6 April 2014 By Jonathan Roberts In Board meetings, Construction projects, DfT, London Assembly, London Overground, London Underground, Mayor's Office, Mayor's Transport Strategy, Rail devolution, TfL

Londoners with a particular interest in politics and planning may have noticed a new phrase appear in the lexicon of both in recent months – London 2050. In this article we take a closer look at precisely what that phrase means, and how thinking is shaping up so far. For when it comes to transport infrastructure 2050 is far closer than one might think.

London Bridge: The First Sign of Things to Come

On 4 April 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In In Pictures, London Bridge, Network Rail, Southern

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 …

Crossrail: Reading the Future

On 27 March 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail

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 …

Off-peak on the London Overground and the DLR

On 24 March 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In DLR, London Overground

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 …

Robert Crow, RMT General Secretary (1961 – 2014)

On 11 March 2014 By John Bull In Obituaries

It is with great sadness that London Reconnections has learned of the death of Robert “Bob” Crow, who passed away in the early hours of this morning. From the moment he started his first job …

London Underground: Off-Peak Practice

On 11 March 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In Bakerloo Line, Central line, Jubilee line, London Underground, Northern line, Piccadilly line, Victoria line

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 …

Crossrail: A Fit Off-Peak?

On 10 March 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In Crossrail, Freight, GOBLIN

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 …

In Pictures: Crossrail’s Eastern Tunnels & Canary Wharf

On 25 February 2014 By John Bull In Crossrail, In Pictures, Uncategorized

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, …

Almost Terminal: Marylebone’s Brush With Destruction

On 20 February 2014 By Abe In History

Looking at the frequent services operated today by Chiltern Railways, it seems hard to believe that the rail lines into Marylebone were once seriously considered for closure. Yet back in the mid-1980s under-utilization of the …

Questioning Capacity: How Quickly Will Crossrail’s New Trains Fill Up?

On 18 February 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In Construction projects, Crossrail

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 …

More Than Politics: Bombardier Gets Crossrail Rolling Stock

On 6 February 2014 By John Bull In 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 …

A Window Into Crossrail From the National Audit Office

On 24 January 2014 By John Bull In Crossrail, DfT, TfL

As a public project with Department for Transport ownership (albeit in this case jointly with TfL), Crossrail is subject to a number of elements of public project governance. One of the most interesting of these …

Section of Victoria Line Closed Due to Concrete Ingress

On 23 January 2014 By John Bull In Victoria line

As has been reported on Twitter and elsewhere, the Victoria Line is currently suffering delays due to concrete damage in a signal control room at Victoria. Whilst we cannot confirm these apparent photos of the …

TfL Confirm Turnham Green Services After Piccadilly Line Upgrade

On 21 January 2014 By John Bull In District line, Piccadilly line

At the beginning of the month, in our article on the future of the Piccadilly Line, Pedantic of Purley indicated that London commuters would almost certainly see Piccadilly Line trains stopping at Turnham Green on …

Automatic for the People: Driverless Trains and the Underground

On 18 January 2014 By Pedantic of Purley In History, London Underground, Piccadilly line, Politics

In our look at the Piccadilly Line upgrade we explained that the line would be upgraded so as to be capable of unattended train operation (UTO) with the exception of the Rayners Lane – Uxbridge …