If you go to Paddington main line station and follow the signs to platform 14 …
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Switchin’ at Hitchin: A Quick Update
Map courtesy of Network Rail In 2009, we described how Network Rail planned to debottleneck the ECML at Hitchin by building a flyover from the Down Slow to the Down Cambridge at Cambridge Junction. This, …
Continue readingPostscript: Thameslink and The Transport Committee
We really were going to take a break from Thameslink and look at a few completely different topics. We recently covered Thameslink twice – here and here. Then along came the GLA Transport Committee and …
Continue readingCrossrail Gets Its Roundel
For some time now we’ve known, roughly, what Crossrail’s stations will look like on the inside, thanks to a visit to their mockup station back in 2011. One key design question has, however, remained – will Crossrail get a roundel? The image at the top of this article represents the answer. It will, and it will be purple, with a blue bar. Crossrail will also use TfL New Johnston as its primary typeface.
Continue readingThe Beeching Report: 50 Years On
in March 1963 a small book of around 150 pages was published by the British Railways Board. Its official title was The Reshaping of British Railways. Inevitably, however, it became known by the name of the man who headed British Railways at the time. An industrial chemist who had previously headed ICI, he was “on loan” from that organisation with a remit to sort out the problem of the railways. That man was Dr Richard Beeching, and this was “The Beeching Report.”
Continue readingA Glimpse Into the Past
Recently, the Financial Times celebrated 125 years of publication and reproduced, by way of remembrance, a copy of its first front page, of 13th February, 1888. The front page makes interesting reading for LR readers, …
Continue readingThe Transport Committee: Crossrail and the Overground Talk Shop
Today’s London Assembly Transport Committee meeting covered Crossrail and wider London Rail developments – two areas of great interest to LR readers. Andrew Wolstenholme (CEO) and Terry Morgan (Chairman) both attended from Crossrail. Taking Crossrail …
Continue readingTfL Make Changes To Bus Transfer Tickets
One of the London Bus Network’s least known features (second, perhaps, only to the fact that there is actually no such a thing as a “compulsory stop”) has long been the existence of the “transfer …
Continue readingTowards The Start of a New Era on the South London Line?
Late last year we reported on the opening of stage II of the East London Line and also said farewell to the South London Line (SLL). Nowadays it is not often that we see a …
Continue readingWhat’s it all about, Thameslink?
The intention was to hold off from writing another article about Thameslink until the routes involved were finally decided. Our article in 2011 was rather speculative due to lack of decision making and definite information …
Continue readingHoward Smith to Join Crossrail
Crossrail have announced that Howard Smith, currently Chief Operating Officer at TfL London Rail, will join Crossrail in March as Operations Director: Howard Smith is currently Chief Operating Officer for Rail at Transport for London …
Continue readingThe Hackney Downs – Hackney Central Link
Plans for the Hackney Downs – Hackney Central pedestrian link has been approved by Hackney Council, and full details can now be found online. According to TfL, the link will cost about £5m The two …
Continue readingThe Past and Future of Finsbury Park
Finsbury Park Station. Its very name has been known to elicit a shudder from the passengers condemned to use its narrow winding passageways, inadequate (and largely un-weatherproof) ticket offices, and grimy stairwells. That’s a lot …
Continue readingTfL Announce Beginning of Overground Capacity Work
TfL have released a press release officially confirming that they have begun work on expanding Overground services (where possible) to 5-car services: A programme to introduce five-car trains on all London Overground routes and increase …
Continue readingThameslink: Losing The Plot Whilst Looping the Loop?
In the late 1970s the Chrysler Corporation of America was in deep financial trouble. No-one wanted to buy their cars. Lee Iacocca, a former president of Ford Motors who was fired when he fell out …
Continue readingWhen The Ticking Has to Stop: The Radlett SRFI
What happens when the parcel stops ticking? As our legislators’ thoughts turned towards tinsel, we saw again the traditional parliamentary game known as “When the music (parliamentary questions) stop – let’s stop passing the ticking …
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