Who watches over us from the Heavens when we travel? We take a non-denominational look …
Continue reading
The 2012 Christmas Quiz
It’s that time of the year again, and the minds here at LR Towers have been beavering away preparing the most devious of questions for you all. Whether we’ll manage to fox as many people …
Continue readingIn Pictures: The Crossrail TBMs
A gloomy Monday in Germany this week presented us with a rare opportunity – the chance to see the first (and, as it happened also the second) of Crossrail’s Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) close up. …
Continue readingPeeling the Orange: Usage Stats on the London Overground
Last month’s Rail and Underground panel featured an interesting short report that broke down London Overground usage and ridership. It included a look at the East London Line figures since its reopening. We looked in …
Continue readingIn Pictures: Tottenham Court Road Reopens
For almost eight months now, for travellers on the Northern Line’s Charing Cross branch, the next station from Goodge Street has been Leicester Square and from Leicester Square, Goodge Street. Today the Northern line platforms …
Continue readingThe Shape of Things to Come Part 3: The Hard Path to Change
“And one should bear in mind that there is nothing more difficult to execute, nor more dubious of success, nor more dangerous to administer than to introduce a new order of things; for he who …
Continue readingThe Shape of Things to Come Part 2: What the Operational Strategy Discussion Paper Means for the Underground
The word “driverless” does not feature in the Operational Strategy Discussion Paper once. Given the amount of times this word has appeared in the press recently, the above statement may seem rather surprising. What it …
Continue readingThe Shape of Things to Come Part 1: What the Operational Strategy Discussion Paper Means for the Underground
Last week saw the future of the Underground thrust firmly into the light again thanks to the leak, by the RMT, of an internal London Underground Operation Strategy Discussion Paper to selected news sources. The …
Continue readingDeveloper Funding For Surrey Canal Road Agreed
Lewisham Council have granted outline planning permission for developer Renewal’s proposed £850m housing and retail development on the “Surrey Canal Triangle” site. A package of transport improvements are mandated as part of the work – …
Continue readingTwo of Our Carriages Are Missing: Bringing Twelve Car Services to Hayes
If you use Hayes station in the peak period, you will notice that the trains stop about two carriages short of the buffer stops. This means that you, and everyone else, have to walk two …
Continue readingIn Pictures: Moving the Mail Rail
Whilst we tend to concentrate on the movement of people and freight, there are other uses to which rail has been put in London – notably the movement of mail. Earlier this year the British …
Continue readingThe Shape of London’s Rail Network – A Peek Into The Future
In our previous post on the shape of the London rail network, we looked back at two key decision points which established our infrastructure legacy: the ring of termini that gave rise to the pattern …
Continue readingWe Built This City, We Built This City at Oh –Oh –Cee
Our chum, Greg Burns, writing in the Fulham Chronicle, draws our attention to a youtube video of Hammersmith and Fulham Council’s vision for Old Oak Common. Old Oak Common (the Starship version) He writes: The …
Continue readingWhere Lame Ducks Dare? Benchmarking the London Cable Car
Not A London Cable Car Mockup (courtesy the Ronald Grant Archive) Today has seen the announcement that the London Cable Car has finally found its sponsor – Emirates Airline. Emirates will contribute £36m to the …
Continue readingChanges to District Services to Olympia Confirmed
TfL have confirmed that the changes they proposed to make to Olympia services will definitely come into force in December. After pressure from various groups over the decision, TfL had (somewhat reluctantly) agreed to carry …
Continue readingTfL Board Papers: It’s Not Just About Picking Up The Pieces – It’s About Stopping It Falling Apart
Peter Hendy’s Commissioner’s Report for September 2011 to the TfL Board demonstrates yet again the resilience and tenacity of the people who make London’s transport work. Comment from us would be superfluous so we quote …
Continue reading