Transport news, like London buses, often seems to come in clumps. With the various recent announcements it would thus be easy to miss that TfL have published their draft Business Plan for the next decade. Due to the amount of information the Plan contains, several LR authors found themselves casting their eyes upon it, and thus we have decided to combine our efforts below. Setting the Scene Pedantic of Purley: Before we look at the details it probably makes sense … Continued

This post arguably needs little introduction. IanVisits (an occasional and always welcome guest author here at LR Towers) and M@ from Londonist were able to visit parts of Brompton Road, one of the Piccadilly Line’s disused stations. The little-used station, designed by Leslie Green, closed in 1934. It was used by the War Office as a command centre during WW2 (its wide lift shafts being converted into bunkered office space) and has remained in MOD hands ever since. A small … Continued

Mike Brown, London Underground’s new MD gave his first full interview on Friday to the Financial Times. It was an interview that did not contain much in the way of good news for those interested in the ongoing process of upgrading the Underground. Speaking on the subject of upgrades, Brown confirmed the following:Northern Line Upgrades This will not be completed on time. This isn’t entirely surprising given how far behind Tube Lines had fallen with the the work, and was … Continued

[Apologies for the lack of posts last week - business unfortunately intervened - JB] The PPP Arbiter has made his final direction on pricing for the second period of Tube Lines’ PPP contract – the final figure is £4.46bn. The figure is broadly inline with that proposed in December’s Draft Decision (the final figure represents an overall increase of £65m on the Draft) and comes after both Tube Lines and TfL’s post-December representations on any other information they felt should … Continued

When the architecture of the Underground is discussed, it is nearly always to the work of Charles Holden that comment turns. The reasoning for this, of course, is obvious. In the likes of Gants Hill, Arnos Grove and 55 Broadway, Holden left an architectural legacy that few other 20th Century figures could match. Holden’s legacy, however, often serves to distract from the work of another young architect roughly ten years before him. A man who would arguably do more to … Continued

As indicated last week, Thursday saw the publication of the first draft of the Arbiter’s report into the funding for RP2. A full summary of the 130 page report can be found below, but the headline item is obviously the figure that the Arbiter has attached to the work – and that figure is £4.4bn. That figure is based on a rescoped brief for the work agreed between Tube Lines and TfL earlier this year, work which TfL had priced … Continued

TfL yesterday announced an open competition to design a new Moquette for the Underground. The competition seems to be part of the preparations for the proposed 2012 Piccadilly Stock, and anyone interested in entering can find more details (and the pantone reference) on the official press release here. Sadly, it looks like this heralds the beginning of the end for Moquette variety on the Underground. A glance at the more detailed background documentation yields this particular paragraph: London Underground has … Continued

The latest six-monthly update on the work at Kings Cross has been released, which gives an idea of how things currently stand at the station. For those not wishing to read the full thing, the key points (and some images) are included below. A station concept image Firstly, work on the new sub-surface Northern Ticket Hall is nearing the final stages of construction. The Northern Ticket Hall as it will be The Northern Ticket Hall as it is now Current … Continued

Yesterday marked the deadline for the Tube Lines to respond to London Underground’s Restated Terms relating to the next 7.5 year phase of the PPP contract the company holds. The “funding gap” that currently exists between the two parties’ costing estimates has been well covered on here (and in the mainstream media) before. London Underground cost the work at £4.1bn, Tube Lines say it will come in at closer to £7.2bn, and if the two are unable to agree on … Continued

Accessibility, addressing overcrowding, reopening York Road, Wembly & Stanmore, Blackfriars announcements, Zone 1 criteria and it’s easy to make Bakerloo promises when it’ll happen after your term. What criteria did you use in determining which tube stations would proceed to step-free access and which would be dropped from previously agreed plans? – Joanne McCartney Tube stations which were included in the fully funded target to make 25% of stations step-free by 2010 will proceed as planned. Stations included in the … Continued