In Part 1 of our journey below Smithfield we followed in the footsteps of John Bull’s underground wander down the Widened Lines from Barbican. Here in Part 2 we leave him fumbling in the dark and emerge blinking into the light at Farringdon. We will not linger on the surface for long though because, as we have already discovered, the hidden delights lie underground. Scratch the surface, or dive beneath it, and you discover there is much more to the Smithfield area than meets the eye.
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In Pictures: A Walk On The Widened Lines
The next station we will visit at as part of our series on London’s major mainline stations will be Farringdon. Before then, though, Crossrail’s presence at Farringdon meant a potential opportunity to get a closer look at some railway infrastructure that is normally inaccessible to the public – the City Widened Lines.
Continue readingThe London Terminals: Blackfriars
Last weekend saw work at Blackfriars station reach a significant milestone, with the end of weekend and evening blockades and the opening of the new bay platforms. Whilst the impressive work at Kings Cross to the north has attracted a great deal of attention in recent months, it is arguably Blackfriars that represents the greater engineering achievement.
Continue readingA Brief Trip to Blackfriars
With Kings Cross drawing the eye to the north, it is easy to forget that work is still underway at Blackfriars. We last covered Blackfriars in detail at the beginning of last year when we …
Continue readingThe London Terminals: Kings Cross
With the Overground, Crossrail and the London Underground upgrades having dominated the Capital’s transport scene, it’s easy to forget that the next few years will see major changes for its surface terminals as well. We start our look at London’s Terminals with Kings Cross, where a major redevelopment project that arguably started almost fifteen years ago is now close to completion. It is a project that will reach an important milestone on Monday 18th March, when the new Western Concourse will officially open to passengers for the first time.
Continue readingLondon & Freight Part 2: The Freight Must Flow
The more we looked at rail freight in London the more we realised the significant challenges it poses, including to TfL’s aspirations for the Overground and its ‘strategic interchanges’. As the network in London reaches …
Continue readingAedas Appointed to Revamp Euston
Euston Concept Design Architects Aedas have been appointed to oversee a revamp of the existing concourse at Euston staton. In their own words: Aedas has developed a coherent language for the station wayfinding, retail signage …
Continue readingAn Un-natural Selection: Why London’s Franchises Should Be Devolved
In the concluding part of our recent series on the London Overground, we talked about the future of TfL’s Concession system. We also touched briefly on the wider topic – the “elephant in the room” …
Continue readingHaykerloo?
Back in September 2010, JB raised the question of possible extensions to the Bakerloo line south from Elephant and Castle to Hayes, as in Hayes but not as in Hayes and Harlington. The former being …
Continue readingFocusing On Kings Cross
Whilst the coming work at London Bridge may have been drawing our eye lately there is, of course, a major station project underway well north of the river as well – the redevelopment of Kings …
Continue readingJourney To The West: When Will Crossrail Open (And Does it Really Matter)?
With Crossrail now entering a more visually impressive phase, it is easy to forget that there are still some key elements yet to be finalized. This is something that several sources have reminded us of …
Continue readingPlaying The Waiting Game: Rail’s Future in London’s South East
To complete our round-up of what the London and South East Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS) proposes for routes south of the Thames we look at the south eastern sector – essentially the routes into Charing …
Continue readingThe Borough Bridge Move
Last weekend saw a major act of engineering undertaken south of the river – the moving into place of the bridge over Borough High Street which forms part of the track improvements taking place outside …
Continue readingThe RUS: Thameslink Technicals and Hypotheticals
As most readers will know, the Thameslink Programme is a £5.5 billion project to upgrade and expand the the Thameslink service. More accurately, it is the name given to two related projects. One is lead …
Continue readingThe RUS: Crossrail and the Reading Question
Some rail enthusiasts pore over timetables. There are those who look at maps in great detail. Other’s dissect the minutes of meetings in the quest for information. This author, however, often finds himself looking to …
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