Only a handful of North American cities have kept their pre-war streetcar networks. Why was …
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Looking North: The Future of Kings Cross and Moorgate
The next stop in our random jaunt around the latest RUS is King’s Cross and the line from Finsbury Park to Moorgate. Historically King’s Cross has had to deal with a lot of terminating trains …
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 readingIn Pictures: Stratford International DLR Extension
Today saw a number of London figures, including the Mayor and Transport Secretary Philip Hammond, participate in a “test run” on the new DLR Extension. Ostensibly to promote the various works being completed in the …
Continue readingIn Pictures: Crossrail Excavations at Canary Wharf
Last week saw an opportunity to head into the North Dock at Canary Wharf in order to get a closer look at the work currently taking place on constructing Canary Wharf Crossrail station. The station …
Continue readingA Question Of Carriages: Increasing Services on the South West Main Line
One thing that swiftly becomes apparent when looking at the recent London and South East draft RUS is how the proposed solutions to capacity problems are very different for the different lines, which all have …
Continue readingThameslink and London Bridge – Background, Progress and Still Some Confusion
The original intention with this article was to write a short piece on what is to happen at London Bridge in the next seven years. Unfortunately, for reasons that will become apparent later, this has …
Continue reading150 Years Of The Metropolitan Line: Exploring the Possibility of Steam
2013 will see London Underground reach a noteworthy landmark – it will mark 150 years since the Metropolitan Railway, the core of the modern Metropolitan line, opened on 10 January 1863. Given the significance of …
Continue readingNarrowing the Options and Raising the Cash: The Battersea Northern Line Extension Moves Forward
Writing about public consultations on the proposed Northern Line extension to Battersea seems to be developing into somewhat of a May tradition. In May last year, TfL and Battersea Site owners Treasury Holdings undertook a …
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 readingExtending the DLR
The last time we addressed this subject was in reference to the speculative DLR Horizon 2020 report. Now, however, TfL have – without any accompanying publicity – put up a new map of potential DLR …
Continue readingWhere Things Stand With the London Cable Car
Recent weeks have seen TfL’s plans for a cable car across the Thames return to the news. The London Cable Car has so far had an interesting gestation and one that has attracted its fair …
Continue readingBombardier Selected as Prefered Bidder for Sub-Surface Signalling
TfL have confirmed that the contract to provide new signalling for the Sub-Surface Lines (District, Circle, Metropolitan and Hammersmith and City) will be awarded to Bombardier after the completion of the statutory standstill period following …
Continue readingHeathrow Shelves Airtrack Plan
The request for a Transport and General Works Order relating to the Heathrow Airtrack Scheme has been withdrawn. BAA have indicated that the inability to solve the problem of increased delays at Level Crossings along …
Continue readingWhat If: Crossrail 1980
The link across London would provide through trains, cut-out inconvenient interchanges between train and underground or taxi, and thus save valuable time. It would help commuters from the outer suburbs of London and Inter-City travellers …
Continue readingA Look at What’s Happening at Tottenham Court Road
At first glance, it would be easy to assume that the photo above had come from one of Britain’s remaining mines. Indeed were it not for the presence of the ubiquitous orange jacket, it would …
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