A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
Victorian Railway Stations that Tried to Span the Thames
London Underground
A Tube station was evacuated after football fans heading to Wembley Stadium set off a smoke bomb and fire alarms, BBC News
London Underground staff could be about to strike in Night Tube row Metro
A First Look At The New 2016 Tube Map Londonist
A train had to be lifted to free a woman whose foot got stuck between the carriage and the platform on the London Underground. BBC News
Hoppecke to refurbish and replace Transport for London’s battery systems Railway Technology
Crossrail
Lord Adonis, the former Labour transport minister who now chairs the National Infrastructure Commission, has been appointed chair of Crossrail 2. Construction Index
Crossrail 2 twin-station option is best for Haringey, say Lib Dems Nth London Today
Mainline/Overground
An MP has called for Croydon’s main rail operator to be immediately stripped of its franchises to end to commuters’ “misery”. Local Guardian
Plan to put double-decker trains on HS2 rail line Telegraph
Sickness among Southern rail strike conductors doubles BBC News <– this used to be known as the blue flu.
Surrey County Council has revealed plans to launch a study to examine the possibility of creating a rail link to Heathrow from the south Surrey News
See inside the brand new Thameslink trains – with ‘smart signs’ showing how much space there is KS Courier
It’s the end of the ticket clipper on train services after inspectors complained about repetitive strain injury. Telegraph
Eurostar cuts London-Paris fares to £25 each way – with strings attached Independent
Miscellaneous
Circle line suspended ‘after pigeon net falls on tracks’ Standard
Dave’s only one ‘going loco’ for visit to Enfield of famous Flying Scotsman Enfield Today
Train enthusiasts in Gloucester are planning to build a museum to celebrate a historic railway company that built the first London Underground carriages. BBC News
A TfL presentation delivered to Sadiq Khan, the newly elected Mayor of London, has surfaced online London Reconnections
Finding new uses for Europe’s disused underground stations is a novel idea, but urban dwellers deserve more from these projects than just novelty restaurants and trendy wine bars European CEO
And finally, A Spanish company is seeking investors for a project which aims to create electricity from the wind generated in tube tunnels. Energy Live News
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The image above is from October 2012: Victorian Railway Stations that Tried to Span the Thames
“plans to launch a study to examine the possibility of creating” – the most vague headline ever 🙂
The article about the Spanish project to generate electricity seems badly written. “Expected to generate 250KW of electricity per day” doesn’t make sense: perhaps they meant 250kWh?
But that would correspond only to about £25 worth of electricity per day, which wouldn’t even be enough to power four domestic fan heaters continuously!
Even the basic concept is questionable – if it worked, it would result in increased wind loading on the trains resulting in higher energy consumption. They might as well line the tunnels with solar panels and illuminate them with floodlights connected to the traction supply !