A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
The image above is from February 2014: How the DLR gets its fresh air though an old toilet
London Underground
Residents are fighting for a lift to be built at East Putney tube station to improve access for disabled people. South London Press
TfL spent £23,000 on new Tube roundel and 160th anniversary campaign Standard
Mainline / Overground
South Western Railway has been awarded another two years’ contract to run services between London Waterloo and the south-west, parent company Firstgroup said. CityAM
People living near the construction route for HS2 say they have been unable to sleep due to noise throughout the night. BBC News
A disabled woman claims she was refused assistance at Clapham Junction Station after being told the ‘full time assistant’ was on his break. Metro
Will the Heathrow Express survive? Telegraph (£)
Stansted Airport train route through London, Essex and Herts branded ‘minimum standard’ Herts Live
Network Rail hits back at ‘regretful’ RMT claim linking modernisation proposals to tragedy CityAM
A rail firm has been urged to ensure Newcastle United fans can get to London in time for the Carabao Cup Final. BBC News
DLR
The meaning of the door codes on the DLR trains ianVisits
Miscellaneous
Transport for London says it plans to start building a new office block above Southwark Underground Station in 2025 having selected its preferred joint venture partner for the scheme. SE1
A Londoner has spent months visiting all of London’s Tube stations in a bid to make the most of his mobility and to raise awareness about his medical condition. BBC News
Transport for London restarts renewable power procurement process Metro Report
Watford will not be brought into Zone 6 that would have seen train fares slashed by half. Watford Observer
The driver of a car that went through a barrier and on to Tube tracks in west London has pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving. BBC News
Tube manager who called George Floyd ‘scum’ was unfairly sacked, tribunal rules MSN
Ex-NYC Transit president on what the MTA can learn from London’s Underground NY1 (video)
Inside the world’s oldest model railway club Londonist
And finally: The Flying Scotsman: How the first 100mph locomotive became the most famous train in the world Country Life
The image above is from February 2014: How the DLR gets its fresh air though an old toilet
Stansted airport should be campaigning to have the Standsted express stripped from Greater Anglia and turned into an open access route (leaving GA to run stopping services to other stations on the line). Similar to the Heathrow Express (which was long paralleled with cheaper slower options like the Connect, TFLRail, Elizabeth Line, and coaches/Piccadilly line
Then the airport can fund exactly the service they want, at the price they want to charge. Instead of trying to get someone else to pay for service improvements.
Majority of air travel is a discretionary activity (especially from Stansted), and not a very environmental one at that.
The Connect / TFL rail / Lizzie services to LHR only exist because Heathrow paid for and built the tunnels etc for the HEX
Without those tunnels none of those other services would exist.
When the Connect service started it was a jount venture between HEX and GWR before it became part of TFL
If the Elizabeth Line linked Stanstead to Heathrow, even if only hourly, I wonder what that might do for the area?