A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
The image above is from July 2021: Photos from the HS2 tunnel site in northwest London
London Underground
Going underground: The digital twin tech turning the Piccadilly line green ERP Today
There will be substantial disruption to the London Underground next week as six days of strikes by three unions hit the network. ianVisits
Worn-out Jubilee Line trains finally being refurbished, mayor says The Greenwich Wire
A coroner has criticised TfL after an engineer was crushed to death while working on the travelator at Waterloo Station. Standard
Four rare surviving K8 phone boxes that can be found on the London Underground have been given heritage listing protection. ianVisits
Elizabeth line
Key office submarkets along London’s Elizabeth Line have shown record rental growth, with more than half of central London take-up so far this year within a 10-minute walk of a Crossrail station. Farringdon has posted above-market rental growth of 46% EGI (£)
Ahead of an Elizabeth line Committee meeting next week, Transport for London (TfL) says that the Elizabeth line is now beating post-pandemic passenger number forecasts. ianVisits
Mainline / Overground
Eurostar passengers can now avoid UK border checks by having their face scanned The Points Guy
Mace boss rips into ‘absolutely shameful’ decision to mothball HS2 Euston Building
They are, it can be politely said, to be a bit late in arriving, but last week there was a chance to see inside South Western Railway’s new Arterio class of trains. ianVisits
Extra £25m from government for Meridian Water infrastructure – but rail upgrades still on hold Enfield Dispatch
Passengers were left stranded during Friday’s rush hour as signal failures at a central London station caused chaos. Yahoo News
Five-day rail closures on the Portsmouth to London Waterloo line between Petersfield and Guildford – bus replacement services will run instead Portsmouth News
Miscellaneous
Karapincha to open first permanent spot within Canary Wharf tube station Restaurant Online
HS2: Euston station ‘floundering’ while community suffers BBC News
Do the public really support Mick Lynch’s rail strikes? The Spectator
The story behind Maybelline’s viral London underground advert Cosmetics Business (£)
Drummond Street, a south Asian hub, is under threat from HS2 works at Euston station in London but now moves are afoot to revive the area The Guardian
De-Staffing by Stealth: The Fight for the Future of the Railway Tribune
London’s infrastructure party cooling down and coming to an end Rail Tech
The co-founder of Extinction Rebellion caused more than £27,000 worth of damage when she took a hammer to the window of a government building to protest against the environmental impacts of HS2, The Guardian
Flying is still cheaper than taking the train in Europe, study finds Politico
And finally: A deadly boiler explosion, half-built tunnels flooded by sewage and an “interminable tangle of timber”: here’s how The Builder reported on the first part of the London Tube network Building Design
The image above is from July 2021: Photos from the HS2 tunnel site in northwest London
Tube strike now cancelled (as reported in a separate article on ianVisits)
Regarding the Eurostar story.. I’ve never understood why there are any UK checks when leaving from London, I mean if you fly to paris you dont go through any UK passport checks. Why is the train different?
I assume the airlines report your name to border control, but cant the train do the same?
Alistair Twin: I thought you had to have both your boarding card and passport with you when you get on a plane and they need to match?
Environmental protester smashes windows, resulting in greater environmental impact of broken glass everywhere and greater impact in making and fitting replacements. Not sure that was thought through carefully!