A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
London Underground
TfL logic over station name fudge hard to fathom. Watford Observer
Work at Rayners Lane underground station to begin next this week. Harrow Times
The official consultation on the issue of the Piccadilly line service at Turnham Green has started. ChiswickW4
TfL is starting work to install traffic lights at entrance to Newbury Park Tube station – an accident black spot. Ifford Recorder
Video and report about smoke filling a tube train in Holland Park station. BBC News
Strange sightings on the Underground. Londonist
Crossrail
Tunnel vision: Crossrail and the unsung triumph going on under Britain’s feet. Guardian
Irish workers at center of massive tunneling project in London. Irish Central
Passengers with mobility problems protested outside a future Crossrail station to ensure everyone can benefit from the high-speed train. Newham Recorder
Britain’s construction and engineering industries need a more stable pipeline of work if they are to stay “right at the top of their game”, the boss of Crossrail has warned.. Telegraph
Order to use Kensal gas works as Crossrail site approved Planning
Engineers were this week preparing to start tunnelling beneath the River Thames for the first time on London’s £14.5bn Crossrail scheme. NCE
Mainline/Overground
Building the new high speed rail line will scupper the prospects of a “Boris island” airport in the Thames Estuary, former chancellor Alistair Darling warned today. Evening Standard
The chief executive of the company implementing the HS2 railway project has said she believes Labour is still strongly supportive of the scheme. BBC News
The Midland Road entrance to Leyton Midland Road station is to be closed permanently and new ticket gates installed at the High Road entrance. Guardian Series
It would be an act of national self-mutilation for Labour to cancel HS2. New Statesman
A leading business lobby group has called on the government to abandon its controversial high-speed rail project. BBC News but KPMG disgrees, as does a Blackpool MP.
Around 400 people made an emergency exit from a Southeastern train near Hither Green when smoke started billowing out from underneath a carriage. Evening Standard
Commuter trains are getting a clean-up in east London with a new washing system which buffs up exterior paintwork. Newham Recorder
London Overground’s Kensington Olympia station works completed Press Release (Conspiracy theorists may note that Olympia is emphatically an Overground station — no sign of the lingering underground service)
DLR
A man who assaulted a member of DLR staff when asked for his ticket has been handed a suspended prison sentence, fined £2,120 and ordered to carry out 200 hours unpaid work. Press Release
Miscellaneous
A senior Conservative today warned Londoners faced more strikes on the transport network after it emerged a “mega-union” was one step closer. Evening Standard
London’s suburbs and commuter towns are suffering from the growing gravitational pull of the inner city. The Economist
Pam Ayres writes a poem about HS2 @pamayres
The day a huge power cut left thousands trapped on tube trains IanVisits
Riddle: Why Is a Job Boring So Much Better Than a Boring Job? Wall Street Journal (The video at the top is worth watching)
London to Brighton in 4 minutes – in 1953, 1983 and 2013 BBC News
A Logo for London — a tribute to the Roundel Design Week
Photo
The image above is from: The last wooden escalator
