London’s weekly railway news #131
A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
London Underground
Holland Park Tube station will close for eight months in the New Year to replace ageing lifts installed three decades ago. Standard
London Underground upgrades track maintenance fleet IRJ
Crossrail
Noisy Crossrail works cause sleepless nights over Christmas break Maidenhead Advertiser
The case for bringing the Crossrail 2 scheme to Sunbury and Shepperton is “weak”, according to a report from Spelthorne Borough Council. Get Surrey
Councillors back calls for Crossrail 2 to include Harlow Town station HarlowStar
Major works for the Crossrail project between Slough and London Paddington have been completed. BBC News
A row has erupted over who should foot the bill for a stretch of line that connects Heathrow’s overground stations to Crossrail, Sunday Times
Photos from inside Crossrail’s Paddington Station IanVisits
Mainline/Overground
Tory MP says he will back call for Southern to lose franchise Inside Croydon
London Waterloo set to become first European transport terminal to reach 200 million annual passengers Independent
Thameslink fare increase blasted by rail users group Ham&High
UK Railways May Join the Tube in Going Contactless in 2016 Gizmodo
Work on railway lines running through the heart of Gospel Oak kept hundreds of residents awake as it shook the ground during the early hours of Christmas Day. Camden New Journal
Miscellaneous
The new tube map officially hits the racks tomorrow. It’s not pretty. Diamond Geezer
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The image above is from May 2012: Steam Trains return to the Epping Ongar Railway
I’m amused at the MP who wants a franchise that hasn’t existed for six months to be terminated, even before considering the fact that he wants it to be terminated for meeting the specification agreed between the DfT and Network Rail over Thameslink delivery.
Idiot Tory MP doesn’t know the difference between Network Rail and the train operators that run on the lines.
How can Southern run a service if Network Rail have closed the lines! Idiot.
The only thing that Southern should be doing better on is the issue of lacking members of staff to drive the damn trains.