London’s weekly railway news #29
A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
London Underground
Tomorrow’s Tube: heritage, improvement and development at South Kensington The Guardian
George Galloway leads tributes to ‘genius’ cartoonist killed at Finchley Road Tube station Ham & High
Crossrail
Costain/Skanska and Morgan Sindall joint ventures are among those shortlisted for the contract to build the tunnel link between Crossrail platforms and Bakerloo Line platform’s at London’s Paddington Station. Construction News (google cache)
A 5 minute Video – Europe’s biggest infrastructure project Financial Times
A Derby MP has tabled a new parliamentary petition calling for the £1 billion Crossrail carriages contract to be awarded to city train-maker Bombardier. Derby Telegraph
Mainline/Overground
Southeastern trains cancelled at least 17 services on the busiest shopping weekend of the year owing to a “rota mistake”. BBC News
The East London Line is shut for the whole of the Christmas week, while the start of a £320m upgrade is carried out. Hackney Gazette
TfL is planning a £20m upgrade of Tottenham Hale station as part of its Tube Improvement Programme. Construction Index
The problem solvers – Improving overhead line reliability on the West Coast main line. The Rail Engineer
Video – Britain’s last surviving railway band was playing Christmas carols at Paddington Station. SBS
The Edinburgh to London train could see off the plane and boost rail travel if another service is allowed to run alongside the East Coast franchise. Scotsman
DLR
Workers on the Docklands Light Railway are threatening to walk out following a row over pay and working conditions. Wharf
Miscellaneous
Thought I’d share a picture that our resident ex-hospital porter Gerald Dodd just sent me, of Maze Hill station before it lost its status. Greenwich Phantom
Here’s quite possibly the most festive London Underground in carriage decorations you’ll see. Back in 1922 someone had the bright idea to decorate Tube carriages with real Christmas foliage and pine cones. Going Underground
Something unknown has blocked the progress of the biggest-diameter tunnel-boring machine in use on the planet, NY Times <– Not London, but fascinating.
What’s in a Name? – How Euston Station gained its name. English Historical Fiction Authors
Heritage railways – Steaming ahead. The strange appeal of slowness The Economist
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The image above is from: The underground railway in North Korea
Thanks for a consistently entertaining and informative series. Please maintain this throughout 2014.
A shame that the unknown blockage turned out to be a borehole pipe that was marked on the plans already, but obviously missed… no Quatermass style UFOs here!