A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
Inside Shoreditch’s Disused Tube Trains
London Underground
Tube drivers have voted to stage a 24-hour strike next week after accusing TfL of treating their colleague unfairly over alleged safety breaches. Evening Standard
Walking the circle line Diamond Geezer
Crossrail / Elizabeth line
Crossrail deputy project manager Camilla Barrow on building the new train line in her ‘back yard’ In Your Area
New images released by Crossrail have shown off construction progress across the route converting the construction sites into the Elizabeth line. IanVisits
A number of businesses in Shenfield claim that they have lost out on trade due to the Crossrail engineering works. Essex Live
Ambitious plans for an extension of the Elizabeth line through Bexley into Kent have taken a step forward as City Hall back proposals. News Shopper
Mainline / Overground
TfL says it has zero tolerance of ‘vandalism’ after train sprayed with graffiti Hackney Gazette
Orpington station celebrates its 150th birthday Local Times
DLR
Greenwich Council wants DLR extended into Bexley Local London
Miscellaneous
Man caught urinating in West Croydon station car park ordered to pay more than £700 Croydon Advertiser
Lack of women in top roles means TfL pays men a fifth more than women CityAM
A decade ago, in 2008, posters lining the staircase at Stanmore tube station were replaced with art. And it’s still there. IanVisits
Design legend Michael Bierut tells the story of the accidental success of one of the most famous maps in the world — the London Tube Map. TED
A Wimbledon woman is taking on a task which sees her cycle every London Underground station to raise awareness of mental health issues. Local Guardian
Call for help to find London underground map stolen from auction house Antiques Trade Gazette
And finally, a student at Dartford Grammar School has raised almost £600 for a mental health charity with his piano playing skills at Bromley South station. NewsShopper
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Image above is from Sept 2015: Inside Shoreditch’s Disused Tube Trains
150 years of Orpington station, great, we get more ticket machines, lifts and all that. But when will the canopies be fixed and not leak like sieves?
London’s transport toilet provision is quite poor isn’t it. With such long distances people commute, sometimes there’s no chance to pay a penny along the way. No wonder some poor guy used the car park.
@ Greg S TFL has a map with stations with toilet on its site.
Oh and next week’s tube strike has been deferred.
So,when someone is in need,they have to consult a map and travel there ?
I don’t think so
All stations should have a facility.
The toilet map only shows which stations have toilets. It doesn’t show which stations have *working* toilets. And even when you reach the station, it will probably take 5 minutes to find a signpost to the toilet.
Stations which don’t have toilets should have prominent signs showing the nearest *open* toilets on in each direction for each of the lines served by the station, with facilites for amending it when a toilet is closed.
TFL should also set a target of opening toilets in 5% of all stations (TFL or otherwise) every year for the next 10.
Complaining that a printed map isn’t magically updated the moment a toilet is closed seems a bit much.
Yes, it’s damn annoying, but no more so than any other printed map not reflecting a temporary change.
Re Diamond Geezer Circle Line walk – Lucky he didn’t walk in opposite direction when he started at Aldgate given how the route from Barbican to Kings Cross contains long stretches of up hill walking along the route of the River Fleet .
As for the gap between Kings Cross St Pancras International and Farringdon back in about the 1980s a proposal for a station at Mount Pleasant where Farringdon Road crosses Rosebery Avenue was made and given the major bus routes which serve this Junction would have become a popular interchange and was better located than Farringdon for the local population but funding was never found .
Perhaps DG needs to do the walk the reverse way round ? Although Paddington would be a better starting point given amount of downhill walking towards the City of London !
How come dog walkers can freely take their pets out and about in the streets and their dogs can piss on anything but if a person is in dire need of the same in a place with no provision for toilets, he gets fined £700? It’s utter stupidity.