A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
Hackney Wick’s new brutalist London Overground station
London Underground
Plans to make Boston Manor tube station fully accessible are to be delayed for at least two years Brentford TW8
Despite fevered headlines, the average London Underground tube driver is not earning over £100,000 per year. IanVisits
A planned strike on one of the busiest London Underground lines which would have caused misery for Christmas shoppers this weekend has been called off. ITV
Tube maps being replaced with heritage signs Diamond Geezer
Laure Prouvost to bring Brexit song to London underground passengers as part of 2019 commissions Art Newspaper
Elizabeth line / Crossrail
HS1 and Crossrail suppliers admit to running ‘illegal cartel’ for 7 years RTM
Two bidders qualified for the third and final round of Transport for London’s Crossrail rolling stock sale and leaseback auction, it has emerged IJ Global (£)
Mainline / Overground
Network Rail has been accused of “exploiting” small businesses by raising commercial rents in railway arches ahead of a property sale. BBC News
Gatwick Airport closure: Free rail travel for London to Edinburgh passengers Edinburgh News
Overnight track workers were two seconds from being hit by a train due to confusion over what line was closed, an investigation has found. BBC News
Hackney’s London Overground station ticket offices could be saved from closure Hackney Gazette
South Western Rail is laying on faster trains this Christmas so people can get home quicker. Dorset Echo
A consultation on a new rail link from the West into Heathrow airport has, unsurprisingly, gained support from the respondents. IanVisits
Peter Hendy: You deserve better, so bear with us as we fix railways Evening Standard
Greater Anglia is scrapping first class on most of its trains from 2020 in a bid to ease overcrowding. Independent
The sovereign now arriving at Platform 2… Christmas kicks off for the Queen as she arrives in Norfolk by ordinary train for her festive break at Sandringham Daily Mail
Mariah Carey has recorded special festive rail announcements for some of London’s biggest stations. Hollywood
DLR
A DLR train caught fire leaving smoke billowing from the carriage Daily Star
Miscellaneous
The London Assembly has taken the rare step of deferring a public meeting after TfL failed to release its business plan on time. London Assembly
Activists replace 200 Tube adverts with instructions on how to stop deportations Independent
A construction boss who shouted homophobic abuse at a TfL worker and pushed another London Underground employee towards the train tracks has escaped jail. Pink News
London Underground advert with topless man, 58, banned ‘for objectifying’ the model who features in it Evening Standard
Jason Goodwin: On parking, the genius of the Tube and lopping the naughty bits off statues Country Life
And finally, Steel worker solves mystery as to why deer cross rail tracks Asahi
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Image above is from May 2018: Hackney Wick’s new brutalist London Overground station
The Art Newspaper link doesn’t work – I’d like to read this item!
About time that Greater Anglia should be scrapping First Class seats on Commuter trains (operating on Liverpool St-Cambridge, Colchester, Ipswich, Southend Victoria, Clacton-on-Sea, Braintree, Hertford East and other lines.
As well on Stansted Express trains (operated on London Liverpool St-Stansted Airport service). And Rural trains (operating on local services in Norfolk, Suffolk & Cambridgeshire and on the Marks Tey-Sudbury branch line in Essex).
Except First Class seats will remain on Intercity trains operating on London Liverpool St-Norwich main line service.