A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
London’s Lost Suspension Railway at Kings Cross
London Underground
TfL detailed plans to remove vegetation from Chigwell to Grange Hill stations Local Guardian
A North East MP is leading calls for a review into £1.5bn train manufacturing contract after it emerged two-thirds of the stock will be constructed in Austria. Teeside Live
The surprising reason for London Underground’s new heritage signs IanVisits
Koster was recently invited to investigate signs of water seepage on a section of track located close to the London Underground’s Farringdon station. Building Talk
TfL urged to be ‘open’ with Londoners about Northern Line extension delay CityAM
Inside the newly built Walbrook entrance to Bank tube station can be found a freize of Roman inspired murals — known as the Hutton Panels. IanVisits
TfL cuts opening hours of new Southwark tube entrance London SE1
Elizabeth line / Crossrail
Staff morale has ‘gone off the cliff’, says Crossrail boss Building
Woolwich Street Feast shuts after botched electrical work and Crossrail delay 853 London
Business focus: West End retailers missing out on £1bn a year because of Crossrail delays Standard
Mainline / Overground
Heathrow Express has announced that from 19 February , Contactless and Oyster will be new ways to pay for tickets. Rail Advent
Plans for a southern access rail link into Heathrow are stalling because the DfT is unable to agree track access arrangements New Civil Engineer (£)
Trains that miss out some stations could help to break network ‘feedback loops’ that fuel delays and cancellations, say researchers. BT
Miscellaneous
Commuter fined £2,000 for ‘upskirting’ at Victoria Tube station ITV
A keen gamer has revealed how he dedicated 100 hours towards painstakingly recreating Pimlico Tube station in the popular video game Minecraft. Standard
Officers have released CCTV images after a tube driver was attacked with a bottle on board a Jubilee line train at Kilburn station. BTP
As well as the traditional New Year’s price hikes, UK rail commuters face an additional humiliation – data speeds aren’t increasing as fast as they might. Register
Transport for London has awarded Graham a contract to remodel its historic headquarters above St James’s Park tube station. Construction Index
And finally, a solicitor faces “catastrophic” damage to his career after being struck off by the regulator for dodging £650 in rail fares. Standard
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Image above is from April 2012: London’s Lost Suspension Railway at Kings Cross
A new Heathrow Southern rail link to Heathrow Airport that has been stalled and maybe postponed. Because of DfT was unable to agree with the track arrangements. Well it looks like it’s good news for people who don’t want the new Southern rail link being built on their doorstep. Whilst the Heathrow Western rail link could be given the go ahead.
And Heathrow Express who are now becoming contactless so that passengers can pay their tickets much easier and quicker. Which is also a good idea.
Regarding the “feedback loop” article. I often wonder what sort of vacuum researchers like this live in. Rail operators worldwide have been using variations of skip-stop and mixed stopping patterns to best-fit optimise supply and demand.
A colleague at Cranfield was modelling similar issues with London Buses in the LATE 70s. This is ancient stuff.