A perennial and fairly meaningless question that is often asked is ‘what are the origins of Crossrail?’ It inevitably depends on how far you want to go back in time but one contender could be …
Continue readingAuthor: Jonathan Roberts
The governing realities for Labour in power, & what it means for planning and transport
“I wanna be the leader, I wanna be the leader.Can I be the leader? Can I? I can?Promise? Promise?Yippee I’m the leader, I’m the leader.OK what shall we do?” Roger McGough Any Colour You Like …
Continue readingNight Tube Part 2: A Hard Day’s Night
Night Tube This is the Night Tube crossing the border, From Zone One to suburban order, Emails for luvvy, texts for more, Facebook to all, including next door. Uphill from Camden, a steady climb, Lots …
Continue readingLR Answers: The Pre-War ‘Second Works’ Programme
In LR Answers, we take an occasional look at topics that have come up in comments on other articles and are worthy of a bit more attention on their own. Here we look at some …
Continue readingA Short History of Crossrail 2: Part 2 – Underlying factors
Recent own goals by Crossrail 1 (CR1) on the construction and software fronts, not helped by project management by silos, have tarnished its outcome so far. Part 1 of this series presented a summary history …
Continue readingA short history of Crossrail 2 (Part 1)
Starting via Crossrail 1 If Crossrail 1 is currently symbolised by ‘not on time, not on budget’, then how much does this tarnish, delay or otherwise impede progress with further rail schemes, particularly Crossrail 2? …
Continue readingThe Politics of Thameslink’s Troubles
The London Reconnections team have been following closely, day by day and (with a few stalwarts) hour by hour, the actual service levels being offered on Thameslink lines during the first week of the new …
Continue readingDiving into the Fleet (Part 4): The Eighties
The eighties were a time of great change in the social and political fabric of Britain. Overshadowed by rail privatisation in the nineties, what’s often not appreciated is how much transport planning in London changed …
Continue readingExploring The Night Tube Part 1: Making the Case
Ask the average commuter how many peaks exist in a week on London transport and, after a bit of thought, they’ll probably tell you ten – five morning inbound and five afternoon return. In truth …
Continue readingHigh Speed Buffers (Part 4): Terminal Policies and Priorities
In the latest part of our HS2 series, we look primarily at the options for London HS termini and/or through running. Some policy and funding issues are raised. Discussion about passenger volumes, and station and …
Continue readingDiving Into The Fleet: Jubilee Line Derailed, 1974-1979
The waters of the Fleet (Line) became considerably murkier in the late 1970’s and early 1980’s. To recap, Fleet Line Stage 1 costs to Charing Cross had risen from an estimate of £35m in 1971 …
Continue readingHigh Speed Buffers (Part 3): Are There Limits to Commuting?
Our series on HS2 aims to look at how it affects London. Finding a suitable terminus will be a big part of that, something that is dependent on a number of factors. A critical one …
Continue readingHigh Speed Buffers? HS2 in London (Part 2)
In this part of our series on HS2, we look at options for serving Heathrow Airport, how this might be affected by franchising, the London terminus and decisions made concerning a potential HS1-HS2 link. Access …
Continue readingHigh Speed Buffers? HS2 in London (Part 1)
Although not a London specific scheme, High Speed 2 will have an enormous impact on London. In part 1 we take a brief look at the scheme as whole to provide some background information. We …
Continue readingLondon 2050 (Part 5): Peak Tube
According to the London 2050 report’s forecasts, the demand for the Underground will rise by 60% in the next thirty five years. That’s a challenging target to address with additional capacity, given the pressures the …
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