With discussion of ticket office closures and rail passenger numbers a political hot potato, it’s easy to forget that firm data on the state of rail in Great Britain does exist. We take a look at the ORR’s latest figures (April – June 2023) and TfL’s recent Crossrail Usage report.
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Reconnections’ Miscellany: Technical Plots – October 2023
More Autonomous People you’ll meet in Transport BDSM – Buses do so much BESS – battery energy storage system Comment Colonels – Armchair experts ready to comment to the death on their favourite topic, armed with nothing …
Continue readingGetting more bang for your buck – The Bangkok rail explosion
Having recently discussed how the laissez-faire approach to transit and urban planning in Jakarta is holding the city back, in this City Snapshot Dr Chris Hale focuses on one of Jakarta’s competitor Southeast Asian cities …
Continue readingReconnections’ Miscellany: Lord Dawlish speaks! – August 2023
London and South East Region Line Nicknames Transport for London’s Lineage Organisation Brand Reports to Date Metropolitan, Great Northern, and Metropolitan East London Railways Metropolitan Railway shareholders 1863-1933 Underground Electric Railways Company of London (UERL)[financed …
Continue readingHow Montréal’s REM learnt from the Paris RER – Automatic for the People
Move over RER, Montréal’s new fully automated Réseau express métropolitain (REM)’s first segment has opened. Once fully completed, the REM line will link directly across Montréal Island north, south, and west. Essentially, a Regional Express …
Continue readingFloors – The Next Dimension in Safety and Wayfinding
Station and platform floors have traditionally been unadorned, and only recently has their potential as a blank canvas for relaying information to passengers been utilised. The floor is the stage on which the drama of …
Continue readingPhoenix Rises – Return of the Airship
Spy balloons over the US and Canada, with some being shot down, have been a major news story in recent months. But what is not in the mainstream news is the spotting of what appears …
Continue readingThe Stairway to Heaven: the greatest disaster ever on London’s Tubes
There’s an oddly shaped war memorial in Bethnal Green Gardens, the park next to my local tube station. It looks like an upside down staircase, made of what I’m assuming is wood but looks to …
Continue readingPoem on the Opening of the Elizabeth line: First Anniversary
With thanks to Jonathan Baggs MCIPR for this poem and allowing us to republish it on the anniversary of the final stage opening of the Elizabeth line 24 May 2022. Twas the Night before Crossrail, …
Continue readingCrossrail – the May 2023 ‘final’ timetable
Much has already been written about the Elizabeth line 2023 timetable – the so called ‘final’ timetable signifying the completion of the Crossrail scheme with all the proposed services implemented and 24tph (trains per hour) …
Continue readingRail Ticketing in a post-Covid World
The Covid pandemic has had a lasting impact on Britain’s railways. Undoubtedly the most significant impact has been on changing travel patterns in general and, in particular, a reduction in commuting and other business travel …
Continue readingSuperloop: Analysis, hopefully not paralysis
Someone at City Hall found the box of crayons. On the 28th of March, Transport for London unveiled a map of a new transport proposal. It featured a colour scheme to rival the New Jersey …
Continue readingThe Great Western Main Line to Reading in the era of Crossrail
Much has been written about the Crossrail project and the benefits of the Elizabeth line. Nearly everything written about its benefits looks at the benefits to users of the Elizabeth line. But often transport projects …
Continue readingThe Flowering of Overground lines & colours – How Soon is Now?
In his 2021 London Mayoral Election Manifesto, Sadiq Khan proposed giving names (and potentially their own colours) to London Overground lines to give them a unique identity. “TfL’s London Overground network has grown considerably over …
Continue readingThe Mysterious Case of the Gidea Park Shorts
Just in case anyone thought this might be a whodunnit concerning a pair of minimal trousers, let it be known that its current use is to describe an apparently strange feature of the Crossrail timetable. …
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