This month on Reconnections’ Miscellany: Bacronym Retronyms BUS – Bi-level Underground Substitute ESCALATOR – Electric Stair Case (Ascending/Lowering) Allowing Travellers Onward Routing OMNIBUS – Overland Metropolitan New Innovative Bi-level Underground Substitute DRIVERS – Defect-Responsive Independently-Verifying …
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China’s annual December Metro openings bonanza
It has become a popular pastime among Chinese railfans to get really excited at around the end of December, as that is the period of a slew of metro openings across the country. And being …
Continue readingThe Purple Elephant in the Room: Crossrail’s Opening Date
Unsurprisingly, the subject of Crossrail/Elizabeth line opening dates is a hot topic in the transport community at the moment. In this article, we address that big purple elephant in the room. The truth is that …
Continue reading14 April: The Return of Meetups
It’s time to officially restart our monthly LR meetups, beginning on 14 April 2022. All are welcome, and conversation is often as much general as it is transport-specific. Like many, COVID has hit the LR …
Continue readingSydney: Suffering from style over substance
In the perennial battle to be the foremost Antipodean metropolis, Sydney has recently announced an ambitious addition to its existing extensive suburban rail, ferry, tram, and bus network – it’s first metro line, with automated …
Continue readingNudging public transport – Transport for Humans Book Review
Behavioural sciences, more commonly known as ‘nudges’, have only recently been applied to public transport. We review a new book by some experts in this new field, Transport for Humans, in which they describe the …
Continue readingReconnections’ Miscellany: Infrastructure Translator – March 2022
Today on Reconnections: Asset Management Hierarchy, in ascending order: a. Run to failureb. Corrective maintenancec. Preventative maintenanced. Condition-based maintenancee. Predictive maintenancef. Prescriptive maintenanceg. Foresight maintenance There’s also percussive maintenance – the art of hitting something …
Continue reading2021 Christmas Quiz Winners
First of all, massive apologies for being so late with this. We normally are pretty bad at promptly analysing the results but this time was it was exceptional. However, we do not live in normal …
Continue readingPub Night Returns! Thursday 10th March 2022
After a long period when we thought it wiser not to hold our usual monthly pub nights or only hold a very low-key pub meeting, we have decided that the time has come to reinstate …
Continue readingLisbon: The public transit design utopia
Lisbon is a public transit aficionado’s dream. Whether it is the unique Elevador de Santa Justa or the city’s iconic yellow trams, picturesquely winding their way up the steep narrow streets. In this City Snapshot, …
Continue readingThe surreal Métro of Charleroi
Noted surrealist painter Réné Magritte was Belgian. It is perhaps appropriate that Belgian politics produced a surreal Métro line, that is neither a metro nor operational. But that is about to change, in Charleroi. This …
Continue readingA Crossrail worthy interchange – Hong Kong’s Shatin to Central Extension
While London awaits the final testing and final opening of its Elizabeth (née Crossrail) line, there is another line, albeit shorter, which has many similarities. Hong Kong is by some measures more dense than London, …
Continue reading2021 Quiz – Answers
Control tower at RAF Kenley – on wheels!
Continue readingTube Financial Crisis: Why Closures Rarely Save Money
We take a look at the financial situation on the Underground in general and consider whether closing the Bakerloo line merits serious consideration. One of the more dramatic effects of Covid19 in London has been …
Continue readingLondon Reconnections 2021 Christmas Quiz
2021 has been another year affected by Covid and, as in 2020, the LR team have not got out and about as much as they normally do. So in the 2021 London Reconnections Christmas Quiz …
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