A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…
Book review: Hidden London: Discovering the Forgotten Underground
London Underground
Damien Egan & Peter John: The government should back the Bakerloo Line extension OnLondon
London Underground closer to capacity at weekends as people look to ‘break monotony’ of staying home Telegraph (£)
London Needs the Tube and the Tube Needs Londoners Bloomberg
TfL is trialling UV light technology on the London Underground as part of its efforts to curb the spread of Coronavirus there. ECJ
Elizabeth line / Crossrail
TfL planning for 2023 Crossrail opening Building
TfL may halt Crossrail 2 work over government funding review CityAM
Previous leaderships struggled with amount of work to build Crossrail, says current boss Building
No date has been given for the return to traffic of nine-car Class 345s on TfL Rail trains between London Paddington and Reading. Rail
Mainline / Overground
First of new Stansted Express electric trains begin operation Global Railway Review
Avoid commuting into Waterloo station this Christmas ianVisits
Relaunch of Grand Central train services this weekend Express & Star
Train companies have always failed at flexible travel. After coronavirus, it could be the only thing to save them Wired
Network Rail has started a trial of full-colour, high-definition customer information display at London Waterloo station that’s designed to be easier to read from a distance. ianVisits
Train services to resume on Abbey Line in August Watford Observer
Miscellaneous
Daniel Mahoney: The government should devolve more transport funding powers to London OnLondon
A New Geographically Accurate Tube Map Londonist
Sctor and activist Emma Watson and author Reni Eddo-Lodge plan to recreate the London Tube map with stations named after historic women and non-binary people Smithsonian Mag
And finally: How it’s made – Underground roundel sign YouTube
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The image above is from Oct 2019: Book review: Hidden London: Discovering the Forgotten Underground
“London Tube map with stations named after historic women and non-binary people”
I’m struggling to think of the men on the Tube map! St Paul, is one (by Marylebone was a woman) Regent’s Park, Kingsbury (but next to Queensbury), St James’s Park (but Victoria)
Maidenhead is on their now, but Rickmansworth…
Bruce Grove, Colindale, but Walthamstow Queens Road, and Queens Road Peckam. King George V, Royal Albert, Prince Regent, Harold Wood, Seven Kings, George Street though.
King’s Cross (and St Pancras). But Maryland.
I guess the questions you might have are about place names like Liverpool Street (after a Earl rather than the port city)
Most tube station are named after places, rather than people.
Is Angel non-binary?
Just remembered Queen’s Park and Queensway.
I’m not saying this isn’t a great idea (as I remember Black Friars, Knightsbridge and Earl’s Court)!
Excellent photo choice this week Ian! Love the colour wheels – a nice contrast with the overall decrepit look.
Finally changed correctly between DLR and Northern Line at Bank Station ( last time after 3 months absence I ended up at Street level at Monument Station!) and found the Southbound Northern Line platform has now got another 3 mystery sets of doors on opposite side to platform making at least 4 sets along Station platform! So work has progressed on BSU during lockdown.
Crossrail has just released a new update which mentions that 9 carriage Class 345 trains are now operating between Paddington Station and Heathrow Airport.
Re Mark Noad’s Tube Map.
Immediately noticed Thameslink included (Midland side, only), but Gt Northern & City (aka Moorgate Branch, Northern City Line) is not.
Re: Mark Noad’s Tube Map.
Mark is to be congratulated for his efforts. I am intrigued to note certain inclusions and exclusions (this is not comprehensive, just the first I noticed). Thameslink is included …. good. But only Thameslink Midland, not Thameslink Gt Northern. The Gt Northern & City needs to be shown.
There’s also an error in the rendering of Elizabath line operations at Heathrow. The service to T4 is shown missing T2/3. When restored, the service will call there.