TfL scraps Brunei tourism adverts amid outcry over new anti-LGBT laws April 4, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) has scrapped adverts promoting Brunei following international condemnation of the state’s draconian new anti-LGBT laws. The adverts, which have appeared across the London transport network, promote the country as a tourist destination under the slogan “Abode of Peace”. Read more: Sadiq Khan says TfL will remove controversial Michael Jackson bus ads [...]
MPs cast doubt over Crossrail 2020 opening aim as they warn Elizabeth Line may need more than £2.8bn bailout April 3, 2019 MPs are “not convinced” that Crossrail will open in 2020 and fear the project will need more than the extra £2.8bn in funding it received to stay afloat, according to a damning report released today. Spending watchdog the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) said the costs of the railway, also known as the Elizabeth Line, had [...]
Government sets aside nearly £5m to help boost business case for Crossrail extension to Kent March 25, 2019 The government has pledged £4.85m to help local firms develop the businesses case for a Crossrail extension to Ebbsfleet in Kent. The delayed £17.6bn Elizabeth Line will stretch from Abbey Wood in the east to Heathrow in the west when it is due to open around 2020. A number of MPs and local businesses, including [...]
TfL awards controversial £1bn ‘sale and leaseback’ Crossrail fleet deal to Natwest-backed group March 22, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) has awarded a controversial £1bn "sale and leaseback" deal for a fleet of Crossrail trains to a rail company backed by Natwest and Japan's second largest bank. 345 Rail Leasing, which was set up in January this year and comprises Equitix Investment Management, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation and Natwest, will own the [...]
Marshalls shares race to record high: What now? March 19, 2019 | City Talk Up 78 per cent since we backed them, the shares are still not expensive and the business is in great shape. Marshalls (LSE:MSLH) is an easy company to like. It makes things we all use on a daily basis, and it makes them well. Despite Brexit and a weak construction sector, its concrete paving slabs have [...]
Rent rises: East London outpaces West London in rental growth race March 18, 2019 Fresh evidence of demand for East London’s housing market has been underlined by new figures today, with traditional high-growth areas in the west of the capital seeing more of a slowdown in recent years. Rents in East London’s nine boroughs rose on average by more than 20 per cent since January 2012, compared with growth [...]
TfL boss Mike Brown ‘hid Crossrail testing issues’ from Sadiq Khan in weekly email update March 14, 2019 Transport for London (TfL) boss Mike Brown ordered references to the difficulties Crossrail was experiencing with dynamic testing to be removed from email updates sent to Sadiq Khan, it was revealed today. At a grilling by the London Assembly's transport committee, Howard Smith, operations director for TfL Rail and the Elizabeth Line, admitted he felt Crossrail ought [...]
HS2 chairman says stopping the railway at Birmingham would be a ‘complete betrayal’ March 13, 2019 HS2 chairman Allan Cook has said not completing the £56bn railway to the north of England would be a "complete betrayal". Cook, who was appointed as chairman following the departure of former Crossrail head Terry Morgan, told MPs on the Transport Select Committee that HS2 was looking at "all options" to keep the project within budget but rejected suggestions [...]
Spring Statement: Chancellor to consult on new ways of funding infrastructure projects March 13, 2019 The government is to launch a consultation on how the government pays for infrastructure projects such as Crossrail and HS2 in future, the chancellor said today. In a Spring Statement overshadowed by an impending vote by MPs on whether to accept a no-deal Brexit, Philip Hammond said he would consult business on how to fund [...]
Balfour Beatty: UK’s largest construction firm returns margins to ‘industry standard’ March 13, 2019 Balfour Beatty’s turnaround plan has returned the once troubled construction firm to “industry standard” margins, according to chief executive Leo Quinn. The biggest constructor in the UK reported an increase in profits and an order book growing more than a tenth year-on-year in its 2018 results, prompting shares to rise 1.2 per cent in morning trading. [...]