Brunei stoning laws dropped in wake of boycott May 6, 2019 The Sultan of Brunei backed down over plans to impose draconian new laws against LGBT people on the weekend following a global public backlash. Read more: Dorchester boycott: Angel investors retreat from Park Lane dinner Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah said the kingdom will not impose death by stoning laws for people convicted for having same-sex relations, saying [...]
Crossrail: Watchdog blasts bosses for ‘driving up costs’ on London’s £17.6bn delayed Elizabeth Line May 3, 2019 Crossrail bosses took decisions that drove unnecessary cost into the troubled £17.6bn railway, a report by Whitehall's spending watchdog has found. A catalogue of errors including a "failure to change course" when it was clear the project was de-railing, as well as flaws in its own commercial strategy, led to cost increases and the current uncertainty [...]
London Underground staff to stage three-day Tube strike over FA Cup final weekend May 2, 2019 London Underground staff are preparing to stage a three-day strike over the weekend of the FA cup final over safety concerns. Engineering and maintenance members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers Union (RMT) at depots across Greater London have voted to not book on for any shifts between 17 May to 20 May over cuts [...]
London councils give ice cream vans the cold shoulder in pollution crackdown May 1, 2019 Bad news, Londoners – just as the weather warms up it appears ice cream vans could be banned from some of the capital's boroughs this summer over air pollution fears. Camden and Westminster councils are taking a range of measures to restrict the operation of the vans in an effort to reduce pollution levels on [...]
Crossrail’s 2021 delay to cost TfL an extra £1bn in lost revenue, says Moody’s May 1, 2019 The delay to Crossrail until 2021 will cost Transport for London (TfL) £1bn in lost revenue, according to influential rating agency Moody's. The £1bn figure is between £300m-£400m more than TfL had forecasted in its 2018 business plan, published after the announcement in the summer that the £17.6bn railway would not open that December as planned. Read [...]
Uber revamps app to offer London passengers a public transport option April 30, 2019 Uber is revamping its app to include public transport information that will allow users to compare journeys based on price and time. Using publicly available data from Transport for London (TfL), the app will grant users to access real-time information for services such as the Underground, Overground and DLR, which Uber says will allow them to [...]
Scrap franchise system and let TfL control London commuter routes, says rail industry April 29, 2019 The rail franchise system should be scrapped and responsibility for commuter routes handed from central government to local authorities such as Transport for London (TfL), the rail industry has said. The Rail Delivery Group (RDG), which represents the industry, has today unveiled its proposals for the Williams rail review, which transport secretary Chris Grayling called last [...]
Southend Airport eyes 2.5m passenger target this year amid growth spurt April 29, 2019 London Southend Airport owner Stobart Aviation has set its sights on reaching 2.5m passengers this year and 5m by 2023, in a move that would take it closer to its rival London City Airport (LCA). Southend Airport, which grew nearly 40 per cent last year, said the addition of EasyJet and Ryanair, which started flying from [...]
Siemens and Babcock among winners of £750m Network Rail signalling contract April 29, 2019 Network Rail has awarded contracts collectively worth £750m to companies including Siemens and Babcock to to deliver signalling and telecoms across the UK. The contracts are for projects such as stand-alone level crossings, stand-alone major telecoms and related civil works. Other firms to pick up the contracts include VolkerRail Special Businesses, Atkins, Linbrooke Services and Colas Rail. Signalling [...]
A pro-business mayor? Khan is less so than Livingstone April 29, 2019 Before he was elected, Sadiq Khan promised – in this newspaper and elsewhere – to be the “most pro-business mayor yet”. In a literal sense, that pledge was already a bit limited, because Khan has only had two predecessors: Ken Livingstone and Boris Johnson. The first one was an apologist for assorted Communist regimes. In [...]