Leaked rail letter: Grayling said he wanted suburban rail “out of the clutches” of Labour December 7, 2016 The transport secretary has been criticised for "political point scoring" and faced calls to resign, after a leaked letter said he wanted to "keep suburban rail services out of the clutches of any future Labour mayor". Yesterday Chris Grayling rejected Sadiq Khan's bid to take over commuter routes, saying the mayor hadn't proved his alternative would [...]
Mayor doubles funding on improving London’s air quality to clean up the capital December 7, 2016 Sadiq Khan has made no secret of his aims to tackle the capital's air pollution problem. And now the mayor has pledged to invest £875m to tackle air quality over the next five years – more than doubling spending on it, after his predecessor Boris Johnson committed £425m. Earlier this year, Mercer said London ranked [...]
Severe delays on District Line between Edgware Road and Wimbledon and Barking to Upminster December 7, 2016 There are severe delays on the District Line this morning, between Edgware Road and Wimbledon and from Barking to Upminster. Services between Earls Court and Ealing Broadway/Richmond are also subject to severe delays. Transport for London said the disruption was caused by a late finish to engineering work. https://twitter.com/districtline/status/806407123986948096 https://twitter.com/districtline/status/806400693833764865 Meanwhile, severe delays persist on the Piccadilly [...]
Sadiq Khan dealt blow by Chris Grayling: TfL won’t take over Southeastern services December 6, 2016 Sadiq Khan has spoken out over the announcement that Transport for London (TfL) won't be taking over Southeastern services from 2018. Chris Grayling has rejected the mayor's plans for City Hall to take over suburban rail services. In an interview with the Evening Standard, Grayling said: "Right now, I think the last thing our railways need in [...]
Step-free access on the Underground is getting a £200m boost from the mayor December 6, 2016 The mayor of London has announced step-free access on the Underground will get a financial boost to the tune of £200m over the next five years. Sadiq Khan said this will bring the total number of step-free access stations on London Underground to more than 100 stations and 40 per cent of the network. The [...]
Black Friday wasn’t quite the sales boost retailers may have expected December 6, 2016 Black Friday wasn't quite the spending boom that retailers were expecting. Figures from KPMG and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) show that like-for-like UK retail sales increased 0.6 per cent in November. Read more: Piccadilly Line delays likely to continue until after Christmas, TfL admits And, although non-food sales increased around 40 per cent on [...]
Focus On Maida Vale: Why financiers and celebrities flock to the birthplace of the London mansion block December 5, 2016 The London mansion block has never been so popular, yet there are only a finite number in existence. While many luxury property developers are seeking to reinvent them for the 21st century for a tidy profit, the birthplace of the original – the real white-stuccoed deal – is still Maida Vale in north west London. [...]
Tottenham Court Road station has been closed due to a power failure December 5, 2016 Services on the Central and Northern Lines are disrupted this afternoon, after Tottenham Court Road was closed due to a power failure. https://twitter.com/centralline/status/805793171288498177 https://twitter.com/northernline/status/805793168256073730 Meanwhile, there are delays on the Circle Line due to an "absence of staff", according to Transport for London. https://twitter.com/circleline/status/805795047933353984 Elsewhere, the Piccadilly Line is still experiencing severe delays – which are [...]
Sadiq Khan has promised to spend £770m on supporting London’s cyclists by 2020 December 5, 2016 London mayor Sadiq Khan has revealed plans for a huge investment in the capital's cycling infrastructure, totalling a mammoth £770m over five years. The plans represent an almost doubling of the spending by Khan's predecessor Boris Johnson, but critics have questioned how the mayor will fund the investment, and why it will not help to [...]
London transport disruption: TfL admits Piccadilly Line delays will likely go on until after Christmas as drivers blame new wheels for problems December 5, 2016 Piccadilly Line commuters could be facing delays and disruption until after Christmas, Transport for London confirmed today. Problems began on the line at the end of November, when around half the Piccadilly Line fleet was taken out of service for repairs, due to damage caused by larger-than-usual quantities of wet leaves on the tracks. A [...]