Japan – with kids? Believe it or not, it works December 18, 2019 The looks of incomprehension became commonplace, from colleagues, friends, neighbours and, most severely, my mother-in-law. “You’re taking her… to Japan?” they asked, through a variety of similar rhetorical questions. A trip to Japan should surprise no one, these days. The island state is undergoing an eye-watering boom in tourism, with visitor numbers soaring from 13m [...]
Person dies after being hit by train at Harringay station December 17, 2019 A person has died after being hit by a train at Harringay station in north London this morning. In a statement, British Transport Police confirmed that officers were called to the station shortly before 11.50 this morning following reports of a casualty on the tracks. Paramedics were also in attendance, but the person was pronounced [...]
RMT pledges to fight Tory plans for ‘minimum service’ during strikes December 17, 2019 The boss of the RMT transport union has hit out at government plans to pass legislation to ensure commuters to can get to work during strikes. Responding to the proposed legislation, general secretary Mick Cash said: “It hasn’t taken long for the true colours of this new Tory government to emerge. Read more: South Western [...]
Exclusive: Crossrail safety issues spiral in 2019 with record rate of near-misses December 17, 2019 High risk incidents in the construction of Crossrail doubled this year, in a trend that an engineering company contracted by Transport for London (TfL) has described as “worrying”. Crossrail records the number of incidents that could, in different circumstances, have caused death or serious injury. This year, Crossrail workers have been involved in 50 of [...]
Tube delays: Central, District and Circle Lines suffer rush hour misery December 17, 2019 Commuters were left to endure a torrid rush hour journey to work this morning after Tube delays hit three Underground lines. A signal failure at Aldgate and an earlier one at Hammersmith have brought the Circle Line to a halt in the anti-clockwise direction, as well as running with minor delays the other way. Read [...]
TfL and Sadiq Khan to write to government in funding bid December 16, 2019 Sadiq Khan and Transport for London (TfL) will write to the new government in a bid to secure funding for several big ticket transport projects. TfL’s newly released five-year business plan said the government’s 2019 spending round statement had not provided long-term funding certainty past 2021. Read more: Crossrail delay until 2021 may cost London [...]
South Western rail strike set to run to end of December as peace process stalls December 16, 2019 Strikes across one of London’s busiest railway networks are increasingly likely to run for the whole of December, after the process of arranging peace talks between union bosses and South Western Railway has stalled. The 27-day rail strike called by the Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) Union has caused chaos for the first 16 [...]
First Group shareholder claims victory as firm weighs sale of US arm December 16, 2019 A major First Group shareholder has welcomed the firm’s decision to consider a sale of its US businesses. The transport giant today said it has appointed advisers to review its US school bus and public transit arms, adding that it will “explore all options” a month after a sinking share price pushed two big investors [...]
Crossrail opens from Reading to Paddington December 15, 2019 Commuters will now be able to travel from Reading to Paddington in 58 minutes, after a limited section of Crossrail opened yesterday. The new line, under the banner of TfL Rail, marks the largest opening of any part of the Crossrail project, which was supposed to open in December 2018. Read more: TfL updates Tube [...]
Rail passengers urged to check train times as new timetable comes into effect December 14, 2019 Rail passengers have been warned to check new train timetables before travelling with a winter version set to come into effect from tomorrow. The new timetable is aimed at trying to cut journey times and increase the number of services. It will see an additional 1,000 extra weekly services on top of 4,000 that have [...]