Bombardier bags £1bn Crossrail deal February 6, 2014 Plane and train manufacturer Bombardier has won a £1bn contract to provide trains for Crossrail, the Department for Transport and Transport for London has announced today. The Canadian company will provide 65 trains for the service, which is set to open in 2018. The vehicles will be manufactured and assembled at the company’s plant in [...]
Held to Ransom February 5, 2014 No compromise by transport unions as London’s commuters face second day of Tube strike misery Millions of commuters are braced for a second day of crowded buses and scarce Tubes today as the unions and transport authorities remain at loggerheads over ticket office closures and other reforms. Around a third of the normal London Underground [...]
London faces second day of strike misery February 5, 2014 A SECOND day of strike action on the Tube is set to bring further travel woe to commuters today, as part of a union dispute with Transport for London that business groups have slammed. Around a third of all Tube services ran yesterday, with eight of the 11 lines operating for most of the day. [...]
Down the Tubes: Boris mucks in amid transport meltdown February 5, 2014 (Laura Lean/City A.M.) Boris Johnson has had an interesting commute in on the Northern Line this morning as the Tube strike over ticket office closures causes huge disruption across the network. The Mayor spoke to commuters and Tube staff working at London Bridge – as well as some of the TfL staff volunteering at stations in [...]
Boris and union bosses fail to avoid walkouts February 4, 2014 COMMUTERS are enduring the first day of disruption thanks to a 48-hour Tube strike that was branded “shameful” by the Prime Minister yesterday. Transport for London is trying to run a reduced service on almost all lines and has scheduled extra buses on the busiest routes. But the industrial action this week and next is [...]
Boris and Bob Crow talk for the first time in five years… but the Tube strike’s still on February 4, 2014 Bob Crow’s having a busy morning. The head of the RMT union is at City Hall with his counterpart at the TSSA to try and confront Boris Johnson and his transport staff about the looming Tube strike. The mayor, meanwhile, was in the middle of his regular phone-in show on LBC – so Crow phoned [...]
Snapshot Guide: How to navigate this week’s tube strike chaos February 4, 2014 With unions RMT and TSSA threatening to halt transport across the City this week, we've got a handy snapshot guide to getting yourself through the disruption. Strikes that London mayor Boris Johnson says are tantamount to holding London to ransom will begin on Tuesday, if no progress is made. Tubes will start running at 7am [...]
Tube strike survival guide February 3, 2014 LONDON is bracing itself for the worst – forget the storms, this evening a Tube strike is going on. But instead of ducking for cover and barricading ourselves in, most of us will have to face the maelstrom head on as we battle to get to work (relatively on time) and back again. There’s still a [...]
Last-ditch talks as commuters face Tube strike February 3, 2014 UNION officials and Tube bosses will meet today for last-ditch talks to avoid a crippling two-day strike on the Underground this week. Transport for London has warned that all Tube lines will face disruption starting at around 9.30pm tomorrow if the two sides fail to agree a truce. Talks will resume today at the dispute [...]
No more cash fares on buses February 3, 2014 London buses will stop taking cash payments from this summer, Transport for London said yesterday. Around one per cent of bus journeys are paid for in cash, with the rest using Oyster cards and contactless bank cards, TfL said. The decision, which follows a trial last year, will save TfL an estimated £24m a year. [...]