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[PortoNuts]

[PortoNuts]

Government guarantees the Northern Line extension

The chancellor has confirmed that the planned extension to the London Underground's Northern Line will go ahead in a move that will improve transport links in the south of the capital.

George Osborne made the guarantee in his Autumn Statement speech in the House of Commons, and his announcement has been welcomed by Wandsworth Council. The politician said that a loan of up to £1 billion will be provided to fund the project, which will see the Northern Line extended from Kennington to Nine Elms and Battersea.

This will reduce journey times from these two areas into the West End and the City of London to less than 15 minutes in some cases. Existing residents are certain to benefit from the project, and it could also attract more people looking for property to rent in Wandsworth and Lambeth.

Ravi Govindia, leader of Wandsworth Council, described the news as "fantastic" and said the extension will breathe new life into Nine Elms on the South Bank of the River Thames. The area is currently the focus of a major regeneration project, which will deliver 16,000 new homes as well as green spaces, local amenities and two new town centres.

"Today's announcement will add momentum to the investment programme and ignite a new wave of interest in this rapidly changing part of London," said Mr Govindia. It will revive the last dormant district of Central London and yield billions of pounds in new economic growth and tax revenues."

The council said that the £1 billion loan will be repaid via a levy on private developments within the Nine Elms area, as well as future growth in business rates revenue.

Construction on the Northern Line extension could begin in 2015 of planning approval is granted, which would mean the first trains could be up and running by 2020.

http://www.net-lettings.co.uk/london...extension-2859

[arctic_carlos]

Good news! Will it mean that the two central branches of the line will split? If so, which one is going to serve the new extension?

Thanks!

[sotonsi]

Charing Cross branch will go to Battersea, City branch to Morden.

Northern branches will remain merged together until Camden Town station is upgraded - then you'll end up with High Barnet-Morden and Edgware-Battersea, so that Morden and Golders Green depots (the big ones on the line) are on different halves.

[geoking66]

As glad as I am about the extension, could they not have done the smart thing and gone to Clapham Junction and Vauxhall for the sake of integration and ease of connections? It's why the Victoria line has been such a success: transfer opportunities. A Kennington-Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea Park-Battersea-Clapham Junction route would have far higher ridership and return on investment with more opportunity for development, as well as being able to get rid of Battersea Park and Queenstown Road as NR stations.

[PortoNuts]

20 more London Underground stations get Wi-Fi

The London Underground has announced that 20 more stations have been connected to Virgin Media's Wi-Fi service including Camden Town, Notting Hill Gate and Seven Sisters. The total number of Wi-Fi enabled stations come in at 92, with a further 28 stations due to come online in early 2013.

Passengers can get Wi-Fi access within the underground stations, in ticket halls, escalators and on platforms but the service will not work in London Underground tunnels.

"Thousands of our customers are already stations to keep up-to-date with live travel information, news and entertainment. The arrival of Wi-Fi at these extra 20 stations will allow even more of our passengers to connect to the net while they are on the move across London," said Gareth Powell, director of strategy and service development for London Underground.

According to Virgin Media, 800,000 people have registered for its Wi-Fi service which has been free throughout 2012 but is scheduled to become a pay as you go service for some users in early 2013.

Virgin recently announced that mobile operators EE and Vodafone were wholesale partners for its Wi-Fi service on London underground. The partnership means that active EE, T-Mobile, Orange and Vodafone customers, as well as Virgin Media broadband and mobile subscribers will be able to use the services for free in 2013 and beyond.

For those passengers that don't use any of the above services (only 24 per cent of Greater London consumers according to Virgin Media) - the pay as you go service will mean that a daily Wi-Fi pass will cost £2, a weekly pass will be £5 and a monthly pass will cost passengers £15.

The other 17 stations added to the Wi-Fi service today are: Belsize Park, Chalk Farm, Highgate, Mornington Crescent, Balham, Clapham Common, Oval, Clapham South, Lancaster Gate, South Kensington, Swiss Cottage, Bounds Green, Finsbury Park, Holloway Road, Russell Square, Turnpike Lane and Wood Green.

Earlier this year, Transport for London (TfL) CIO Steve Townsend told Computing that Wi-Fi would enable TfL's staff to better manage the transport network as well as offering benefits to commuters.

http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/news/...tions-get-wifi

[PortoNuts]

[Antje]

Originally Posted by geoking66

As glad as I am about the extension, could they not have done the smart thing and gone to Clapham Junction and Vauxhall for the sake of integration and ease of connections? It's why the Victoria line has been such a success: transfer opportunities. A Kennington-Vauxhall-Nine Elms-Battersea Park-Battersea-Clapham Junction route would have far higher ridership and return on investment with more opportunity for development, as well as being able to get rid of Battersea Park and Queenstown Road as NR stations.

A Vauxhall interchange would worsen the capacity problems on the Victoria line. not only that line has colourful motifs and narrow platforms, but it serves key London termini, and for some reason a lot of customers just find it convenient because of the speed advantage in Central london.

Clapham Junction is a long term project, but such an extension would not beat the travel time between Clapham Junction and Waterloo via Vauxhall on South West Trains. What I want to see, however, is that Victoria Relief line built ASAP.

[PortoNuts]

First S Stock train in service on Hammersmith & City line

The first of 53 new S Stock trains has entered service on the Hammersmith & City line.

The new Underground train, which began operation between Hammersmith and Barking on December 9, is part of a £1.5 billion rolling stock order to replace 177 vehicles across the Metropolitan, District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.

Nigel Holness, director of operational change and upgrades, London Underground, said: “It is the first of 53 new trains that will operate on the Hammersmith & City and Circle lines and will start rolling out in earnest from spring next year.”

In September, the final A Stock train was taken out of service on the Metropolitan line, replaced by the new Bombardier rolling stock.

Work has now been completed at Hammersmith station and depot to accommodate the longer S7 and S8 trains.

http://www.rail.co/2012/12/13/first-...ith-city-line/

[Nephasto]

S7 and S8? Won't the Hammersmith line be equipped with only S7 trains, with the S8 models being just for the Metropolitan?
Or is it that Metropolitan line trains use the Hammersmith depot?

[Antje]

Originally Posted by Nephasto

S7 and S8? Won't the Hammersmith line be equipped with only S7 trains, with the S8 models being just for the Metropolitan?
Or is it that Metropolitan line trains use the Hammersmith depot?

The S7 and S8 trains can run as S7+1 and S8-1 respectively, although such a situation would only happen if there is a shortfall. This is happening at the moment: a number of S7s are standing in as S7+1s, because some S8s are being sent back for software upgrades.

[geoking66]

Originally Posted by Antje

A Vauxhall interchange would worsen the capacity problems on the Victoria line. not only that line has colourful motifs and narrow platforms, but it serves key London termini, and for some reason a lot of customers just find it convenient because of the speed advantage in Central london.

Clapham Junction is a long term project, but such an extension would not beat the travel time between Clapham Junction and Waterloo via Vauxhall on South West Trains. What I want to see, however, is that Victoria Relief line built ASAP.

I don't see why an extension to CJ wouldn't simply divert riders away from Waterloo and reduce congestion transferring from NR to the Northern Line. CJ also sees 19.6m entries and exits each year; I wonder how many are going to transfer at Vauxhall and Waterloo (hint: basically all), and a stop at CJ for the Northern Line would speed this up significantly. I don't think it would add that much more congestion to the Victoria line, honestly. This is what happens at Brixton, where NR passengers alight and then transfer to the Victoria line to avoid the mess that is Victoria.

However, Crossrail 2 is definitely necessary. Victoria-TCR, TCR-King's Cross and Victoria-Piccadilly Circus are probably some of the busiest links without direct service, while a main-line-sized supplementary route from Victoria-Euston-King's Cross would be critical additional capacity.

[PortoNuts]

Tube engineering work stopped this weekend for Christmas shoppers

Tube engineering work in central London has been halted this weekend with all lines open to help shoppers and retailers travel around during the busy pre-Christmas period.

Shops and department stores are looking to this weekend for a major boost in sales and provide desperately need relief from the recession.

The Docklands Light Railway, London Overground and London Tramlink will also operate a full service free from engineering shutdowns.

Only the Northern line will have some slight disruption first thing Sunday morning; services between Camden Town and Edgware won't start until 8.30 am southbound and 9 am northbound.

The move came as talks continued to try and avert a threatened strike on Boxing Day by train drivers belonging to the Aslef union in a dispute over pay and working bank holidays.

...

http://www.standard.co.uk/news/trans...s-8414871.html

[PortoNuts]

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[Antje]

Test runs of the steam loco have taken place in the small hours:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkeye2011/8277059222
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hawkeye2011/8276000491

[Kolothos]

Is it being tested, or has a driver from the 1800s stumbled across a time portal inside the tunnels?

That second picture is really cool! We need to reintroduce steam trains!

[Antje]

Originally Posted by Kolothos

Is it being tested, or has a driver from the 1800s stumbled across a time portal inside the tunnels?

That second picture is really cool! We need to reintroduce steam trains!

No I think it is a full dress rehearsal.