please empty your brain below
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Very interesting DG, and so much to look forward to in the coming two years.
The 339 bus route is a pain in the butt at the moment due to the rerouting as it keeps disappearing from the bus times app on my phone and will often state that no buses are due within the next thirty minutes and then two minutes later the next bus arrives.
fishislandskin | 17.01.19 - 7:12 a.m. | #
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Stratford bus station: Its busiest bus stop is now being dug up. (again😢) The new linear drain was poorly designed and collapsed within months of completion.
During the Olympics it managed 50% increase of departures to 150 bus per hour without queuing. Air quality now must be very poor.
scrumpy | 17.01.19 - 7:16 a.m. | #
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I see that TfL is working well then. Maybe at some point the mayor will realise that he can’t keep cutting the budget...
Kirk | 17.01.19 - 8:13 a.m. | #
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Presumably there also other schemes due to be finished soon but won't be, and others which were due to be started but haven't been.
kev | 17.01.19 - 8:35 a.m. | #
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Budget cuts are surely part of it. But why can't we plan properly?
Well done DG for coping well with the awkward task of taking pictures of things which are not there!
Malcolm | 17.01.19 - 8:48 a.m. | #
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Funnily enough, I went to Woolwich yesterday to see the state of the ferry operation and the Crossrail station.
Speaking to a couple of TfL marshalls on the southern side who had very little to do, it seems that it is due to open in a couple of weeks ("that's the latest we have been told") and the problem is waiting for a part for the southern jetty. More ominously he added "mind you we were also told two weeks, two weeks ago".
Pedantic of Purley | 17.01.19 - 9:35 a.m. | #
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I don't know if this is reassuring or not but it is definitely not just London, or even the UK, and not just transport. Look at our electricity industry (very topical today). Delayed rollout of smart meters are just a small part of it.
The one I take particular note of is an insidious one - the promised 32tph to Morden. Originally promised in 2013 to be part of the Northern Line Upgrade (NLU) this got pushed by to be part of NLU2 then when that got cancelled we were reassured it would still happen but the date slipped from April to September 2019 then 2020. The latest is that it will now be only 31tph but no date is given and there is only a woolly reference to it in the business plan.
Pedantic of Purley | 17.01.19 - 9:42 a.m. | #
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The new Southeastern rail franchise was supposed to start in April 2014, but it slipped to June 2018, then to December 2018 and then to June 2019.
But it looks like things are being delayed even further because the DfT now says they only expect to make the award for the next franchise 'this year'.
Gerry | 17.01.19 - 10:44 a.m. | #
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@kev
DG's catalogue was limited to the London Borough of Newham, but there have been delays elsewhere too: new trains should have been, but are not, in service on many other routes, ranging from the Moorgate to Hertford local services, to the "Deerstalker Express".
Newham does seem to have more than its fair share though.
timbo | 17.01.19 - 10:47 a.m. | #
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And just to point out, Gerry's comment is relevant to the Southeastern franchise because Southeastern have a station in the London Borough of Newham (Stratford International).
Pedantic of Purley | 17.01.19 - 10:52 a.m. | #
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Sounds about right. It's what we've come to expect now - sigh.
Cornish Cockney | 17.01.19 - 11:14 a.m. | #
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Stratford Bus Station. Busiest bus station on the Network and reduced in capacity. I thought when TfL retracted the 25 to that random place in the middle of nowhere that they were in the mist of a purple haze, smoking the funny stuff. This decision suggests that maybe their bus planning team ought to be sectioned.... for everyone’s safety!!
Frank | 17.01.19 - 11:32 a.m. | #
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As for the Olympic Park, they should call it a 'Magritte stop'.
Still Anon | 17.01.19 - 11:54 a.m. | #
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Seventy years after the last upgrade where they did a pretty impressive job (as some of us can advocate from the very first decade of the new electric services) this latest Gidea Park line upgrade is an almighty mess!
Rog | Homepage | 17.01.19 - 2:14 p.m. | #
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Great article. Keep up the good work!
James S. Heath | 17.01.19 - 2:22 p.m. | #
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As a former Newham resident I can say that this is rather grim reading.
X-Plaistow | 17.01.19 - 2:47 p.m. | #
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I've just seen the TfL 'Weekend Travel Information' email, and there are no planned closures on the tube this weekend. And on the six month lookahead, there are quite a few more weekends coming up with no closures. This feels unusual. Have they run out of money for upgrades? Run out of things to upgrade? Or is all the focus on Crossrail?
martin | 17.01.19 - 3:32 p.m. | #
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No that is actually good news. To some extent anyway. They have learnt to speed up work so they can do most of it in 'engineering hours'. Only major upgrades need closure.
They are still there for resignalling upgrade (e.g. 02/03 March, 16/17 March) but these are big closures - not the sort of things one does every weekend.
Pedantic of Purley | 17.01.19 - 3:59 p.m. | #
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I took a look at the link you provided about the ferry, and the writer seems to be of the view that the new boats are lacking the manoeuvrability to make fine alignment with the piers, implying that they have a 'conventional' type of steering.
I'm sure I read once about the old boats that they had a number of swivelling propellers, which enabled them to adjust their position in any direction required.
RogerW | 17.01.19 - 4:27 p.m. | #
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I'm just reading a bit more about the Woolwich Ferry, and spotted on one photo that they've used an upside-down M in place of a W on the stern for the vessel's name. It's obviously not the biggest problem they're facing, but does look a bit daft.
martin | 17.01.19 - 4:49 p.m. | #
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Two months ago, the Underground closures scheduled for this weekend were...
Circle: Entire line
District: High St Kensington to Edgware Rd
H&C: Moorgate to Hammersmith
Metropolitan: Aldgate to Wembley Park
The fact that none are taking place might be a good thing (e.g. if the works are no longer needed) but might instead be a bad thing (e.g. if the software they were planning to test isn't ready).
diamond geezer | Homepage | 17.01.19 - 4:51 p.m. | #
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Gotta say it. Compared to all this, my last upgrade went perfectly to plan: on time, and within budget. I had a 900cc Suzuki and set myself about £2,500 to get something better. I looked around, found a GSX-R1000 on sale for £2,100, and completed the purchase pretty much the same day.
I do rather wish that people like TfL - who don't seem capable of organising a **** in a brothel - would keep their noses out of the decisions individual people have made in terms of their personal methods of transport.
RogerW | 17.01.19 - 6:20 p.m. | #
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One major problem here is the quality of British management. The situation in this country at the managerial level is absolutely dire.
I have worked around the world and the Brits have been worst managers of all. Amongst other things, they suffer from what the Americans call silo mentality. There are so many more examples.
After I retired I got a job as an online delivery driver for a supermarket. Management there is so appalling it could actually be quite depressing if I gave a toss.
I've heard many people blaming the workforce for the Crossrail debacle. Xenophobia is to the fore here. But I think the readers of this blog will realise it is not the bloody eastern Europeans on the sites that are to blame!
Chris | 17.01.19 - 6:48 p.m. | #
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Northwood has a poster giving a long list of Sunday closures between Wembley Park and Aldgate. I often travel to Liverpool Street on Sunday and the notice put me off. Okay I could have changed at Harrow on the Hill and hung around for eventually a Chiltern to Marylebone,but then I would have to mess about changing to get to Liverpool Street so didn't bother.
I'll take a chance this Sunday and see where I go.
james | Homepage | 17.01.19 - 7:24 p.m. | #
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Stratford is busiest bus station in Newham, but not London. Walthamstow, for one has more buses per hour (bph).
Scrumpy | 17.01.19 - 10:24 p.m. | #
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Apparently, the Woolwich Ferries will be operational in February: this according to TfL...
dg writes: ...as the post says.
Mike | 18.01.19 - 9:05 a.m. | #
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I was going to say that you should add the work to improve Victoria tube station. Then I looked on the TfL website and discovered that it was completed in autumn 2018.
dg writes: Also it's not in Newham.
I think TfL's interpretation of "completed" is that the new interchange tunnels, lifts and escalators are in place and working. What's not included in this is the unfinished ceilings, tiling, and flooring in the existing parts of the station. Or the external works to the pavement and roads. Or the removal of the huge pile of temporary buildings to house the workforce who are still as busy as ever.
drfoop | 18.01.19 - 12:07 p.m. | #
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I believe they are called "lolly stops" (for reasons that are plain to see) and not "dolly stops" - can anyone confirm?
A | 19.01.19 - 1:23 p.m. | #
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#A
Definitely Dolly.
scrumpy | 19.01.19 - 5:23 p.m. | #
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Here's TfL blaming Bombardier for the lack of trains on the Goblin.
diamond geezer | Homepage | 25.01.19 - 3:21 p.m. | #
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