The Crossrail Portal At Royal Victoria From The Bridge
I was on the bridge at Royal Victoria DLR station this morning and took this picture of the works creating the Crossrail tunnel portal at Royal Victoria.
The Crossrail Portal At Royal Victoria From The Bridge
When completed the tunnels will go under where I took the picture to the next station, which is Canary Wharf. Custom House station and the crane used to put the pieces together is in the distance to the left of the electricity pylons.
According to the documentary on Crossrail, it was a tight squeeze at Tottenham Court Road, but this shows it’s as tight as a duck’s arse, virtually everywhere.
Rude words are allowed when talking about Crossrail, as one of the female project managers used the F-word in the documentary.
Everybody Loves A Big Explosion
There was only a small protest at the demolition of the cooling towers at Didcot power station, early this morning.
But they were mainly locals asking if they could be blown up at a more user-friendly time than 04:30.
This report and video on the BBC, shows that as explosions go, it was a good one!
Things You learn In The Middle of The Night
I woke early, so got up and made a cup of tea and did a bit of writing, whilst listening to the excellent Doton Adebayo on Radio 5.
At one point he was talking to a Canadian journalist, who said that due to cutbacks, the Commonwealth Games are not being shown on Canadian television. All they are getting is the odd highlights.
Is Rugby Sevens The Ideal Team Sport For A Games?
I’ve spent some of this afternoon watching the rugby sevens at the Commonwealth Games.
I’ll watch rugby on television, if there’s nothing else on, but rugby is getting more and more like American football, which to me is a game of large men playing to an obscure set of rules, occasionally broken up by some outstanding skill.
But to me, rugby sevens is a completely different game, where agility,speed, skill and tactics are more important than brute strength.
I wouldn’t be interested in going to see a full size rugby match, but if someone said come along to a sevens tournament, I’d probably go.
Rugby sevens is also unique amongst multi-team tournaments in that the game is designed to fit into two days and like it is at the Commonwealth Games on a Saturday and Sunday. So unlike all other team games at Games, like football and hockey, it is very easy to fit into the schedule.
Also, like in Glasgow, all you need to stage it is a decent football or rugby stadium. It is even better though, if you have a top quality stadium like Ibrox, you could use.
And then there’s the advantage that teams are small, so organisers don’t have to provide masses of accommodation for rugby players and officials.
So to me, it’s not surprising that rugby sevens is going to be a sport at the 2016 Olympics in Brazil! Especially, as it is already played in the Asian and Pan American Games.
Did two butchers from Melrose in the Scottish Borders realise what they had started?
We Have Ways Of Making You Learn
I’ve just read a report in The Times, which says that Munich Technical University, one of German’s best, is going to teach Masters courses in English.
It reminded me of a story told by a Frenchman, who had immaculate English and worked for I think IBM. He went on a company course in Germany, which as participants were from all over Europe, was being conducted in English by a German.
On reaching a concept that some on the course found difficult, he addressed everybody with “We have ways of making you understand these things!”
Somebody had to explain to him, the laughter that followed.
East Suffolk Gets A Community Rail Partnership
The two East Suffolk Lines out of Ipswich to Felixstowe and Lowestoft are being proposed for a Community Rail Partnership. It’s reported in Modern Railways, but strangely not in the East Anglian Daily Times.
I have travelled these lines occasionally over the last few years and still go to my long-suffering dentist in Felixstowe. I have only been to Felixstowe once since the opening of the Bacon Factory Curve, but it does appear that this development has made trains on the East Suffolk Lines more reliable and better to time.
The Ipswich to Felixstowe branch, must have one of the simplest schedules anywhere on the UK rail network. A single Class 153, just trundles up and down the line every hour over a dozen times a day.
A Community Rail Partnership can only benefit the line.
So what enhancements would I like to see on the Felixstowe branch.
A two coach train should probably be used, as at times the line gets busy and increasingly there are passengers with bicycles.
But the line doesn’t necessarily need a train with a toilet, as Ipswich and Felixstowe stations both have excellent facilities.
One thing I’d like to see is better interfaces with the buses at Felixstowe, but as ever the information is as visitor-unfriendly as you will find. It should at least have a town circular that goes to all the important places in the small town, arriving and leaving at the station convenient for the trains.
It should also have bike hire.
So let’s hope the Community Rail Partnership improves the line.
One possibility that might happen is electrification to Felixstowe Port, which would completely transform this line, Then an old electric multiple unit with perhaps three coaches, could be saved from the scrapyard and given a well-deserved sprucing up and retirement on the Suffolk coast.
I don’t know the Lowestoft line as well, but properly looked after by a Community Rail Partnership, it could be a serious asset to the towns on the route.
One thing is missing from the services back to London from Lowestoft and Felixstowe is the lack of a late train to get back to Ipswich and on to London.
The last train from Lowestoft leaves after nine on most days and at 20:05 on Sundays, whereas the last train from Felixstowe leaves just before half past nine all the week.
It’ll be good to see how the rail services develop in this proud part of Suffolk.
Ticketing In London Takes Another Big Step
Over the last month,since London’s buses went cashless, the silence has been deafening about this issue and I haven’t found any news reports about problems or complaints.
So it was no surprise to see that from September 16th the Underground, Overground and DLR will accept contactless bank cards.
There are still a few small steps to take, like bringing all of other rail companies into the system. Once this is done, you could say turn up at Gatwick Airport touch your contactless bank card on the reader and then again, when you get to Victoria, to get into Central London. Obviously, you can do that from September 16th at Heathrow or City Airports, as they are in the Transport for London area.
One of the things also to be introduced is a weekly cap. So will this mean that if you put a weekly ticket on Oyster, you won’t need to any more.
Boring Television
It’s fascinating to read the heavyweight reviews on the BBC2 program, The Fifteen Billion Pound Railway, in the Independent and the Telegraph.
When did serious engineering programs get such coverage?
The Times has a report, if you’re a subscriber, but there’s nothing in the Guardian.
How Would The Scottish Diaspora Vote On Independence?
I ask this question as the BBC has a story about five famous Scots, who live outside Scotland would vote.
I can’t find a poll of Scots outside Scotland asking how they would vote, but I can add an anecdote.
I used to play real tennis with an American, who was an academic at Cambridge. His research area was the relationship of the diaspora, with their original country. He had found that a lot of the troubles in the Indian sub-continent had been funded by donations from abroad. As a Bostonian, he did add that he didn’t think that the Irish in his home city, had helped find a solution in Northern Ireland.
I also think, that we all like places where we grew up or to which we have a strong connection, to do well and have control of their destiny.
For this reason, it could be that if Scots living outside Scotland had the vote, then the referendum would more likely be a vote for independence.
So could Alex Salmond have got it wrong, on not allowing Scots abroad to vote, if he wants the vote to go his way?
A Cool Place For Lunch
It was hot yesterday and I met an old friend for lunch.
As I’m a Friend of the British Museum, for myself and a guest, we went to the Members Room at the British Museum.
My old friend had a wrap and I had a salmon salad. We washed them down with cold lemonade.
The Members Room is air-conditioned and it was a very pleasant way to spend lunchtime on such a hot day.
The Anonymous Widower 