Two New Buses For London Kiss At The Angel
Because of the Torch Relay, you don’t pass anybody these days, but kiss. Here two of the New Buses for London kiss at the Angel.
Two New Buses For London Kiss At The Angel
As there are now eight in service, we’ll see more of this.
Is This The Only Modern AEC Bus In London?
I took this picture a couple of days ago of one of the Wright buses on route 38.
Is This The Only Modern AEC Bus In London?
For many years, all London buses, including the famous Routemaster, were built by the Associated Equipment Company or AEC.
Midland Main Line To Be Electrified
It is being reported this morning, that the Midlands Main Line from St. Pancras station to Sheffield is going to be electrified. At present it only goes as far as Bedford, which must be one of the most stupid planning decisions by Railtrack and its predecessors.
But then there are several cases, where electrification stopped in the UK, rather than continue to its logical conclusion. I remember as a teenager, that the original plans for electrification in East Anglia included the branch line to Felixstowe. It should probably have included Ely to Norwich and Norwich to Yarmouth as well. Now there is a strong case to electrify Ipswich to Peterborough to haul all that freight from Felixstowe. Although the last bit would be difficult due to the number of bridges on the line, but hopefully when the line was upgraded for larger containers, they did it to allow for electric wires as well. But knowing the muppets in the Department of Transport, that like to think it’s their railway, deliberately didn’t, so that electrification would stay in the sidings.
This is what surprises me about Midland Main Line electrification being announced. Logically, it should be done before the Great Western, as it is a smaller scheme, doesn’t have a difficult tunnel like the Severn Tunnel and many of the current trains can be converted to electric operation, as I posted here. I think it is mostly three track too, which helps with the engineering.
But when do governments do things logically?
Have they seen sense or does Justine Greening read the railway press?
It will be interesting what is said on Monday.
Thinking about this more, we have to take into account the fact that a spur into Heathrow from the west has also been announced. Putting my old project management hat back on, I can’t help feeling that underneath all this is some very good project management. Three electrification projects on the go at the same time, all relatively close together mean that the expensive electreification train that Railtrack has bought can be fully utilised.
The M4 Is Open Again
So what?
After all this is supposed to be a Green Games, so shouldn’t athletes and official be using trains to get to Stratford. The original plans for the Heathrow Express called for the trains to go to St. Pancras as well as Paddington. So what happened to that? Here‘s a press release from Railtrack.
If the Heathrow Express to St. Pancras, had connected to ThamesLink, in say a simple cross platform interchange, that would have been the quick way to get between London’s two biggest airports.
What’s Parking?
They’re discussing parking on BBC Breakfast this morning.
Two years ago, I had a stroke, which left me unable to drive. So I sold my car, moved to London and now if I want to go anywhere I just walk round the corner and get a bus, for which I never wait more than two minutes. This is because I live on a high capacity route.
The effect on my bank account has been dramatic and totally positive. A great game is to watch the idiots trying to part in my road.
Do I miss driving? No! Not at all!
Olympic Security in Perspective
It has been reported, that two British climbers and five are missing after an avalanche in France.
We are rightly worried about security for the Olympic Games, but I think we are very much overly so.
Most of the people-related problems in the Olympics, will be drunks falling under Tube trains and serious health problems like heart attacks. As a regular user of London’s transport network, I know my places, where problems are likely to occur, but I won’t follow the government and most of those listening to radio phone-ins and scare-monger.
As I write this there is a Colonel on the radio, saying that we wouldn’t be able to provide the extra security, once we’ve reduced the size of the Armed Forces. I’ve heard his arguments many times before from left-wing union leaders, when a factory is being closed.
The real security failure has been the non-fulfilment of the contract by G4S to provide the security, they said they would provide.
The largest mole, I’ve ever seen, has just scurried down my road in the direction of the Olympic site. I assume, he’s part of the moles’ Mountain Brigade.
Talking up Defiencies
They’ve just had a very one-sided phone-in on BBC Radio 5, with virtually an hour of the dismal Jimmies and Jennies complaining about all the inadequacies.
We’ve just had a volunteer complaining, that they are not being given car parking on the Olympic Park. It sounds to me, that they should have been turned down as a volunteer.
Let’s face it, if you don’t like the conditions, don’t volunteer.
We should be celebrating what we got right.
My field is project management and we should be celebrating the fact that all of the venues and transport links have been constructed on time and generally on budget.
Remember the Olympic Park is built in a marsh and with all the bad weather we’ve been having lately, that has not only caused construction problems, but made the design of the park difficult. Luckily, the main site of the Games is by the River Lea and Joseph Bazalette‘s massive Northern Outfall Sewer, so hopefully we’ll cope, with water and sewage.
I’ve watched the plans unfold and East London has improved beyond all expectations.
When we won the bid the London Overground from New Cross to Dalston and from Stratford to Richmond only partly existed as a set of travelling urinals. now it is a modern railway with new trains, signalling and completely renewed track. The East London Line deserves five stars in its own right, as it was built through Brunel’s Thames Tunnel of 1840 and under the Kingsland Road, without breaking anything.
As the icing, London has now got its magnificent cable-car, which will be the fun legacy of the games.
And now the phone-in is talking about the failure of the O2 mobile phone network. My Nokia 6310i works well on O2 at the moment.
Fifty Shades of Grey on the Tube
This morning,as I went to the dentist on the Central line, I noticed that the young lady next to me was reading a book. But not just any book, but Fifty Shades of Grey.
It’s funny, but I don’t think a man would even have read Lady Chatterley’s Lover on the tube even a dozen or so years ago.
I Didn’t Have A Bad Weekend
It could have been better, if Murray had won, instead of lost to Federer, but I doubt there is any player, who on his best form could have beaten Federer on Sunday. But as Jeff Tarango predicted, the roof issue was against Murray.
But then we did have the wonderful victory of Marray and Neilsen winning the Mens Doubles.
We did at least thrash the Aussies again, during breaks in the rain at Chester-le-Street.
I did enjoy the cable-car in the rain too.
And especially, the pop-up museum about Crossrail and the archaeology.
But otherwise I was just reading the papers, feeding myself and watching television.
At least we have the Olympics coming up.
London Receives Its 300th Hybrid Bus
This report says that London has now got three hundred hybrid buses on the streets.
It also says that there are seven New Bus for London on route 38. I’ve only seen five.
The Anonymous Widower 