Category Archives: Crossrail

Rolling blog. Crossrail’s here…

24 Tuesday May 2022

Posted by in Crossrail, London, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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07:15.

I’m up and about ready to head out and make my way across London to meet up with an old friend and colleague as today’s the day that Crossrail’s central section finally opens to the public. Keep tuning in to see what I get up to…

17:30.

Humbles apologies – that was a crap “rolling” blog! The problem was that I was non-stop all the time I was in London. Crossrail’s opening was a huge story and the media were out in force. I met up with Richard Clinnick at Liverpool St. As the press leanch with the Mayor of London Sadiq Khan wasn’t until 09:30 we decided to take a trip to explore Farringdon – one of the stations we’d not had chance to look around before.

Like all Crossrail stations it’s impressive. What I hadn’t expected was how many ordinary commuters had switched lines already today – it was packed. Of course there was also thousands of visitors who’d just come along for the ride. These included rail and architecture enthusiasts as well as ordinary people who just wanted to try out this amazing new railway under central London.

Farringdon at the level of the Thameslink platforms.

The pair of us made it to Woolwich station where the official press event was going to be in plenty of time – which was just as well as it was packed. If you’d dropped a bomb on it you could have wiped out 3/4 of the rail press and a goodly chunk of national media and agency snappers too!

It turned into a bit of a media scrum at one point but to Sadiq’s credit he was in no rush and got round almost all the outlets who wanted to interview him. No government Minister was there apart from Baroness Vere. As she sits in the Lords I’m assuming she was seen as ‘safe’. Today was very much Sadiq’s – even if some journo’s threw him curve balls with questions about ‘partygate’ – which eventually elicited the wrath of Kahn about what had gone on in No 10!

Sadiq in the media scrum at Woolwich.

After the circus was over I headed off to visit some more of the stations. Stations that are no longer just the preserve of folk in PPE. I managed Abbey Mills and Custom House before meeting up for a quick drink with a Singaporean friend who’s over in the UK for break. That break turned lucky with Crossrail opening whilst he’s here.

I left London just after 15:00 and spent the whole trip to Leeds editing the pictures I’d taken. I’ll get some on the blog later. Right now I’m perched in the luggage rack of a Northern Class 158 heading for Halifax. I’ve noticed what seems like another upturn in passenger numbers – especially during ‘rush-hours’. I’ll be interested to see if this appears in the next set of Government figures on rail usage…

21:15.

I’m now back at home where I’ve chance to edit some of the selection of pictures I’ve taken today for your delectation.

Looking down from the main concourse at Farringdon. Underneath me are the Thameslink platforms whilst the entrance to the Elizabeth line is straight on from the stairs.

The Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan doing one of his many media interviews this morning. I hope his staff had throat lozenges to hand!

A class 345 enters Abbey Wood station. With a 5 minute interval timetable the service is literally ‘one out – one in’
The concourse and gate line at Abbey Wood station.
A service to Abbey Wood calls at Custom House.
Whitechapel. This walkway is built over the tracks of the East London Line,
Whitechapel. The gate line and main entrance.

You’ll be able to find the full selection of today’s pictures on my Zenfolio site in the next few days. I’m signing off for tonight as I’ve a busy few days ahead. I’m back on the rails tomorrow afternoon as I’ll be heading for the Kent coast. This time I’ll make sure the blog does roll!

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Boris Johnson lies (again)…

04 Wednesday May 2022

Posted by in Boris Johnson MP, Crossrail, Grant Shapps MP, London, Politics, Railways

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To save my blood-pressure and give my spleen a break I’ve steered clear from much political commentary recently. Let’s face it, if I was going to fact-check every lie our Transport Secretary and Prime Minister uttered I’d have a full-time job on my hands.

But today, the lies have really caught my eye because they’re on the back of a good news story which was announced earlier, which is that Crossrail – the new main line railway under London – will open on the 24th May. Of course tomorrow is the local elections across the UK in which the Tories are widely expected to get a spanking from the electorate. People are fed up of the lies and disinformation over Covid, Brexit and ‘Partygate’. The Tories answer? Double-down on the lies, get your friends in the media to plant ‘look over there’ stories and do *exactly* what you accuse your opponents of doing.

Today Transport Minister Grant Shapps tried to accuse Sadiq Khan, the Labour Mayor of London of breaking election ‘purdah’ rules by admitting that Crossrail would open this month (link). Really? Here’s Sadiq’s tweet – which makes no political point whatsoever.

Unlike Shapp’s Tweet an hour later which is emblazoned with the Conservative party logo…

It gets worse. The liar in chief, one Alexander Boris de Pfeffel Johnson, also known as the Prime Minister joined in with this tweet – in which he just couldn’t stop lying…

“I’m proud to have secured the investment”? Really? No. It’s a downright lie – as anyone who understands anything about the history of Crossrail knows.

The Crossrail Hybrid Bill was introduced to Parliament in February 2005 (under a Labour government). It passed 2nd reading on the 8th November 2007 (under a Labour Government). This meant the principle of the bill was established and anything else was a formality. The Bill was enacted (as in it received Royal Assent, so passed into law) on 22 July 2008 (under a Labour Government). Here’s what the Crossrail website says about the funding mechanism.

“The funding framework for Crossrail was put in place in October 2007 when the Prime Minister announced that Crossrail’s cost will be met by Government, the Mayor of London and London businesses. A funding envelope of £15.9 billion was agreed to deliver the Crossrail scheme in its entirety.“

Boris Johnson was elected Mayor of London in May 2008, long after the deals were done. He’s lying. Again.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank You!

8th March picture of the day…

09 Wednesday Mar 2022

Posted by in Architecture, Crossrail, History, London, Photography, Railways, Travel

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It’s a short blog from me today as the vast majority of my time’s been spent glued to a computer screen, sifting through and editing all the pictures that I’ve taken over the past few days as various clients are chasing me for them. In this line of work you get very little notice of jobs and when they’re done – everyone wants the results yesterday!

That said, after a few days running around I wasn’t too averse to a day or two sat at home. Admittedly, I’d been spoiled with the catering arrangements with being away and the novelty of eating other people’s well prepared food and the one luxury I enjoy when away – a full English breakfast! The odd thing is I never miss such things when I’m travelling abroad, it’s purely a parochial delight to be savored this side of the Channel. Anyways, tomorrow’s another busy day so let’s cut straight to the picture of the day which was taken on my recent trip to explore Crossrail – sorry – the Elizabeth line…

We were given the opportunity to explore the new station at Liverpool St which has a rather interesting history. Like most of modern London it’s built on the site of something else. In this case it’s Bedlam and I mean that literally as this glass panel on one of the levels explains.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!