1.
British Rail Class 360
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The Class 360 is an electric multiple-unit that was built by Siemens in two sub-types from 2002–2003 and 2004-2005. These units are part of the Siemens Desiro family, the Siemens Desiro UK family also includes units of Classes 185,350,380,444 and 450. Unlike the South West Trains and West Coast Main Line Desiros and this was a late design change, as the Health and Safety Executive was not happy with the drivers visibility with the previous designs gangway cab for Driver Only Operation. The Class 360 has air conditioning, rapid acceleration technology, first Great Eastern ordered 21 4-car units to replace its elderly Class 312 slam-door units. They entered service in August 2003, and by mid-2004 had completely replaced the old trains and they are primarily used on London Liverpool Street to Clacton-on-Sea, Ipswich and Colchester Town services. They also run to Walton-on-the-Naze at peak times, in April 2004 FirstGroup lost the franchise to the National Express Group, which operated the Great Eastern routes as part of its National Express East Anglia franchise. The franchise is now operated by Greater Anglia, though operated by Greater Anglia, the Class 360 is not maintained by the franchise but is under contract from Siemens for routine maintenance at Ilford Depot near London. These are to be replaced by Bombardier Aventra units entering service between 2019-2020, which means that the class 360/1s will be passed on to another company and it has not yet been announced where they will be passed on to. Heathrow Connect normally runs five 5-car units operating London Paddington-Heathrow Airport stopping trains, for a period in early 2016, service was suspended to facilitate the use of the Class 360 trains on the Heathrow Express service, whose Class 332s had been taken out of service for safety reasons. The trains entered service on 12 June 2005 and these units were originally intended as Class 350s for prospective spot hire. In 2010, one unit was transferred to Heathrow Express to operate its Heathrow Terminal 4 shuttle service, nine Desiro Class 360/2 units have been supplied for the Suvarnabhumi Airport Link in Thailand. Four are four-car sets for Express services running non-stop from City Air Terminal at Makkasan to the airport, another five sets are three-cars for City Line Service stopping at all stations from Phayathai to the airport. The air-conditioning system on trains is designed for the Thai climate. On 25 May 2014,360205 derailed as it entered Paddington due to maintenance errors
2.
Passenger rail franchising in Great Britain
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A limited number of urban services are privately run, but are awarded by the local authority. The system only covers the railways of Great Britain, the railways in Northern Ireland are owned and operated by the state-owned company NI Railways. The franchising system was created by the Railways Act 1993 as part of the privatisation of British Rail by the Government of John Major, prior to this, the railway system had been owned and operated by the government-owned corporation British Rail, which has since been wound up. Prime Minister John Major envisaged splitting up the railways and returning ownership to an equivalent of the Big Four railway companies that had existed before the creation of British Rail, the legislation allowed BR to bid for franchises, if the DPRF agreed, but in practice he never did. Winning bidders were decided on a pure cost basis – those who offered to pay the highest premium, or lowest subsidy, once signed, franchise agreements could only be terminated under certain conditions, namely not meeting the PSR, although fines were available as an intermediate step. The first franchise agreements to be signed were for the South West and Great Western franchises, the first passenger train service operated by a privatised franchise was the South West Trains 05. As the program progressed, all franchises had been awarded and commenced by 1 April 1997, OPRAF was initially criticised for taking too long, but answered that most of the delays were outside of their control, and were indeed caused by the government itself. Ultimately, although there were 25 franchises, the eventual buyers came from only 13 different companies, many were bus companies, with the hoped for interest from airlines and shipping groups failing to be converted into solid bids. In addition, despite several bids, due to difficulties in raising finance, National Express Group was the winner of most franchises, with five. Prism Rail came next, with four, connex, Virgin and MTL all captured two each, with the franchises they won being closely related. Stagecoach also won two, although the second was the tiny Island Line, which would eventually be merged with their main win, South West. Great Western Holdings also won two, on sides of the country - Great Western and North Western, First Group. Their March 1998 buyout of the other GWH partners increased their total to three, in the end, most of the franchises were awarded for lengths from 7 to 7 and a half years. Only seven franchises were longer - two for 10 years, and five for 15 years, only one was shorter, the 5 year award for Island Line. Since this would take time as it involved legislation, in the time it established the SRA in shadow form. Part of their brief was to ensure the railways operated as a coherent network and their goals were closely aligned with the governments wider objectives, set out in July 2000 as the ten-year plan, Transport 2010. It aimed to have these proposals agreed by Autumn 2001, and these long term plans were disrupted in 2001/2 by the impact of the Hatfield rail crash, which led to the nationalisation of Railtrack, creating Network Rail. On 1 February 2001 the position of Franchising Director was abolished by the Transport Act 2000, instead it elected for a short 2-year extension, hoping the situation would be clearer by then
3.
London Paddington station
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Paddington, also known as London Paddington, is a central London railway terminus and London Underground station complex, located on Praed Street in the Paddington area. The site has been the London terminus of the Great Western Railway, much of the main-line station dates from 1854 and was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel. It was first served by London Underground trains in 1863, as the western terminus of the Metropolitan Railway. Today, Paddington tube station is served by the Bakerloo, Circle, District and it is also the terminus for the Heathrow Express and Heathrow Connect services to and from London Heathrow Airport. It is one of 19 stations in the United Kingdom managed directly by Network Rail and it is situated in fare zone 1. The station complex is bounded at the front by Praed Street and at the rear by Bishops Bridge Road, on the west side of the station is Eastbourne Terrace, while the east side is bounded by the Paddington arm of the Grand Union Canal. The station is in a cutting, a fact obscured at the front by a hotel building. The surrounding area is residential, and includes the major St Marys Hospital, restaurants. Until recently there was little office accommodation in the area, however, recent redevelopment of derelict railway and canal land, marketed as Paddington Waterside, has resulted in new office complexes nearby. In addition to the Underground stations at Paddington, Lancaster Gate tube station on the Central line is a walk away to the south. A little further to the south lie the conjoined parks of Hyde Park, the National Rail station is officially named London Paddington, a name commonly used outside London but rarely by Londoners, who call it just Paddington, as on the London Underground map. Parts of the station, including the train shed, date from 1854. It is one of 19 stations managed by Network Rail, the first station was a temporary terminus for the GWR on the west side of Bishops Bridge Road, opened on 4 June 1838. The first GWR service from London to Taplow, near Maidenhead, after the main station opened in 1854, this became the site of the goods depot. It opened on 29 May 1854, the glazed roof is supported by wrought iron arches in three spans, respectively spanning 68 feet,102 feet and 70 feet. The roof is 699 feet long, and the original roof spans had two transepts connecting the three spans and it is commonly believed that these were provided by Brunel to accommodate traversers to carry coaches between the tracks within the station. However recent research, using documents and photographs, does not seem to support this belief. The Great Western Hotel was built on Praed Street in front of the station in 1851–1854 by architect Philip Charles Hardwick, the station was substantially enlarged in 1906–1915 and a fourth span of 109 feet was added on the north side, parallel to the others
4.
Heathrow Airport
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Heathrow Airport is a major international airport in London, United Kingdom. In 2016, it handled a record 75.7 million passengers, Heathrow lies 14 miles west of Central London, and has two parallel east–west runways along with four operational terminals on a site that covers 12.27 square kilometres. London Heathrow is the hub for British Airways and the primary operating base for Virgin Atlantic. In September 2012, the UK government established the Airports Commission, in July 2015, the commission backed a third runway at Heathrow and the government approved a third runway in October 2016. Heathrow is 14 mi west of central London, near the end of the London Borough of Hillingdon on a parcel of land that is designated part of the Metropolitan Green Belt. The airport is surrounded by the areas of Harlington, Harmondsworth, Longford and Cranford to the north and by Hounslow. To the south lie Bedfont and Stanwell while to the west Heathrow is separated from Slough in Berkshire by the M25 motorway, Heathrow falls entirely under the TW postcode area. As the airport is west of London and as its runways run east–west, for a chronicled history of Heathrow Airport, see History of Heathrow Airport. Heathrow Airport originated in 1929 as an airfield on land south-east of the hamlet of Heathrow from which the airport takes its name. At that time there were farms, market gardens and orchards there, there was a Heathrow Farm about where Terminal 1 is now, a Heathrow Hall and a Heathrow House. This hamlet was largely along a lane which ran roughly along the east. Development of the whole Heathrow area as a much larger airport began in 1944. But by the time the airfield was nearing completion, World War II had ended, the government continued to develop the airport as a civil airport, it opened as London Airport in 1946 and was renamed Heathrow Airport in 1966. Heathrow Airport is used by over 80 airlines flying to 185 destinations in 84 countries, the airport is the primary hub of British Airways and is a base for Virgin Atlantic. It has four terminals and a cargo terminal. Of Heathrows 73.4 million passengers in 2014, 93% were international travellers, the busiest single destination in passenger numbers is New York, with over 3 million passengers flying between Heathrow and JFK Airport in 2013. As the required length for runways has grown, Heathrow now has two parallel runways running east–west. These are extended versions of the two east–west runways from the original hexagram, from the air, almost all of the original runways can still be seen, incorporated into the present system of taxiways
5.
Great Western Railway (train operating company)
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Great Western Railway is a British train operating company owned by FirstGroup. It manages 208 stations and its trains call at over 270, GWR operates long-distance inter-city services along the Great Western Main Line to South West England and South Wales, as well as the Night Riviera sleeper service between London and Penzance. The company began operating in February 1996 as Great Western Trains, in December 1998 it became First Great Western after FirstGroup bought out its partners shares in Great Western Holdings. In April 2006, First Great Western, First Great Western Link and Wessex Trains were combined into the new Greater Western franchise and brought under the First Great Western brand. The company adopted its current name and a new livery in September 2015 to coincide with the start of a franchise that is due to run until April 2020. Great Western Holdings was owned by some former British Rail managers, FirstBus, in March 1998, FirstGroup bought out its partners stakes to give it 100% ownership. In December 1998, the franchise was rebranded as First Great Western, on 1 April 2004, First Great Western Link commenced operating the Thames Trains franchise. It operated local services from Paddington to Slough, Henley-on-Thames, Reading, Didcot, Oxford, Newbury, Bedwyn, Worcester, Hereford, Banbury. It also operated services from Reading to Gatwick Airport, and from Reading to Basingstoke, on 1 April 2006, the Great Western, Great Western Link and Wessex Trains franchises were combined into a new Greater Western franchise. FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach were shortlisted to bid for new franchise. On 13 December 2005, it was announced that FirstGroup had won the franchise, originally, First planned to subdivide its services into three categories based on routes. Following feedback from staff and stakeholders, the decision was taken to re-brand, in May 2011, FirstGroup announced that it had decided not to take up the option to extend its franchise beyond the end of March 2013. FirstGroup stated that, in the light of the plan to electrify the Great Western route from London via Bristol to Cardiff. CEO Tim OToole said, We believe we are best placed to manage these projects, in March 2012 Arriva, FirstGroup, National Express and Stagecoach were shortlisted to bid for the new franchise. The ITT ran from the end of July until October 2012, the winner would have been announced in March 2013, and taken on the franchise from 21 July 2013 until the end of July 2028. The new franchise would include the introduction of new Intercity Express Trains, capacity enhancements, the award of the franchise was again delayed in October 2012, while the Department for Transport reviewed the way rail franchises are awarded. In January 2013, the government announced that the current competition for the franchise had been terminated, a two-year franchise extension until September 2015 was agreed in October 2013, and subsequently extended until March 2019. A further extension to April 2019 was granted in March 2015, the company rebranded itself as Great Western Railway on 20 September 2015 and introduced a green livery in recognition of the former Great Western Railway
6.
London
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London /ˈlʌndən/ is the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdom. Standing on the River Thames in the south east of the island of Great Britain and it was founded by the Romans, who named it Londinium. Londons ancient core, the City of London, largely retains its 1. 12-square-mile medieval boundaries. London is a global city in the arts, commerce, education, entertainment, fashion, finance, healthcare, media, professional services, research and development, tourism. It is crowned as the worlds largest financial centre and has the fifth- or sixth-largest metropolitan area GDP in the world, London is a world cultural capital. It is the worlds most-visited city as measured by international arrivals and has the worlds largest city airport system measured by passenger traffic, London is the worlds leading investment destination, hosting more international retailers and ultra high-net-worth individuals than any other city. Londons universities form the largest concentration of education institutes in Europe. In 2012, London became the first city to have hosted the modern Summer Olympic Games three times, London has a diverse range of people and cultures, and more than 300 languages are spoken in the region. Its estimated mid-2015 municipal population was 8,673,713, the largest of any city in the European Union, Londons urban area is the second most populous in the EU, after Paris, with 9,787,426 inhabitants at the 2011 census. The citys metropolitan area is the most populous in the EU with 13,879,757 inhabitants, the city-region therefore has a similar land area and population to that of the New York metropolitan area. London was the worlds most populous city from around 1831 to 1925, Other famous landmarks include Buckingham Palace, the London Eye, Piccadilly Circus, St Pauls Cathedral, Tower Bridge, Trafalgar Square, and The Shard. The London Underground is the oldest underground railway network in the world, the etymology of London is uncertain. It is an ancient name, found in sources from the 2nd century and it is recorded c.121 as Londinium, which points to Romano-British origin, and hand-written Roman tablets recovered in the city originating from AD 65/70-80 include the word Londinio. The earliest attempted explanation, now disregarded, is attributed to Geoffrey of Monmouth in Historia Regum Britanniae and this had it that the name originated from a supposed King Lud, who had allegedly taken over the city and named it Kaerlud. From 1898, it was accepted that the name was of Celtic origin and meant place belonging to a man called *Londinos. The ultimate difficulty lies in reconciling the Latin form Londinium with the modern Welsh Llundain, which should demand a form *lōndinion, from earlier *loundiniom. The possibility cannot be ruled out that the Welsh name was borrowed back in from English at a later date, and thus cannot be used as a basis from which to reconstruct the original name. Until 1889, the name London officially applied only to the City of London, two recent discoveries indicate probable very early settlements near the Thames in the London area
7.
Heathrow Express
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Heathrow Express is an airport rail link between London Heathrow Airport and Paddington. It opened in 1998 and is operated by the Heathrow Express Operating Company and it is an open access operator and not subject to franchising. Heathrow Express was planned as a joint venture between BAA and British Rail, but was taken over fully by the following the railways being privatised. The principal works were two 5-mile single-bore tunnels and underground stations at Heathrow Central and Terminal 4, electrification of the Great Western Main Line between Paddington and Airport Junction, where the new line diverged from the GWML, was also required. A flying junction known as Stockley Flyover was constructed to connect the tunnel to the GWML fast lines, beginning in January 1998, an interim service called Heathrow FastTrain ran to a temporary station called Heathrow Junction, where a coach took passengers the rest of the way. The full service began on 23 June 1998, with four trains per hour running in each direction, in 2005, a service called Heathrow Connect was started, operating a twice-hourly stopping service along the route using Class 360 Desiro EMUs. In 2008, Heathrow Express was diverted to serve the new Terminal 5 in lieu of Terminal 4, the company employs 435 staff, 90% of whom work on trains or stations, and 72 of whom are train drivers. Heathrow Airport Holdings have an agreement with Network Rail until 2023 for access paths on the GWML, trains depart Paddington every 15 minutes from 05.10 until 23.25, and there is a similar quarter-hourly service in the return direction. At Paddington they use dedicated platforms 6 and 7, although on other platforms are used. There are two stops at Heathrow, Heathrow Central, serving Terminals 1,2 and 3, until the opening of Terminal 5 on 27 March 2008, Heathrow Express terminated at Heathrow Terminal 4, this is now served by the Heathrow Express shuttle from Heathrow Central. The service uses Class 332 electric multiple units built by CAF/Siemens and these incorporate video monitors and the ability to use mobile phones throughout the journey, even in tunnels. The monitors are used for advertising and for news and weather updates produced by BBC World News. Heathrow Express has been well received, not least because steps were taken to reduce the environmental impact. As of Summer 2013, all units have undergone a complete refurbishment inside and out including new seating configurations, luggage storage, Express Saver and Business First tickets are valid within 3 months of date of travel and return journey valid within 1 month of outbound journey. Standard class travel between Heathrow stations is free, there is also a stopping service, Heathrow Connect, which takes the same route but using the slower relief lines, on which significantly lower fares are charged. This takes approximately 15 minutes longer than Heathrow Express, but offers connections to the London Underground Central, Airport workers can get a discount through the Airport Commuter scheme operated by Heathrow Airport Holdings. Performance for the first quarter of the 2013 financial year was 94. 0% PPM, the service runs along Network Rails Great Western Main Line from Paddington to Airport Junction. The line from Airport Junction to the terminals is owned by Heathrow Airport Holdings
8.
Oyster card
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The Oyster card is a form of electronic ticket used on public transport in Greater London in the United Kingdom. A standard Oyster card is a blue credit-card-sized stored-value contactless smartcard that can hold single tickets, period tickets and travel permits, passengers touch it on an electronic reader when entering and leaving the transport system in order to validate it or deduct funds. Cards may be topped-up by recurring payment authority, by purchase, at credit card terminals or by cash. The card is designed to reduce the number of transactions at ticket offices, usage is encouraged by offering substantially cheaper fares than with cash though the acceptance of cash is being phased out. On London buses, cash is no longer accepted, the card was first issued to the public in July 2003 with a limited range of features and there continues to be a phased introduction of further functions. By June 2012, over 43 million Oyster cards had been issued, as part of TfLs Future Ticketing Programme the Oyster card platform is due to be replaced or supplemented by contactless payment card systems such as contactless credit and debit cards. The first stage of this was completed in June 2015, the £100 million contract was signed in 1998 for a term of 17 years until 2015 at a total cost of £1.1 billion. In August 2008, TfL decided to exercise an option in the contract to terminate it in 2010. This followed a number of technical failures, TfL stated that the contractual break was to reduce costs, not connected to the system failures. In November 2008 a new contract was announced between TfL and Cubic and EDS for two of the original shareholders to run the system from 2010 until 2013. The Oyster name was agreed on after a period of research managed by TranSys. Two other names were considered and Oyster was chosen as an approach that was not directly linked to transport. Other proposed names were Pulse and Gem, the intellectual property rights to the Oyster brand originally belonged to TranSys. The Oyster card has a claimed proximity range of about 80 mm, the card operates as a RFID system and is compatible with ISO/IEC14443 types A and B. Oyster readers can read other types of cards including Cubic Transportation Systems Go cards. From its inception until January 2010, Oyster cards were based on NXP/Philips MIFARE Classic 1k chips provided by Giesecke & Devrient, Gemalto, all new Oyster cards have used MIFARE DESFire EV1 chips since December 2009. From February 2010, MIFARE Classic-based Oyster cards were no longer issued, MIFARE DESFire cards are now widely used as transport smartcards. MIFARE Classic chips, on which the original Oyster card was based, are hard-wired logic smartcards, the MIFARE DESFire chips used on the new Oyster card are CPUs with much more sophisticated security features and more complex computation power
9.
London Underground
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The London Underground is a public rapid transit system serving London and some parts of the adjacent counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom. The network has expanded to 11 lines, and in 2015–16 carried 1.34 billion passengers, the 11 lines collectively handle approximately 4.8 million passengers a day. The system has 270 stations and 250 miles of track, despite its name, only 45% of the system is actually underground in tunnels, with much of the network in the outer environs of London being on the surface. In addition, the Underground does not cover most southern parts of Greater London, the current operator, London Underground Limited, is a wholly owned subsidiary of Transport for London, the statutory corporation responsible for the transport network in Greater London. As of 2015, 92% of operational expenditure is covered by passenger fares, the Travelcard ticket was introduced in 1983 and Oyster, a contactless ticketing system, in 2003. Contactless card payments were introduced in 2014, the LPTB was a prominent patron of art and design, commissioning many new station buildings, posters and public artworks in a modernist style. Other famous London Underground branding includes the roundel and Johnston typeface, to prepare construction, a short test tunnel was built in 1855 in Kibblesworth, a small town with geological properties similar to London. This test tunnel was used for two years in the development of the first underground train, and was later, in 1861, the worlds first underground railway, it opened in January 1863 between Paddington and Farringdon using gas-lit wooden carriages hauled by steam locomotives. It was hailed as a success, carrying 38,000 passengers on the opening day, the Metropolitan District Railway opened in December 1868 from South Kensington to Westminster as part of a plan for an underground inner circle connecting Londons main-line termini. The Metropolitan and District railways completed the Circle line in 1884, built using the cut and this opened in 1890 with electric locomotives that hauled carriages with small opaque windows, nicknamed padded cells. The Waterloo and City Railway opened in 1898, followed by the Central London Railway in 1900, the Metropolitan Railway protested about the change of plan, but after arbitration by the Board of Trade, the DC system was adopted. When the Bakerloo was so named in July 1906, The Railway Magazine called it an undignified gutter title, by 1907 the District and Metropolitan Railways had electrified the underground sections of their lines. In January 1913, the UERL acquired the Central London Railway, the Bakerloo line was extended north to Queens Park to join a new electric line from Euston to Watford, but World War I delayed construction and trains reached Watford Junction in 1917. During air raids in 1915 people used the stations as shelters. An extension of the Central line west to Ealing was also delayed by the war, the Metropolitan promoted housing estates near the railway with the Metro-land brand and nine housing estates were built near stations on the line. Electrification was extended north from Harrow to Rickmansworth, and branches opened from Rickmansworth to Watford in 1925, the Piccadilly line was extended north to Cockfosters and took over District line branches to Harrow and Hounslow. In 1933, most of Londons underground railways, tramway and bus services were merged to form the London Passenger Transport Board, the Waterloo & City Railway, which was by then in the ownership of the main line Southern Railway, remained with its existing owners. In the same year that the London Passenger Transport Board was formed, in the following years, the outlying lines of the former Metropolitan Railway closed, the Brill Tramway in 1935, and the line from Quainton Road to Verney Junction in 1936
10.
Mile
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The mile is an English unit of length of linear measure equal to 5,280 feet, or 1,760 yards, and standardised as exactly 1,609.344 metres by international agreement in 1959. The Romans divided their mile into 5,000 feet but the importance of furlongs in pre-modern England meant that the statute mile was made equivalent to 8 furlongs or 5,280 feet in 1593. This form of the mile then spread to the British-colonized nations who continue to employ the mile, the US Geological Survey now employs the metre for official purposes but legacy data from its 1927 geodetic datum has meant that a separate US survey mile continues to see some use. Derived units such as miles per hour and miles per gallon, however, continue to be abbreviated as mph, mpg. The modern English word mile derives from Middle English myl and Old English mīl, the present international mile is usually what is understood by the unqualified term mile. When this distance needs to be distinguished from the nautical mile, in British English, the statute mile may refer to the present international miles or to any other form of English mile since the 1593 Act of Parliament which set it as a distance of 1,760 yards. Under American law, however, the statute mile refers to the US survey mile, the mile has been variously abbreviated—with and without a trailing period—as m, M, ml, and mi. The American National Institute of Standards and Technology now uses and recommends mi in order to avoid confusion with the SI metre and millilitre. Derived units such as miles per hour and miles per gallon, however, continue to be abbreviated in the United States, United Kingdom, the BBC style holds that There is no acceptable abbreviation for ‘miles’ and so it should be spelt out when used in describing areas. The Roman mile consisted of a thousand paces as measured by every other step—as in the distance of the left foot hitting the ground 1,000 times. The ancient Romans, marching their armies through uncharted territory, would push a carved stick in the ground after each 1000 paces. Well-fed and harshly driven Roman legionaries in good weather thus created longer miles, the distance was indirectly standardised by Agrippas establishment of a standard Roman foot in 29 BC, and the definition of a pace as 5 feet. An Imperial Roman mile thus denoted 5,000 Roman feet, surveyors and specialized equipment such as the decempeda and dioptra then spread its use. In modern times, Agrippas Imperial Roman mile was empirically estimated to have been about 1,481 metres in length, in Hellenic areas of the Empire, the Roman mile was used beside the native Greek units as equivalent to 8 stadia of 600 Greek feet. The mílion continued to be used as a Byzantine unit and was used as the name of the zero mile marker for the Byzantine Empire. The Roman mile also spread throughout Europe, with its local variations giving rise to the different units below, also arising from the Roman mile is the milestone. All roads radiated out from the Roman Forum throughout the Empire –50,000 miles of stone-paved roads, at every mile was placed a shaped stone, on which was carved a Roman numeral, indicating the number of miles from the center of Rome – the Forum. Hence, one knew how far one was from Rome
11.
Crossrail
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Crossrail is a 118-kilometre railway line under development in London and the home counties of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire and Essex. The project was approved in 2007 and construction began in 2009 on the central section and it has been described as one of Europes largest infrastructure construction projects. Its main feature is 21 km of new twin tunnels through central London and these tunnels will run from Paddington to Stratford and Canary Wharf in the east. Crossrail will be operated by MTR Corporation Ltd as a London Rail concession of Transport for London, in a similar manner to London Overground. The need for extra capacity along this corridor is such that the head of TfL, Sir Peter Hendy. New nine-carriage Class 345 trains will run at frequencies in the section of up to 24 trains per hour in each direction. The project that became Crossrail has origins in the 1943 County of London Plan and 1944 Greater London Plan by Patrick Abercrombie and these led to a specialist investigation by the Railway Committee, appointed in 1944 and reporting in 1946 and 1948. The term Crossrail emerged in the 1974 London Rail Study Report, although the idea was seen as imaginative, only a brief estimate of cost was given, £300 million. A feasibility study was recommended as a priority so that the practicability. It was also suggested that the alignment of the tunnels should be safeguarded while a decision was taken. The Central London Rail Study of 1989 proposed tunnels linking the rail network as the East–West Crossrail, City Crossrail. The City route was shown as a new connection across the City of London linking the Great Northern Route with London Bridge, the report also recommended a number of other schemes including a Thameslink Metro route enhancement, and the Chelsea–Hackney line. The cost of the east–west scheme including rolling stock was estimated at £885 million, in 1991 a private bill was submitted to Parliament for a scheme including a new underground line from Paddington to Liverpool Street. In 2001 Cross London Rail Links, a joint-venture between TfL and the DfT, was formed to develop and promote the Crossrail scheme, the proposal was rejected by Crossrail, and failed to receive the backing of the Mayor of London, Ken Livingstone, or the DfT. In February 2008 the Bill moved to the House of Lords, the Act gave CLRL the powers necessary to build the line. Construction began on 15 May 2009 when construction started, in September 2009 the project received £1 billion in funding. The money was lent to TfL by the European Investment Bank, the original planned schedule was that the first trains would run in 2017, but in 2010 the government delayed this to 2018 in order to save £1 billion. Crossrails central core section will utilise new east–west twin tunnels under central London, the tunnelled sections will be approximately 22 kilometres in length
12.
Circle line (London Underground)
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The Circle line is a London Underground service in a spiralling shape, running from Hammersmith to Edgware Road and then looping once around central London back to Edgware Road. Coloured yellow on the map, the 17-mile line serves 36 stations. Most of the route and all of the stations are shared with the other three lines, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. On the Circle line and the Hammersmith & City line combined,21 of the 36 stations are below ground. The first section opened in 1863 when the Metropolitan Railway opened the worlds first underground line between Paddington and Farringdon with wooden carriages and steam locomotives, due to conflict between the two companies it was October 1884 before the inner circle was completed. The line was electrified in 1905, and in July 1933 the two companies were amalgamated into the London Passenger Transport Board, in 1949 the Circle line appeared as a separate line for the first time on the Tube map. In December 2009 the closed loop around the centre of London on the side of the River Thames was broken at Edgware Road. The signalling system is being upgraded and the C Stock trains have recently replaced by new 7-car S Stock trains. In the same year a committee report recommended an inner circle of railway lines connecting the London termini that had been built or under construction. In the next year the Metropolitan District Railway was formed to build, the Metropolitan western extension opened in 1868 from a new station at Paddington to South Kensington. By May 1870 the District railway had opened its line from West Brompton to Blackfriars via Gloucester Road and South Kensington, the Metropolitan provided the clockwise or outer rail trains, the District the inner rail or anti-clockwise. As well as the circle, other routes circumnavigated London. Both of these routes were cut back to Earls Court in 1900 for the circle and 1909 for the outer circle. The GWR service survived as a service from the Hammersmith & City line to Addison Road until 1940. The Midland Railway briefly ran a super outer circle from St Pancras to Earls Court from 1878–1880, today London Overground runs services between Clapham Junction, Willesden Junction and Dalston Junction and between Dalston Junction and Clapham Junction. The use of steam led to smoke-filled stations and carriages, which was unpopular with passengers. Experiments were carried out on the Earls Court to High Street Kensington section, following this an AC system was suggested, and this was accepted by both parties. However, the District was looking for a way to raise the finance needed and in 1901 found an investor, after arbitration by the Board of Trade the DC system was taken up, and the railways began electrifying the routes, using multiple-unit stock
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Media related to Heathrow Connect at Wikimedia Commons
