1.
Medway Viaducts
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The Medway Viaducts are three bridges or viaducts that cross the River Medway near Rochester in north Kent, England. The two road bridges carry the M2 motorway carriageways, the other viaduct carries the High Speed 1 railway line. Opened on 29 May 1963, by Ernest Marples, Minister of Transport and it originally had a six-lane formation. In addition, an either side that doubled as a small service road for maintenance. These footpaths were part of the North Downs Way, offering views of the Medway Valley. During the M2 widening, the bridge was refurbished and strengthened. The central span, which was made from concrete beams, was replaced with steel girders, the concrete beams were lowered down on to a river barge underneath. As part of the M2 widening, the bridge had street lighting fitted to it for the first time. Completed in 2003, as part of the M2 widening project, the bridge was built south of the original bridge. The formation of the M2 motorway crossing was changed, the original bridge would be changed to three coast-bound lanes, a hard-shoulder and both footpaths were reduced in size. The south facing footpath was closed, leaving only one path for pedestrians, the newer of the two bridges had the same formation, but changed to London-bound lanes. In 2003, the won the Concrete Society’s Civil Engineering Category award for. It was presented to Doka UK Formwork Technologies, a plaque can be seen on one of the upright support legs, on the Strood side. The western bridge carries High Speed 1, the rail link that connects London with the Channel Tunnel. The rail viaduct is 1.3 kilometres long, the viaduct is a multi-span structure, with typical approach spans of 40.5 m, spanning the River Medway, Wouldham Road and Burham Roads in Borstal. With a central span of 152 m. The viaduct substructure is of reinforced concrete pier columns supported on bored piles, a feature of the columns is that they are in a V shape to provide greater lateral support and stability in the event of two high-speed trains using their emergency brakes. The bridge deck was pushed out from the abutments on the east and west banks of the river during construction using hydraulic ram pistons, on 29 May 2013 the M2 celebrated its 50th anniversary
2.
High-speed rail
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High-speed rail is a type of rail transport that operates significantly faster than traditional rail traffic, using an integrated system of specialized rolling stock and dedicated tracks. The first such system began operations in Japan in 1964 and was known as the bullet train. High-speed trains normally operate on standard gauge tracks of continuously welded rail on grade-separated right-of-way that incorporates a large turning radius in its design, only in Europe does HSR cross international borders. China has 22,000 kilometres of HSR as of end December 2016, while high-speed rail is most often designed for passenger travel, some high-speed systems also offer freight service. Multiple definitions for high-speed rail are in use worldwide, the European Union Directive 96/48/EC, Annex 1 defines high-speed rail in terms of, Infrastructure, track built specially for high-speed travel or specially upgraded for high-speed travel. Minimum Speed Limit, Minimum speed of 250 km/h on lines built for high speed. This must apply to at least one section of the line, Rolling stock must be able to reach a speed of at least 200 km/h to be considered high speed. Operating conditions, Rolling stock must be designed alongside its infrastructure for complete compatibility, safety and quality of service, category II – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h. Category III – Existing tracks specially upgraded for high speeds, allowing a maximum running speed of at least 200 km/h, the UIC prefers to use definitions because they consider that there is no single standard definition of high-speed rail, nor even standard usage of the terms. They make use of the European EC Directive 96/48, stating that high speed is a combination of all the elements which constitute the system, infrastructure, rolling stock and operating conditions. The International Union of Railways states that high-speed rail is a set of unique features, many conventionally hauled trains are able to reach 200 km/h in commercial service but are not considered to be high-speed trains. These include the French SNCF Intercités and German DB IC, National domestic standards may vary from the international ones. Railways were the first form of land transportation and had an effective monopoly on passenger traffic until the development of the motor car. Speed had always been an important factor for railroads and they tried to achieve higher speeds. The line used three-phase current at 10 kilovolts and 45 Hz, on 23 October 1903, the S&H-equipped railcar achieved a speed of 206.7 km/h and on 27 October the AEG-equipped railcar achieved 210.2 km/h. These trains demonstrated the feasibility of electric high-speed rail, however, after the breakthrough of electric railroads, it was clearly the infrastructure – especially the cost of it – which hampered the introduction of high-speed rail. Several disasters happened – derailments, head-on collisions on single-track lines, collisions with traffic at grade crossings. The physical laws were well-known, i. e. if the speed was doubled, the radius should be quadrupled
3.
Passenger rail terminology
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It uses passenger railcars operating singly or in multiple unit trains on fixed rails. It operates on separate rights-of-way from which all other vehicular and foot traffic are excluded and it uses sophisticated signaling systems, and high platform loading. Originally, the rapid transit was used in the 1800s to describe new forms of quick urban public transportation that had a right-of-way separated from street traffic. This set rapid transit apart from horsecars, trams, streetcars, omnibuses, though the term was almost always used to describe rail transportation, other forms of transit were sometimes described by their proponents as rapid transit, including local ferries in some cases. The term bus rapid transit has recently come into use to describe bus lines with features to speed their operation and these usually have more characteristics of light rail than rapid transit. They are consequently designed for operations in tunnel, viaducts or on surface level, in different parts of the world Metro systems are also known as the underground, the subway or the tube. Rail systems with specific construction issues operating on a segregated guideway are also treated as Metros as long as they are designated as part of the public transport network. ”Metropolitan railways are used for high capacity public transportation. They can operate in trains of up to 10 cars, carrying 1800 passengers or more, in Germany, the terms U-Bahn and S-Bahn are used. Some metro systems run on rubber tires but are based on the same principles as steel wheel systems. Subway used in a transit sense refers to either a rapid transit system using heavy rail or a light system that goes underground. The term may only to the underground parts of the system. Some lines described as subway use light rail equipment, notably, Bostons Green Line and the Newark City Subway, each about half underground, originated from fully surface streetcar lines. Sometimes the term is qualified, such as in Philadelphia, where trolleys operate in a subway for part of their route. In some cities where subway is used, it refers to the system, in others. Historic posters referred to Chicagos Red & Blue lines as the subway lines, interestingly, when the Boston subway was originally built, the subway label was only used for sections into which streetcars operated, and the rapid transit sections were called tunnels. Bus subways are uncommon but do exist, though in cases the non-underground portions of route are not called subways. Bus subways are built to provide an exclusive right-of-way for bus rapid transit lines. These are usually called by the bus rapid transit
4.
Greater London
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London, or Greater London, is a region of England which forms the administrative boundaries of London. It is organised into 33 local government districts, the 32 London boroughs, the Greater London Authority, based in Southwark, is responsible for strategic local government across the region and consists of the Mayor of London and the London Assembly. The county of Greater London was created on 1 April 1965 through the London Government Act 1963, administratively, Greater London was first established as a sui generis council area under the Greater London Council between 1963 and 1986. The area was re-established as a region in 1994, and the Greater London Authority formed in 2000, the region covers 1,572 km2 and had a population of 8,174,000 at the 2011 census. In 2012, it had the highest GVA per capita in the United Kingdom at £37,232, the Greater London Built-up Area—used in some national statistics—is a measure of the continuous urban area of London, and therefore includes areas outside of the administrative region. The term Greater London has been and still is used to different areas in governance, statistics, history. In terms of ceremonial counties, London is divided into the small City of London, outside the limited boundaries of the City, a variety of arrangements has governed the wider area since 1855, culminating in the creation of the Greater London administrative area in 1965. The Greater London Arterial Road Programme was devised between 1913 and 1916, one of the larger early forms was the Greater London Planning Region, devised in 1927, which occupied 1,856 square miles and included 9 million people. The LCC pressed for an alteration in its boundaries soon after the end of the First World War, noting that within the Metropolitan, a Royal Commission on London Government was set up to consider the issue. The LCC proposed a vast new area for Greater London, with a boundary somewhere between the Metropolitan Police District and the home counties, protests were made at the possibility of including Windsor, Slough and Eton in the authority. The Commission made its report in 1923, rejecting the LCCs scheme, two minority reports favoured change beyond the amalgamation of smaller urban districts, including both smaller borough councils and a central authority for strategic functions. The London Traffic Act 1924 was a result of the Commission, Greater London originally had a two-tier system of local government, with the Greater London Council sharing power with the City of London Corporation and the 32 London Borough councils. The GLC was abolished in 1986 by the Local Government Act 1985 and its functions were devolved to the City Corporation and the London Boroughs, with some functions transferred to central government and joint boards. Greater London was used to form the London region of England in 1994, a referendum held in 1998 established a public will to recreate an upper tier of government to cover the region. The Greater London Authority, London Assembly and the directly elected Mayor of London were created in 2000 by the Greater London Authority Act 1999, in 2000, the outer boundary of the Metropolitan Police District was re-aligned to the Greater London boundary. The 2000 and 2004 mayoral elections were won by Ken Livingstone, the 2008 and 2012 elections were won by Boris Johnson. The 2016 election was won by Sadiq Khan, Greater London continues to include the most closely associated parts of the Greater London Urban Area and their historic buffers. Thus it includes, in five boroughs, significant parts of the Metropolitan Green Belt which protects designated greenfield land in a way to the citys parks
5.
Essex
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Essex /ˈɛsᵻks/ is a county in England immediately north-east of London. It borders the counties of Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, the county town is Chelmsford, which is the only city in the county. Essex occupies the part of the old Kingdom of Essex, before this. As well as areas, the county also includes London Stansted Airport, the new towns of Basildon and Harlow, Lakeside Shopping Centre, the port of Tilbury. Originally recorded in AD527, Essex occupied territory to the north of the River Thames, incorporating all of what later became Middlesex and its territory was later restricted to lands east of the River Lea. In changes before the Norman conquest the East Saxons were subsumed into the Kingdom of England and, following the Norman conquest, Essex became a county. During the medieval period, much of the area was designated a Royal forest, including the county in a period to 1204. Gradually, the subject to forest law diminished, but at various times included the forests of Becontree, Chelmsford, Epping, Hatfield, Ongar. County-wide administration Essex County Council was formed in 1889, however County Boroughs of West Ham, Southend-on-Sea and East Ham formed part of the county but were unitary authorities. 12 boroughs and districts provide more localised services such as rubbish and recycling collections, leisure and planning, parish-level administration – changes A few Essex parishes have been transferred to other counties. Before 1889, small areas were transferred to Hertfordshire near Bishops Stortford, Essex became part of the East of England Government Office Region in 1994 and was statistically counted as part of that region from 1999, having previously been part of the South East England region. Two unitary authorities In 1998 the boroughs of Southend-on-Sea and Thurrock were granted autonomy from the county of Essex after successful requests to become unitary authorities. Essex Police covers the county and the two unitary authorities. The county council chamber and main headquarters is at the County Hall in Chelmsford, before 1938 the council regularly met in London near Moorgate, which with significant parts closer to that point and the dominance of railways had been more convenient than any place in the county. It currently has 75 elected councillors, before 1965, the number of councillors reached over 100. The highest point of the county of Essex is Chrishall Common near the village of Langley, close to the Hertfordshire border, the pattern of settlement in the county is diverse. Epping Forest also acts as a barrier to the further spread of London. Part of the southeast of the county, already containing the population centres of Basildon, Southend and Thurrock, is within the Thames Gateway
6.
Kent
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Kent /ˈkɛnt/ is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south west, the county also shares borders with Essex via the Dartford Crossing and the French department of Pas-de-Calais through the Channel Tunnel. France can be clearly in fine weather from Folkestone and the White Cliffs of Dover. Hills in the form of the North Downs and the Greensand Ridge span the length of the county, because of its relative abundance of fruit-growing and hop gardens, Kent is known as The Garden of England. The title was defended in 2006 when a survey of counties by the UKTV Style Gardens channel put Kent in fifth place, behind North Yorkshire, Devon. Haulage, logistics, and tourism are industries, major industries in north-west Kent include aggregate building materials, printing. Coal mining has played its part in Kents industrial heritage. Large parts of Kent are within the London commuter belt and its transport connections to the capital. Twenty-eight per cent of the county forms part of two Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty, the North Downs and The High Weald, the area has been occupied since the Palaeolithic era, as attested by finds from the quarries at Swanscombe. The Medway megaliths were built during the Neolithic era, There is a rich sequence of Bronze Age, Iron Age, and Roman era occupation, as indicated by finds and features such as the Ringlemere gold cup and the Roman villas of the Darent valley. The modern name of Kent is derived from the Brythonic word Cantus meaning rim or border and this describes the eastern part of the current county area as a border land or coastal district. Julius Caesar had described the area as Cantium, or home of the Cantiaci in 51 BC, the extreme west of the modern county was by the time of Roman Britain occupied by Iron Age tribes, known as the Regnenses. East Kent became a kingdom of the Jutes during the 5th century and was known as Cantia from about 730, the early medieval inhabitants of the county were known as the Cantwara, or Kent people. These people regarded the city of Canterbury as their capital, in 597, Pope Gregory I appointed the religious missionary as the first Archbishop of Canterbury. In the previous year, Augustine successfully converted the pagan King Æthelberht of Kent to Christianity, the Diocese of Canterbury became Britains first Episcopal See with first cathedral and has since remained Englands centre of Christianity. The second designated English cathedral was in Kent at Rochester Cathedral, in the 11th century, the people of Kent adopted the motto Invicta, meaning undefeated. This naming followed the invasion of Britain by William of Normandy, the Kent peoples continued resistance against the Normans led to Kents designation as a semi-autonomous county palatine in 1067. Under the nominal rule of Williams half-brother Odo of Bayeux, the county was granted powers to those granted in the areas bordering Wales
7.
South East England
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South East England is the most populous of the nine official regions of England at the first level of NUTS for statistical purposes. It consists of Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, East Sussex, Hampshire, as with the other regions of England, apart from Greater London, the south east has no elected government. It is the third largest region of England, with an area of 19,096 km², and is also the most populous with a population of over eight. Its proximity to London and connections to several national motorways have led to south east England becoming an economic hub and it is the location of Gatwick Airport, the UKs second-busiest airport, and its coastline along the English Channel provides numerous ferry crossings to mainland Europe. The region is known for its countryside, which includes the North Downs, the River Thames flows through the region and its basin is known as the Thames Valley. The region has many universities, the University of Oxford is ranked among the best in the world. South east England is host to sporting events, including the annual Henley Royal Regatta, Royal Ascot and the Epsom Derby. Some of the events of the 2012 Summer Olympics were held in the south east, including the rowing at Eton Dorney, the largest city in the region is Brighton & Hove. The dominant influence on the economy is neighbouring London. The highest point is Walbury Hill in Berkshire at 297 metres, until 1999, there was a south east Standard Statistical Region, which also included the counties of Bedfordshire, Greater London, Essex and Hertfordshire. The former south east Civil Defence Region covered the area as the current government office region. The South East is also used as a synonym for the home counties. The population of the region at the 2011 census was 8,634,750 making it the most populous English region, the major conurbations of the region include Brighton/Worthing/Littlehampton, Portsmouth, Southampton and Reading. Settlements closer to London are part of the known as the Greater London Urban Area. The South East has the highest percentage of people born outside of Britain other than London. Estimates in 2007 state 87. 2% of people as White British,4. 8% Other White,3. 5% South Asians,1. 5% Mixed Race,1. 6% Black British,0. 7% Chinese,0. 7% Other. The area also has some seats where there is support for other parties, for example, Slough and Oxford for Labour. Buckingham, the seat of Speaker John Bercow, is also in this region, out of 83 parliamentary seats, the Conservatives hold 78
8.
St Pancras railway station
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St Pancras railway station, also known as London St Pancras and since 2007 as St Pancras International, is a central London railway terminus located on Euston Road in the London Borough of Camden. It was opened in 1868 by the Midland Railway as the terminus of its main line. When inaugurated, the train shed by William Henry Barlow was the largest single-span roof in the world. The restored station has 15 platforms, a centre. St Pancras is owned by London and Continental Railways and is managed by Network Rail, high-speed domestic services to Kent, run by Southeastern, began in December 2009. St Pancras is often termed the cathedral of the railways, the train shed, completed in 1868 by the engineer William Henry Barlow, was the largest single-span structure built up to that time. The terminal is one of relatively few stations in England to feature multilingual signage, all notices are written in English. Ashford International station has similar bilingual signs, other stations with foreign-language signs include Southall, which has signs in Punjabi, Wallsend Metro station, and Moreton-in-Marsh. In March 2014, the public relations team commissioned a study of mispronounced words. St Pancras occupies a site orientated north/south, deeper than it is wide, the south is bounded by the busy Euston Road, with the frontage provided by the former Midland Grand Hotel. Behind the hotel, the Barlow train shed is elevated 5 m above street level, to the west, the original station is bounded by Midland Road with the British Library on the other side of the road. To the east, it is bounded by Pancras Road and is opposite Kings Cross station, the new northern half of the station is mainly bounded to the east by Camley Street, with Camley Street Natural Park across the road. To the north-east is Kings Cross Central, formerly known as the Railway Lands, a complex of intersecting railway lines crossed by several roads, St Pancras contains four groups of platforms on two levels, accessed via the main concourse at ground level. The below-surface group contains through platforms A and B, and the level has three groups of terminal platforms, domestic platforms 1–4 and 11–13 on each side of international platforms 5–10. The international platforms do not occupy the width of the Barlow train shed. The southern end of The Arcade links to the ticket hall of Kings Cross St Pancras tube station. The main pedestrian entrance is at the end of this concourse, where a subway enables pedestrians to reach Kings Cross station. There are several items of art on display to the public at St Pancras, at the south end of the upper level, a 9-metre high 20-tonne bronze statue named The Meeting Place stands beneath the station clock
9.
Channel Tunnel
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At its lowest point, it is 75 m deep below the sea bed, and 115 m below sea level. The speed limit for trains in the tunnel is 160 kilometres per hour, the tunnel carries high-speed Eurostar passenger trains, the Eurotunnel Shuttle for road vehicles—the largest such transport in the world—and international freight trains. The tunnel connects end-to-end with the LGV Nord and High Speed 1 high-speed railway lines, ideas for a cross-Channel fixed link appeared as early as 1802, but British political and press pressure over the compromising of national security stalled attempts to construct a tunnel. An early attempt at building a Channel Tunnel was made in the late 19th century, the eventual successful project, organised by Eurotunnel, began construction in 1988 and opened in 1994. At £5.5 billion, it was at the time the most expensive project ever proposed. The cost finally came in at £9 billion, well over its predicted budget, since its construction, the tunnel has faced several problems. Both fires and cold weather have temporarily disrupted its operation, illegal immigrants have attempted to use the tunnel to enter the UK, causing a minor diplomatic disagreement over the siting of the refugee camp at Sangatte, which was eventually closed in 2002. Migrants have also died attempting to cross through the tunnel, in 1839, Aimé Thomé de Gamond, a Frenchman, performed the first geological and hydrographical surveys on the Channel, between Calais and Dover. In 1865, a deputation led by George Ward Hunt proposed the idea of a tunnel to the Chancellor of the Exchequer of the day, around 1866, William Low and Sir John Hawkshaw promoted ideas, but apart from preliminary geological studies none were implemented. An official Anglo-French protocol was established in 1876 for a railway tunnel. On the English side a 2. 13-metre diameter Beaumont-English boring machine dug a 1, on the French side, a similar machine dug 1,669 m from Sangatte. The project was abandoned in May 1882, owing to British political and these early works were encountered more than a century later during the TML project. The French did not take the idea seriously and nothing came of Lloyd Georges proposal, in 1929 there was another proposal but nothing came of this discussion and the idea was shelved. Proponents estimated construction to be about US$150 million, the engineers had addressed the concerns of both nations military leaders by designing two sumps—one near the coast of each country—that could be flooded at will to block the tunnel. This design feature did not override the concerns of both military leaders, and other concerns about hordes of undesirable tourists who would disrupt English habits of living. Military fears continued during World War II, the estimate caused rumours that Germany had already begun digging. In 1935, a British film from Gaumont Studios, The Tunnel and it referred briefly to its protagonist, a Mr. McAllan, as having completed a British Channel tunnel successfully in 1940, five years into the future of the films release. By 1955, defence arguments had become less relevant due to the dominance of air power, in 1958 the 1881 workings were cleared in preparation for a £100,000 geological survey by the Channel Tunnel Study Group
10.
Government of the United Kingdom
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Her Majestys Government, commonly referred to as the UK government or British government, is the central government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The government is led by the Prime Minister, who all the remaining ministers. The prime minister and the other most senior ministers belong to the supreme decision-making committee, the government ministers all sit in Parliament, and are accountable to it. After an election, the monarch selects as prime minister the leader of the party most likely to command a majority of MPs in the House of Commons. Under the uncodified British constitution, executive authority lies with the monarch, although this authority is exercised only by, or on the advice of, the prime minister, the Cabinet members advise the monarch as members of the Privy Council. They also exercise power directly as leaders of the Government Departments, the current prime minister is Theresa May, who took office on 13 July 2016. She is the leader of the Conservative Party, which won a majority of seats in the House of Commons in the election on 7 May 2015. Prior to this, Cameron and the Conservatives led a government from 2010 to 2015 with the Liberal Democrats. A key principle of the British Constitution is that the government is responsible to Parliament, Britain is a constitutional monarchy in which the reigning monarch does not make any open political decisions. All political decisions are taken by the government and Parliament and this constitutional state of affairs is the result of a long history of constraining and reducing the political power of the monarch, beginning with the Magna Carta in 1215. Parliament is split into two houses, the House of Lords and the House of Commons, the House of Commons is the lower house and is the more powerful. The House of Lords is the house and although it can vote to amend proposed laws. Parliamentary time is essential for bills to be passed into law, Ministers of the Crown are responsible to the House in which they sit, they make statements in that House and take questions from members of that House. For most senior ministers this is usually the elected House of Commons rather than the House of Lords, since the start of Edward VIIs reign, in 1901, the prime minister has always been an elected member of Parliament and therefore directly accountable to the House of Commons. Under the British system the government is required by convention and for reasons to maintain the confidence of the House of Commons. It requires the support of the House of Commons for the maintenance of supply, by convention if a government loses the confidence of the House of Commons it must either resign or a General Election is held. The support of the Lords, while useful to the government in getting its legislation passed without delay, is not vital, a government is not required to resign even if it loses the confidence of the Lords and is defeated in key votes in that House. The House of Commons is thus the Responsible house, the prime minister is held to account during Prime Ministers Question Time which provides an opportunity for MPs from all parties to question the PM on any subject
11.
OMERS
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It has become one of the largest institutional investors in Canada. As of December 2013, OMERS had 65.1 billion Canadian dollars in net investment assets, OMERS is governed by the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement Act,2006, an Ontario law which superseded the older Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System Act. OMERS investment strategy since 2003 has been to increase its investment in infrastructure to 15% from the former 7. 9%. In addition to the corporate assets outlined below, Borealis owns 16 school buildings, leased to the Province of Nova Scotia, — operator of the 12. 9-kilometre Confederation Bridge between Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick until 2032 Ceda Holdings Ltd. Some parts of Thomson Learning had been sold off to other groups before this sale, among Cengages major brands are Gale and Nelson Education. TeraGo Networks Inc. — wireless broadband Internet service provider Trident Exploration Corp
12.
Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan
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The Ontario Teachers Pension Plan Board, is an independent organization responsible for administering defined-benefit pensions for school teachers of the Canadian province of Ontario. Ontario Teachers also invests the plans pension fund, and is one of the world’s largest institutional investors, the plan is a multi-employer pension plan, jointly sponsored by the Government of Ontario and the Ontario Teachers Federation. Ontario Teachers was established on Jan, until then, Ontario teachers pensions had been sponsored solely by the Ontario government. Assets of the plan had been invested in government bonds only, today, the plan administers the pensions for some 182,000 teachers, principals, and school administrators, and pays pensions to some 136,000 retirees. In 2016, $5.7 billion in benefits was paid to members, Ontario Teachers is headquartered in Toronto, with operations in London, Hong Kong and an office in New York. Founding President and Chief Executive Officer, Claude Lamoureux, retired on December 1,2007 and was succeeded by Jim Leech, effective January 1,2014, Ron Mock, succeeded Jim Leech as President and Chief Executive Officer. The Chair of the Board is Jean Turmel, Ontario Teachers is one of Canadas largest institutional investors having reported $175.6 billion in net assets on December 31,2016. It has an excellent track record for investment performance with an annual return of 10. 3% since inception. Ontario Teachers owns and manages a portfolio of Canadian and international assets. Through its fully owned real estate subsidiary Cadillac Fairview, Ontario Teachers owns properties include the Toronto-Dominion Centre, Toronto Eaton Centre. Through its private equity investment arm Private Capital, Ontario Teachers owns or has had interests in such as Helly Hansen, Munchkin, Plano. Ontario Teachers also owns Camelot Group PLC, which holds a licence to operate the U. K. It has acquired a share of the Irish National Lottery in 2014, Ontario Teachers posts a list of major investments annually on its website. See a list of recent transactions Ontario Teachers’ approach to responsible investing seeks to achieve the best risk-return balance for its members by being diligent in choosing and managing assets, the pension plan reported a preliminary $11.5 billion funding surplus as of Jan. Despite improved funding levels, the plan still faces challenges resulting from increasing longevity, longer retirements. At the 2013 National Summit on Pension Reform, then President and CEO Jim Leech called for action to assure retirement financing security for all Canadians, now and for generations to come. Leaders and experts from government, private companies and labour unions gathered in Fredericton, to encourage candid, “Pensions, like any species that wishes to survive through time, must adapt to the environment, ” Mr. Leech told the conference. “That means we must ensure that benefits and contributions are fair and correlated, that assets and liabilities can be balanced, the documentary takes a global look at how pension plans are changing to meet economic and demographic challenges ranging from volatile markets to increasing longevity
13.
Eurostar
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Eurostar is a high-speed railway service connecting London with Avignon, Brussels, Lille, Lyon, Marseille and Paris. All its trains traverse the Channel Tunnel between the United Kingdom and France, owned and operated separately by Eurotunnel, the London terminus is St Pancras International, with the other British calling points being Ebbsfleet International and Ashford International in Kent. Calling points in France are Calais-Fréthun and Lille-Europe, with trains to Paris terminating at Gare du Nord, Trains to Belgium terminate at Midi/Zuid station in Brussels. In addition, there are limited services from London to Disneyland Paris at Marne-la-Vallée – Chessy, services to southern France as of 1 May 2015 and seasonal services to the Alps in winter. The service is operated by 27 eighteen-coach Class 373/1 trains which run at up to 300 kilometres per hour on a network of high-speed lines. The LGV Nord line in France opened before Eurostar services began in 1994, the French and Belgian parts of the network are shared with Paris–Brussels Thalys services and also with TGV trains. Eurostar has become the dominant operator on the routes that it operates, other operators have expressed an interest in starting competing services following deregulation in 2010. On 1 September 2010, Eurostar was incorporated as a corporate entity called Eurostar International Limited. EIL is owned by SNCF, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec, Hermes Infrastructure, in June 2014, the UK shareholding in Eurostar International Limited was transferred from London and Continental Railways / Department for Transport to HM Treasury. In October 2014, it was announced that the UK government planned to raise £300 million by selling that stake. In March 2015, the UK government announced that it would be selling its 40% share to an Anglo-Canadian consortium made up of Caisse de Depot et Placement du Quebec and this sale was completed in May 2015. The history of Eurostar can be traced to the 1986 choice of a tunnel to provide a cross-channel link between Britain and France. A previous attempt at constructing a tunnel between the two nations had begun in 1974, but was quickly aborted, in 1988 construction began on a new basis. Eurotunnel was created to manage and own the tunnel, which was finished in 1993, British Rail and SNCF contracted with Eurotunnel to use half the tunnels capacity for this purpose. In 1987 Britain, France and Belgium set up an International Project Group to specify a train to provide an international high-speed passenger service through the tunnel. An order for 30 trainsets, to be manufactured in France but with some British, on 20 June 1993, the first Eurostar test train travelled through the tunnel to the UK. Various technical difficulties in running the new trains on British tracks were quickly overcome, on 14 November 1994 Eurostar services began between Waterloo International station in London, Gare du Nord in Paris and Brussels-South railway station in Brussels. In 1995 Eurostar was achieving an average speed of 171.5 km/h between London and Paris
14.
Southeastern (train operating company)
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London & South Eastern Railway Limited, trading as Southeastern, is a British train operating company in South East England. Southeastern also provides services along High Speed 1 from London St. Pancras, on 1 April 2006 it became the franchisee for the new Integrated Kent franchise, replacing the publicly owned South Eastern Trains on the former South Eastern franchise. Southeastern serves the main London stations of Charing Cross, Victoria, Blackfriars, Cannon Street, London Bridge, Waterloo East, the Southeastern network has a route mileage of 540, with 179 stations. About 70% of its services run to and from London and it is owned by Govia, a joint venture between Go-Ahead Group and Keolis, which also operates the neighbouring Southern franchise, which overlaps with Southeastern in some areas. The companys formal name, under which it mounted its bid for the franchise, is London, the managing director is David Statham, formerly MD of First Capital Connect. Since the privatisation of British Rail, the franchise to run trains in this area has been held by three different companies, the first company to win the South Eastern franchise, on 14 October 1996, was Connex, which operated it under the name Connex South Eastern. Connex gained a reputation for unreliable services, but it was for financial management that its franchise was cut short by the Strategic Rail Authority on 9 November 2003. Train services were taken over by South Eastern Trains, a wholly owned subsidiary of the SRA/Department for Transport created for the purpose. This would see the existing South Eastern franchise combined with the new high-speed services to be operated on High Speed 1 to form a new Integrated Kent Franchise. In December 2008, as part of the agreement, responsibility for the Redhill to Tonbridge Line was handed over to Southern. Southeastern high-speed services began operations on 14 December 2009. In March 2009 the bay platforms at London Blackfriars closed for reconstruction as part of the Thameslink Programme, Southeastern services previously terminating at Blackfriars, mostly from Sevenoaks via the Catford loop, were extended to Kentish Town, St Albans, Luton or Bedford. As a result of change, Southeastern now operates these services jointly with Thameslink using 20 dual-voltage Class 319 sets as well as newly built Class 377 Electrostars. Following the Department for Transports review after the cancellation of the InterCity West Coast franchise process, in 2013, the coalition government extended Southeasterns franchise, without competitive tender, from 31 March 2014 to June 2018. The Southeastern franchise is now set to be extended until December 2018, the Olympic Javelin or Javelin was a high-speed train shuttle service operated by Southeastern over High Speed 1 during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The service ran for the duration of games, between St Pancras International station and Ebbsfleet International station, via Stratford International station, which is close to the Olympic Park. During the Summer Olympics a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service, two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour, the British Olympic Association applied to register Javelin as a UK trademark on 19 July 2005 and this was granted on 2 June 2006
15.
DB Cargo UK
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DB Cargo UK, formerly DB Schenker Rail UK and English, Welsh & Scottish Railway, is a British rail freight company headquartered in Doncaster, England. In November 2007, EWS was sold to Deutsche Bahn, in March 2016 it was rebranded DB Cargo UK. In 1988, British Rails freight operations were split into two divisions Railfreight Distribution and Trainload Freight, RfD took over BRs Freightliner and Speedlink services and general wagonload and trainload services, excluding bulk coal, petroleum, aggregates and metals. BRs bulk trainload services were handled by the Trainload Freight division, in 1991 the Rail Express Systems brand was created, to handle mail and postal services. After the passing of the Railways Act 1993, five rail freight companies were formed from RfD and TLF. which were later renamed Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail Freight. The remainder of RfD was split into two companies, Freightliner, with the residual RfD company operating trains through the Channel Tunnel. The Mail and Parcels business were sold as Rail Express Systems, the companies were subsequently put up for sale by competitive tender. To bid for the ex-BR businesses being offered for sale, North and South Railways Limited was formed and it was owned by a consortium headed by Wisconsin Central, with additional financing provided by Berkshire Partners, Goldman Sachs and Fay Richwhite. On 9 December 1995, North and South Railways purchased Rail Express Systems for £24 million, with this came the contract for the Royal Mail train service, including the Travelling Post Office trains, and the contract to haul the Royal Train. A fleet of 164 locomotives and 677 postal vans were included along with depots at Bristol Barton Hill, Cambridge, Crewe, then on 24 February 1996, British Rails three trainload freight companies, Loadhaul, Mainline Freight and Transrail Freight were acquired for £225 million. The sale included 914 locomotives and 19,310 wagons, at the time rail had a 6% share of the freight market. Initially, the four continued to trade under their existing names. On 25 April 1996, the EWS brand was unveiled, on 10 July 1996 the holding companys name was changed to English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Holdings Limited. In October 1996, Loadhaul and Mainline Freight were merged with Transrail Freight, and employees transferred to Transrail Freight, which was then renamed to English, Welsh & Scottish Railway Limited. One of the first actions of the company was to seek volunteers for redundancy, as it sought to reduce staff numbers by around 3,000. Including subsidies for the use of the Channel Tunnel, Railfreight Distributions businesses included international containerised freight, movement of cars and automotive components by rail, and freight services for the Ministry of Defence. It was concluded on 12 March 1997, at this point, EWS controlled 90% of the rail freight market. Railfreight Distribution was renamed English Welsh & Scottish Railway International on 1 December 1998, the new company had over 900 locomotives,19,000 freight wagons, and 7,000 employees
16.
British Rail Class 373
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The British Rail Class 373 or TGV TMST train is an electric multiple unit that operates Eurostars inter-city high-speed rail service between Britain, France and Belgium via the Channel Tunnel. It is both the second longest—387 metres —and second fastest train in regular UK passenger service, operating at speeds of up to 300 kilometres per hour. It is beaten in both aspects by the Class 374 which is 400 metres long and has a top speed of 320 kilometres per hour, though this is never achieved on HS1 in Britain. It was built by the French company GEC-Alsthom at its sites in La Rochelle, Belfort and Washwood Heath, two types were constructed,31 Three Capitals sets consisting of two power cars and 18 carriages, including two with powered bogies. They are 387 metres long and have 750 seats,206 in first class,544 in standard class, seven North of London trains with 14 carriages, including two carriages with powered bogies. They are 312.36 metres in length and have 558 seats,114 in first class,444 in standard class. The North of London sets were intended to provide Regional Eurostar services from continental Europe to and from north of London, using the West Coast and East Coast Main Lines. The sets were ordered by the companies involved,16 by SNCF, four by NMBS/SNCB. Upon the privatisation of British Rail, the BR sets were bought by London and Continental Railways, the first set was built at Belfort in 1992. Identified as PS1, it was formed of two cars and seven coaches, and was delivered for test running in January 1993. Its first powered runs were between Strasbourg and Mulhouse, and it was transferred to the UK for third-rail DC tests in June 1993, full-length pre-series train PS2 was completed in May 1993. An extra power car, numbered 3999, was built as a spare and this was required for a couple of years, when 3999 was renumbered and replaced another power car whilst it underwent rebuilding at Le Landy. It was overhauled and renumbered 3204 in 2016, the 27 sets still operating on Eurostar were refurbished in 2004/05 with a new interior, designed by Philippe Starck. The grey-yellow look in Standard class and the look in First class were replaced with a more grey-brown scheme in Standard. In 2008, Eurostar announced that it was beginning the process to institute a mid-life update, as a part of the update process, the Italian company Pininfarina was contracted to redesign the interiors, the first refurbished Eurostar was not originally due in service until 2012. The refurbishment could also include a maintenance and a new livery. Maintenance is carried out at close to the three capital cities. In France the trains are maintained at Le Landy depot in northern Paris, the bulk of operations are on Eurostars core routes from London St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels South
17.
British Rail Class 395
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The Class 395 Javelin is a dual-voltage electric multiple unit built for high-speed commuter services on High Speed 1 and elsewhere on the Integrated Kent Franchise. The use of the trains as part of the transport infrastructure for the Olympic Park formed part of the original bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics. The service was named the Olympic Javelin Shuttle, and was the origin for the nickname Javelin, the Olympic services began 28 July 2012. In 2005 the proposed high-speed services were combined with those from the former South Eastern rail franchise to form the Integrated Kent franchise, in November 2005 the Department for Transport announced Govia as the new operator of the IKF. The contract was Hitachis first rail vehicle sold to a UK or European customer, construction of the CTRL was complete in November 2007. A twenty-ninth train was added to the agreement by franchise holder Southeastern to provide additional capacity. A second building housed a wheel lathe from Sculfort, other facilities included carriage washing plant, a 25kV OHL test track, and sidings for rolling stock. The DEPCO consortium also updated another existing depot at Ramsgate for the IKF with facilities including storage sidings for the Class 395 trains and light maintenance facilities. Pre-shipping factory tests included static and dynamic tests, traction and braking tests. The first train was delivered from Japan to Southampton Docks on 23 August 2007, homologation testing was undertaken by Serco, SNCF International assisted with testing of KVB and TVM430 signalling systems, with speeds of 240 km/h attained in January 2008. After successful testing of four units shipping of the main production tranche began in December 2008, the final three trains arrived in the UK in August 2009, with the final train delivered to Southeastern on 11 December 2009. In September 2009 preliminary services to the Kent coast also began, preview services on the North Kent line began in November 2009. In September 2010, it was reported that passengers were experiencing alarming wobbles on tunnel sections, the problem was described by Southeastern as non-dangerous, and trains were fitted with dampers to prevent the problem from recurring. A full regular service commenced on 13 December 2009, however, the service has been criticised as being of limited use to many London commuters because trains terminate at St Pancras. Additionally, the change in patterns to accommodate high-speed trains resulted in some non-high-speed services in Kent becoming slower. In May 2011, a service from Maidstone West via Strood. Followed in September 2011 by a service from Sandwich via Deal to London St Pancras. In 2013, four years after the service started, total numbers were ten million
18.
British Rail Class 92
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The British Rail Class 92 is a dual-voltage electric locomotive which can run on 25 kV AC from overhead wires or 750 V DC from a third rail. It was designed specifically to services through the Channel Tunnel between Britain and France. Eurotunnel indicates the Class 92 locomotive as the reference for other locomotives which railway undertakings might want to get certified for usage in the Channel tunnel, Locomotives of this type are operated by GB Railfreight/Europorte 2 and DB Cargo UK. In France, a number were also owned and operated by SNCF, the fleet of 46 locomotives was built by a consortium of Brush Traction and ABB Traction. Parts construction was sub-contracted, with construction and commissioning being undertaken at Brushs erecting shops at Loughborough between 1993 and 1996. The bodyshells, shared with the Class 60 diesel locomotives but with a front end, were fabricated by Procor of Horbury. Propulsion is provided by two ABB traction converters using GTO devices, with control via an ABB MICAS-S2, maximum power is 5 MW on 25 kV or 4 MW on 750 V, with a tractive effort of 360 kN. The locomotive is fitted with both rheostatic and regenerative braking, in addition to standard westinghouse air brake equipment, an electrical train bus is fitted to enable two locomotives to work in multiple formation, either double-heading or push-pull train with a Driving Van Trailer or DBSO. To reduce the possibility of failure in the Channel Tunnel. Prior to introduction to service, two locomotives were tested at the Czech Railways test track at Velim near Kolín. One locomotive was moved from here to Vienna Arsenal for climatic testing. The majority of the class are named after European composers and writers, post-privatisation the ownership was split between EWS, European Passenger Services (Eurostar and SNCF. During 2000 Eurostar offered their seven members of the class for sale being surplus to requirements with the non-commencement of sleeper services through the Channel Tunnel, however no buyer could be found so they were decommissioned and stored at Crewe International electric depot. Five of these locomotives have now been purchased by Eurotunnel to be used by their Europorte 2 rail freight undertaking for short haul rail traffic in France. In July 2011 Europorte 2/Eurotunnel purchased the five remaining locomotives that had belonged to SNCF, in 2009 a project was undertaken with the aim of allowing the class to be modified for operations on High Speed 1, i. e. with TVM signalling. The project received funding from the European Commission and it was anticipated services will begin in early 2010, on 25 March 2011 for the first time a modified class 92 locomotive travelled from Dollands Moor to Singlewell using the TVM430 signalling system. A loaded container train ran for the first time on 27 May 2011, in July 2011 a trial run of wagons carrying curtain walled swap bodies built to a larger European loading gauge was run from Dollands Moor, Folkestone to east London. From 11 November 2011 a weekly service using European sized swap bodies has run between Barking, London and Poland using High Speed 1
19.
British Rail Class 374
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They began to run passenger services in November 2015. The trains owned by Eurostar International Limited are sixteen-carriage variants of the Siemens Velaro, therefore, Eurostar cannot use its Class 373 units on services to these countries and the Class 374 was designed and built to go where the Class 373 could never go. The Class 374 has replaced around half of the Class 373s, Siemens Velaro high speed EMUs are derived from the ICE3 first used by Deutsche Bahn in 2000. Variants include DB Class 407, intended for services including through the Channel Tunnel. In 2009, Eurostar announced a project to update its fleet. In October 2010, Eurostar announced that Siemens had been selected, the nomination of Siemens saw it break into the French high-speed market, as all French and French subsidiary high-speed operators up to that point used TGV derivatives produced by Alstom. Alstom attempted legal action to prevent the contract, claiming that the Siemens sets would breach Channel Tunnel safety rules, Alstom then announced it had started legal action against Eurostar in the High Court in London. In July 2011, the High Court rejected Alstoms claim that the process was ineffective. The intention was for the first unit to enter service in 2014, as a consequence, Eurostar did receive its first unit in 2014 for presentation but operation could only start a year later. At the presentation of the first train in London on 13 November 2014, Eurostar announced they have ordered 7 additional train sets, by November 2014 nine of the 10 trains had been built and all 10 were scheduled to be delivered by April 2016. The seven trains in the order will be delivered by March 2018. By April 2013 testing had started at Siemens Mobilitys test and validation centre, as of July–August 2014 test were carried out on the LGV Nord line near Lille. The end of 2014 saw testing of one set on the LGV Est due to its higher speed of 320 km/h. At the beginning of January 2016 the Belgian authority SSICF authorized the operation in its country, Eurostar intend to use the trains to expand its core operation between London St Pancras International, Paris Gare du Nord and Brussels Midi/Zuid. To meet the prospect of increased competition through the Channel Tunnel, it intends to use them to expand its network to Amsterdam, Frankfurt and Cologne, and more destinations in France. In September 2013, Eurostar announced that its new service between London and Amsterdam, intended to begin operation in December 2016, would be operated by the trains, in April 2016 Eurostar said that the Amsterdam service was now planned to operate from late 2017. Each set is formed of 16 coaches, Siemens Velaro British Rail Class 373 Eurostar Media related to British Rail Class 374 at Wikimedia Commons Specification Sheet
20.
British Rail MPV
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The Multiple-purpose Vehicle or MPV is a purpose-built departmental derivative of a diesel multiple unit. Twenty-five two-car units were ordered by Railtrack to enable it to replace its varied collection of ageing departmental vehicles, the vehicles were built in Germany by Windhoff. The design is based on the Windhoff CargoSprinter units that are operated by Deutsche Bahn, normally a unit consists of one powered vehicle fitted with twin 265 kW Railpac diesel engines, semi-permanently coupled to an unpowered slave unit without engines. The later orders for the South East of England and for overhead line replacement are instead composed of two powered units, to better acceleration and top speed. When first built there were problems with the vehicles being out of gauge when running empty, the concept of the design is that each vehicle has a driving cab and an under floor engine/transmission with Multiple unit control. The majority of vehicle is a flat load bed that can carry combinations of 10-foot and 20-foot modules that are secured using the locking system for ISO standard containers. Modules can be changed as required to suit current requirements, the use of standard container mountings led to suggestions that Freight Multiple Units could be introduced. In 2005, two powered MPV units were used for trials by coupling standard freight wagons between in between the pairs. Temporary multiple unit control cables were run along the wagons in order to connect the two MPVs, which are acting as locomotives working as a push-pull train, there are five distinct types of MPV unit that represent the development of the concept for use in the UK. For the replacement of overhead lines on the West Coast Main Line at the start of the 2000s, the order was placed with Windhoff in July 1999 and the first train available for trials in Germany in June 2000 before being shipped to the United Kingdom shortly afterwards. The replacement program using the new trains began in November 2000, replacement of a tensioned overhead span measuring 1000–1500 metres takes four hours with a HOWT, compared to sixteen hours for original method. Up to 30 crew are required to operate the HOWT, the full train comprises nine vehicles, four MPV CargoSprinter-based units and five flatbed units. All of the units were designed to standard shipping container modules, secured with standard ISO twistlock clamps. After the full train has arrived at the site it is split into five sections. Two conventional wiring trains would have taken seven years, as the conventional trains would be limited to one single sixteen-hour engineering possession per week. The cost of each of the two trains was £3.3 million, for a five-week period beginning in March 2005, trials were undertaken in Wales, transporting timber from Aberystwyth to a wood-chip factory at Chirk. The daily service, arrived at Aberystwyth at 09,22, allowed approximately 2.5 hours for loading of the timber and then departed, loaded, at 11,50 as 6Z21. On the single-track Cambrian Line the freight service was timed to follow in the footsteps of a passenger service to avoid potentials for delay
21.
Double-track railway
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A double-track railway usually involves running one track in each direction, compared to a single-track railway where trains in both directions share the same track. In the earliest days of railways in the United Kingdom, most lines were built as double-track because of the difficulty of co-ordinating operations before the invention of the telegraph, the lines also tended to be busy enough to be beyond the capacity of a single track. In the early days the Board of Trade did not consider any single-track railway line to be complete and this improved with the development of the telegraph and the train order system. In any given country, rail traffic generally runs to one side of a double-track line, thus in Belgium, China, France, Sweden, Switzerland and Italy for example, the railways use left-hand running, while the roads use right-hand running. In countries such as Indonesia, it is the reverse, on the French-German border, for example, flyovers were provided so that train moving on the left in France end up on the right in Germany and vice versa. Handedness of traffic can affect locomotive design, for the driver, visibility is good from both sides of the driving cab so the choice on which side to site the driver less important. For example, the French SNCF Class BB7200 is designed for using the left-hand track, generally, the left/right principle in a country is followed mostly on double track. On single track, when trains meet, the train that shall not stop uses the straight path in the turnout. Double-track railways, especially older ones, may use each track exclusively in one direction and this arrangement simplifies the signalling systems, especially where the signalling is mechanical. Where the signals and points or rail switches are power-operated, it can be worthwhile to signal each line in both directions, so that the line becomes a pair of single lines. This allows trains to use one track where the track is out of service due to track maintenance work, or a train failure. Most crossing loops are not regarded as even though they consist of multiple tracks. If the crossing loop is long enough to several trains. A more modern British term for such a layout is an extended loop, the distance between the track centres makes a difference in cost and performance of a double-track line. The track centres can be as narrow and as cheap as possible, signals for bi-directional working cannot be mounted between the tracks so must be mounted on the wrong side of the line or on expensive signal bridges. Track centres are usually wider on high speed lines, as pressure waves knock each other as high-speed trains pass, narrow track centres might be 4 metres or less. Narrow track centres may have to be widened on sharp curves to allow for rail vehicles following the arc of the curve. Widening a track centre to 5 metres or so suits high-speed trains passing each other, increasing width of track centres of 6 metres or more makes it much easier to mount signals and overhead wiring structures
22.
Track gauge
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In rail transport, track gauge is the spacing of the rails on a railway track and is measured between the inner faces of the load-bearing rails. All vehicles on a network must have running gear that is compatible with the track gauge, as the dominant parameter determining interoperability, it is still frequently used as a descriptor of a route or network. There is a distinction between the gauge and actual gauge at some locality, due to divergence of track components from the nominal. Railway engineers use a device, like a caliper, to measure the actual gauge, the nominal track gauge is the distance between the inner faces of the rails. In current practice, it is specified at a distance below the rail head as the inner faces of the rail head are not necessarily vertical. In some cases in the earliest days of railways, the company saw itself as an infrastructure provider only. Colloquially the wagons might be referred to as four-foot gauge wagons, say and this nominal value does not equate to the flange spacing, as some freedom is allowed for. An infrastructure manager might specify new or replacement track components at a variation from the nominal gauge for pragmatic reasons. Track is defined in old Imperial units or in universally accepted metric units or SI units, Imperial units were established in United Kingdom by The Weights and Measures Act of 1824. In addition, there are constraints, such as the load-carrying capacity of axles. Narrow gauge railways usually cost less to build because they are lighter in construction, using smaller cars and locomotives, as well as smaller bridges, smaller tunnels. Narrow gauge is often used in mountainous terrain, where the savings in civil engineering work can be substantial. Broader gauge railways are generally expensive to build and require wider curves. There is no single perfect gauge, because different environments and economic considerations come into play, a narrow gauge is superior if ones main considerations are economy and tight curvature. For direct, unimpeded routes with high traffic, a broad gauge may be preferable, the Standard, Russian, and 46 gauges are designed to strike a reasonable balance between these factors. In addition to the general trade-off, another important factor is standardization, once a standard has been chosen, and equipment, infrastructure, and training calibrated to that standard, conversion becomes difficult and expensive. This also makes it easier to adopt an existing standard than to invent a new one and this is true of many technologies, including railroad gauges. The reduced cost, greater efficiency, and greater economic opportunity offered by the use of a common standard explains why a number of gauges predominate worldwide
23.
Standard gauge
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The standard gauge is a widely used railway track gauge. Approximately 55% of the lines in the world are this gauge, all high-speed rail lines, except those in Russia, Uzbekistan, and Finland, are standard gauge. The distance between the edges of the rails is defined to be 1435 mm except in the United States. It is also called the UIC gauge or UIC track gauge, as railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge to be used. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a gauge of 1435 mm. In North East England, some lines in colliery areas were 4 ft 8 in. All these lines had been widened to standard gauge by 1846, parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. However, until well into the half of the 19th century, Britain. The American gauges converged as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent, notably, all the 5 ft broad gauge track in the South was converted to standard gauge over the course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States, snopes categorized this legend as false, but commented that. It is perhaps more fairly labelled as True, but for trivial, the historical tendency to place the wheels of horse-drawn vehicles approximately 5 feet apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Others were 4 ft 4 in or 4 ft 7 1⁄2 in, the English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for the coal mines of County Durham. He favoured 4 ft 8 in for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham, the Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephensons Stockton and Darlington railway was primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees. The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made to 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge, George Stephenson used the 4 ft 8 1⁄2 in gauge for the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The success of this led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Monkland and Kirkintilloch Railway, authorised 1824 and opened 1825, used 4 ft 6 in, Dundee and Newtyle Railway, authorised 1829 and opened 1831, used 4 ft 6 1⁄2 in
24.
Loading gauge
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A loading gauge defines the maximum height and width for railway vehicles and their loads to ensure safe passage through bridges, tunnels and other structures. Classification systems vary between different countries and gauges may vary across a network, even if the track gauge remains constant, containerisation and a trend towards larger shipping containers has led rail companies to increase structure gauges to compete effectively with road haulage. Compliance with a loading gauge can be checked with a car which in the past were simple wooden frames or physical feelers mounted on rolling stock. The difference between the two is called the clearance, the terms dynamic envelope or kinematic envelope – which include factors such as suspension travel, overhang on curves and lateral motion on the track – are sometimes used in place of loading gauge. The height of platforms is also a consideration when considering the loading gauge of passenger trains, where the two are not directly compatible, steps may be required which will increase loading times. Where long carriages are used on a platform, gaps will occur between the platform and the carriage door, causing additional risk. Problems increase where trains of several different loading gauges and train floor heights use the same platform, the size of load that can be carried on a railway of a particular gauge is also influenced by the design of the rolling stock. Low-deck rolling stock can sometimes be used to carry taller 9 ft 6 in shipping containers on lower gauge lines although their low-deck rolling stock cannot then carry as many containers. Larger out-of-gauge loads can also sometimes be conveyed by taking one or more of the measures, operate at low speed. Cross over from a track with inadequate clearance to another track with greater clearance, prevent operation of other trains on adjacent tracks. Use refuge loops to allow trains to operate on other tracks, use of Schnabel cars that manipulate the load up and down or left and right to clear obstacles. Use gauntlet track to shift the train to side or center, for locomotives that are too heavy, ensure that fuel tanks are nearly empty. Turn off power in overhead wiring or in third rail, rapid Transit railways generally have a very small loading gauge. This reduces the cost of tunnel construction and these systems only use their own rolling stock. The loading gauge on the lines of Great Britain, most of which were built before 1900, is generally smaller than in other countries. In mainland Europe, the slightly larger Berne gauge was agreed to in 1913, as a result, British trains have noticeably and considerably smaller loading gauges and smaller interiors, despite the track being standard gauge along with much of the world. This results in increased costs for purchasing trains as they must be designed for the British network. The International Union of Railways has developed a series of loading gauges named A, B, B+
25.
Railway electrification system
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A railway electrification system supplies electric power to railway trains and trams without an on-board prime mover or local fuel supply. Electrification has many advantages but requires significant capital expenditure, selection of an electrification system is based on economics of energy supply, maintenance, and capital cost compared to the revenue obtained for freight and passenger traffic. Different systems are used for urban and intercity areas, some electric locomotives can switch to different supply voltages to allow flexibility in operation, Electric railways use electric locomotives to haul passengers or freight in separate cars or electric multiple units, passenger cars with their own motors. Electricity is typically generated in large and relatively efficient generating stations, transmitted to the railway network, some electric railways have their own dedicated generating stations and transmission lines but most purchase power from an electric utility. The railway usually provides its own lines, switches and transformers. Power is supplied to moving trains with a continuous conductor running along the track usually takes one of two forms. The first is a line or catenary wire suspended from poles or towers along the track or from structure or tunnel ceilings. Locomotives or multiple units pick up power from the wire with pantographs on their roofs that press a conductive strip against it with a spring or air pressure. Examples are described later in this article, the second is a third rail mounted at track level and contacted by a sliding pickup shoe. Both overhead wire and third-rail systems usually use the rails as the return conductor. In comparison to the alternative, the diesel engine, electric railways offer substantially better energy efficiency, lower emissions. Electric locomotives are usually quieter, more powerful, and more responsive and they have no local emissions, an important advantage in tunnels and urban areas. Different regions may use different supply voltages and frequencies, complicating through service, the limited clearances available under catenaries may preclude efficient double-stack container service. Possible lethal electric current due to risk of contact with high-voltage contact wires, overhead wires are safer than third rails, but they are often considered unsightly. These are independent of the system used, so that. The permissible range of voltages allowed for the voltages is as stated in standards BS EN50163. These take into account the number of trains drawing current and their distance from the substation, railways must operate at variable speeds. Until the mid 1980s this was only practical with the brush-type DC motor, since such conversion was not well developed in the late 19th century and early 20th century, most early electrified railways used DC and many still do, particularly rapid transit and trams
26.
25 kV AC railway electrification
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25 kV alternating current electrification is commonly used in railway electrification systems worldwide, especially for high-speed rail. This electrification is ideal for railways that cover long distances or carry heavy traffic, after some experimentation before World War II in Hungary and in the Black Forest in Germany, it came into widespread use in the 1950s. Railways using older, lower-capacity direct current systems have introduced or are introducing 25 kV AC instead of 3 kV DC/1.5 kV DC for their new high-speed lines. The first successful operational and regular use of the 50 Hz system dates back to 1931 and it was developed by Kálmán Kandó in Hungary, who used 16 kV AC at 50 Hz, asynchronous traction, and an adjustable number of poles. The first electrified line for testing was Budapest–Dunakeszi–Alag, the first fully electrified line was Budapest–Győr–Hegyeshalom. Although Kandós solution showed a way for the future, railway operators outside of Hungary showed a lack of interest in the design. The first railway to use system was completed in 1951 by SNCF between Aix-les-Bains and La Roche-sur-Foron in southern France, initially at 20 kV but converted to 25 kV in 1953. The main reason why electrification at this voltage had not been used before was the lack of reliability of mercury-arc-type rectifiers that could fit on the train. This in turn related to the requirement to use DC series motors, until the early 1950s, mercury-arc rectifiers were difficult to operate even in ideal conditions and were therefore unsuitable for use in the railway industry. It was possible to use AC motors, but they did not have a characteristic for traction purposes. This was because control of speed is difficult without varying the frequency and this is why DC series motors were the best choice for traction purposes, as they can be controlled by voltage, and have an almost ideal torque vs speed characteristic. In the 1990s, high-speed trains began to use lighter, lower-maintenance three-phase AC induction motors. The N700 Shinkansen uses a converter to convert 25 kV single-phase AC to 1,520 V AC to 3,000 V DC to a maximum 2,300 V three-phase AC to run the motors. The system works in reverse for regenerative braking, the choice of 25 kV was related to the efficiency of power transmission as a function of voltage and cost, not based on a neat and tidy ratio of the supply voltage. For a given level, a higher voltage allows for a lower current. The Indian Traction Power uses a 25 kV autotransformer system to achieve greater than the 25 kV system. Supply, in terms, the supply for the electric trains run by the Indian Rail uses only two phases of the normal three-phase electric power supply. The usage of the two phases is a one, feeding a single phase transformer with the two phases instead of the conventional feeding of a phase and a neutral
27.
Overhead line
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An overhead line or overhead wire is used to transmit electrical energy to trams, trolleybuses, or trains. Overhead line is designed on the principle of one or more overhead wires situated over rail tracks, the feeder stations are usually fed from a high-voltage electrical grid. Electric trains that collect their current from overhead lines use a device such as a pantograph and it presses against the underside of the lowest overhead wire, the contact wire. Current collectors are electrically conductive and allow current to flow through to the train or tram, non-electric locomotives may pass along these tracks without affecting the overhead line, although there may be difficulties with overhead clearance. Alternative electrical power transmission schemes for trains include third rail, ground-level power supply, batteries and this article does not cover regenerative braking, where the traction motors act as generators to retard movement and return power to the overhead. To achieve good high-speed current collection, it is necessary to keep the wire geometry within defined limits. This is usually achieved by supporting the wire from a second wire known as the messenger wire or catenary. This wire approximates the path of a wire strung between two points, a catenary curve, thus the use of catenary to describe this wire or sometimes the whole system. This wire is attached to the wire at regular intervals by vertical wires known as droppers or drop wires. It is supported regularly at structures, by a pulley, link, the whole system is then subjected to a mechanical tension. As the contact wire makes contact with the pantograph, the insert on top of the pantograph is worn down. The straight wire between supports will cause the wire to cross over the whole surface of the pantograph as the train travels around the curve, causing uniform wear. On straight track, the wire is zigzagged slightly to the left. The movement of the wire across the head of the pantograph is called the sweep. The zigzagging of the line is not required for trolley poles. Depot areas tend to have only a wire and are known as simple equipment or trolley wire. When overhead line systems were first conceived, good current collection was only at low speeds. Compound equipment - uses a second wire, known as the auxiliary
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West Coast Main Line
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The West Coast Main Line is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, the core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow, with branches diverging to Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool, totalling a route mileage of 700 miles. Services from London to North Wales and Edinburgh also run via the WCML and it is one of the busiest freight routes in Europe, carrying 40% of all UK rail freight traffic. The line is the rail freight corridor linking the European mainland through London and South East England to the West Midlands. The line has been declared a strategic European route and designated a priority Trans-European Networks route, other traffic is limited to 110 mph. The route between Rugby and Birmingham, Wolverhampton and Stafford was the main line until the Trent Valley Line was built in 1847. A further branch at Carstairs links Edinburgh to the WCML, providing a connection between the WCML and the East Coast Main Line. This legacy means the WCML has limitations as a main line, with lower maximum speeds than the East Coast Main Line route. The WCML was not originally conceived as a trunk route. After the completion of the successful Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, and so this is how the early stages of the WCML evolved. The first stretch of what is now the WCML was the Grand Junction Railway connecting Liverpool and Manchester to Birmingham, via Crewe, Stafford, the following year the London and Birmingham Railway was completed, connecting to the capital via Coventry, Rugby and the Watford Gap. Three other sections, the North Union Railway, the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway, another important section, the North Staffordshire Railway, which opened its route in 1848 from Macclesfield to Stafford and Colwich via Stoke-on-Trent also remained independent. Poor relations between the LNWR and the NSR meant that trains did not run until 1867. The route to Scotland was marketed by the LNWR as The Premier Line, because the cross-border trains ran over the LNWR and Caledonian Railway, through trains consisted of jointly owned West Coast Joint Stock to simplify operations. The first direct London to Glasgow trains in the 1850s took 12.5 hours to complete the 400-mile journey, the final sections of what is now the WCML were put in place over the following decades by the LNWR. To expand capacity, the line between London and Rugby was widened to four tracks in the 1870s, as part of this work, a new line, the Northampton Loop was built, opening in 1881, connecting Northampton before rejoining the main line at Rugby. The route came under the control of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway on 1 January 1923 when railway companies were grouped, the LMS competed fiercely with the rival LNERs East Coast Main Line for London to Scotland traffic. As part of the 1955 modernisation plan, the line was modernised and electrified in stages between 1959 and 1974, the first stretch to be electrified was Crewe to Manchester, completed on 12 September 1960
29.
North London line
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The North London line is a railway line of the London Overground, which passes through the inner suburbs of north London, England. Its route is a rough semicircle between the south-west and the north-east, avoiding central London, the line is owned and maintained by Network Rail and London Overground. It is an important freight route and is used by the Richmond to Stratford service of the London Overground, also, between Richmond and Gunnersbury, London Undergrounds District line shares tracks with London Overground services, although this part is also owned and maintained by Network Rail. The line reopened on 1 June 2010 with a service and none on Sundays, and with the upgrade work completed. The later construction of the Royal Victoria Dock necessitated a swing-bridge on the route south of Canning Town which was rerouted in 1850 via Custom House. The original route was retained as the Silvertown Tramway, a freight line connected at both ends to the new main line. The main central section opened from 1850 to 1852 as the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway and this gave a link from the Euston main line near Primrose Hill to the docks at Poplar via Bow. In the west, the North & South Western Junction Railway was opened in 1853 from Willesden Junction to a junction with the Hounslow Loop Line near Kew Bridge, the last link in the east was opened between the NLR near Victoria Park and Stratford in 1854. To obviate NLR trains running on the busy Euston main line, to give the NLR direct access to the City of London, the City extension to Broad Street was opened from Dalston Junction in 1865. The final part of the route was the opening of a link from South Acton to Richmond by the London & South Western Railway in 1869, the line from Broad Street to Kew Bridge and Richmond was electrified by the LNWR in 1916 on the 4th-rail DC system. In 1944, passenger services on the NLR Poplar branch ceased, freight traffic continued on the branch to the docks on the Isle of Dogs until 1980. The trackbed of the part of the branch, from Poplar to Bow, was used for the Docklands Light Railway branch to Stratford. The service was listed for closure in the 1963 Beeching Report and it was saved after a huge campaign. The line was Grant Aided under the Transport Act 1968 and came under threat when the Conservative Government of 1970-71 proposed to reduce Grant Aid funding. That threat, eventually lifted, led to the founding of a new group, the North London Line Committee. In 1979, the North Woolwich to Stratford service was extended to Camden Road as the CrossTown LinkLine service, using the same Cravens-built diesel multiple unit trains. There were no stations until, in 1980, Hackney Wick was opened, near the site of the former Victoria Park station and Hackney Central was re-opened. New platforms were built at West Ham for interchange with the adjacent Underground station, in the 1980s, Broad Street station closed and the Tottenham Hale–Stratford link and the station at Lea Bridge ceased to be used by regular passenger trains
30.
Midland Main Line
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The Midland Main Line is a major railway line in England from London to Sheffield in the North of England. The line is under the Network Rail description of Route 19, it comprises the lines from Londons St. Pancras station via Leicester, Derby/Nottingham, Express passenger services on the line are operated by East Midlands Trains. The section between St Pancras and Bedford is electrified and forms the northern half of Thameslink, with a fast service to Brighton, a northern part of the route, between Derby and Chesterfield, also forms part of the Cross Country Route operated by CrossCountry. Tracks from Nottingham to Leeds via Barnsley and Sheffield are shared with Northern, East Midlands Local also operates regional and local services using parts of the line. The Midland Main Line was built in stages between the 1830s and the 1870s, the earliest section was opened by the Midland Counties Railway between Nottingham and Derby on 4 June 1839. On 5 May 1840 the section of the route from Trent Junction to Leicester was opened, the line at Derby was joined on 1 July 1840 by the North Midland Railway to Leeds Hunslet Lane via Chesterfield, Rotherham Masborough, Swinton and Normanton. On 10 May 1844 the North Midland Railway, the Midland Counties Railway, without its own route to London, the Midland Railway relied upon a junction at Rugby with the London and Birmingham Railway line for access to the capital at London Euston. By the 1850s the junction at Rugby had become severely congested, the Midland Railway employed Thomas Brassey to construct a new route from Leicester to Hitchin via Kettering, Wellingborough and Bedford. Giving access to London via the Great Northern Railway from Hitchin, the Crimean War resulted in a shortage of labour and finance, and only £900,000 was available for the construction, approximately £15,000 for each mile. To reduce construction costs the railway followed natural contours, resulting in many curves, seven bridges and one tunnel were required, with 60ft cuttings at Desborough and Sharnbrook. There are also major summits at Kibworth, Desbrough and at Sharnbrook where a 1 in 119 gradient from the south over 3 miles takes the line to 340 feet above sea level. This route opened for traffic on 15 April 1857, goods on 4 May and passengers on 8 May. James Allport arranged a deal with the GN to run into Kings Cross for a guaranteed £20,000 a year. Through services to London were introduced in February 1858 and this line met with similar capacity problems at Hitchin as the former route via Rugby, so a new line was constructed from Bedford via Luton to St Pancras which opened on 1 October 1868. The construction of the London extension cost £9,000,000, as traffic built up, the Midland opened a new deviation just north of Market Harborough railway station on 26 June 1885 to remove the flat crossing of the Rugby and Stamford Railway. Plans by the Midland Railway to build a line from Derby to Manchester were thwarted in 1863 by the builders of the Buxton Line who sought to monopolise on the West Coast Main Line. In 1870 the Midland Railway opened a new route from Chesterfield to Rotherham which went through Sheffield, the mid-1870s saw the Midland line extended northwards through the Yorkshire Dales and Eden Valley on what is now called the Settle-Carlisle Railway. Express trains to Leeds and Scotland such as the Thames-Clyde Express mainly used the Midlands corollary Erewash Valley Line, expresses to Edinburgh Waverley, such as The Waverley travelled through Corby and Nottingham
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National Rail
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The name and the accompanying double arrow symbol are the intellectual property of the Secretary of State for Transport. The National Rail logo was introduced by ATOC in 1999, and was used on the Great Britain public timetable for the first time in the edition valid from 26 September in that year. Rules for its use are set out in the Corporate Identity Style Guidelines published by the Rail Delivery Group, the NR title is sometimes described as a brand. As it was used by British Rail, the operator before franchising, its use also maintains continuity and public familiarity. National Rail should not be confused with Network Rail, the two networks are generally coincident where passenger services are run. Most major Network Rail lines carry traffic and some lines are freight only. About twenty privately owned operating companies, each franchised for a defined term by government. The Rail Delivery Group is the association representing the TOCs and provides core services. It also runs Rail Settlement Plan, which allocates ticket revenue to the various TOCs, and Rail Staff Travel and it does not compile the national timetable, which is the joint responsibility of the Office of Rail Regulation and Network Rail. Since the privatisation of British Rail there is no longer a single approach to design on railways in Great Britain, the look and feel of signage, liveries and marketing material is largely the preserve of the individual TOCs. However, National Rail continues to use BRs famous double-arrow symbol and it has been incorporated in the National Rail logotype and is displayed on tickets, the National Rail website and other publicity. The trademark rights to the arrow symbol remain state-owned, being vested in the Secretary of State for Transport. The double arrow was already prescribed for indicating a railway station, the lettering used in the National Rail logotype is a modified form of the typeface Sassoon Bold. It is a misconception that Rail Alphabet was also used for printed material. The British Rail typefaces of choice from 1965 were Helvetica and Univers, TOCs may use what they like, examples include Futura, Helvetica, Frutiger, Bliss, and a modified version of Precious by London Midland. Several conurbations have their own metro or tram systems, most of which are not part of National Rail, LO now also possesses some infrastructure in its own right, following the reopening of the former East London line of London Underground as the East London Railway of LO. Heathrow Express and Eurostar are also not part of the National Rail network despite sharing of stations, northern Ireland Railways were never part of British Rail, which was always confined to Great Britain, and therefore are not part of the National Rail network. National Rail services have a common ticketing structure inherited from British Rail, through tickets are available between any pair of stations on the network, and can be bought from any station ticket office
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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
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London King's Cross railway station
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Kings Cross railway station, also known as London Kings Cross, is a central London railway terminus on the northern edge of the city. It is one of the busiest railway stations in the United Kingdom, the station was opened in 1852 by the Great Northern Railway in the Kings Cross area to accommodate the East Coast Main Line. It quickly grew to cater for services and was expanded several times in the 19th century. It came under ownership of the London and North Eastern Railway as part of the Big Four grouping in 1923, who introduced famous services such as the Flying Scotsman and Mallard. The station complex was redeveloped in the 1970s, simplifying the layout and providing electric suburban services, in the late 20th century, the area around the station became known for its seedy and downmarket character, and was used as a backdrop for several films as a result. Adjacent to Kings Cross station is St. Pancras International, the London terminus for Eurostar services to continental Europe, beneath both main line stations is Kings Cross St. Pancras on the London Underground, and combined they form one of the countrys largest transport hubs. The Kings Cross fire at the station in 1987 led to improved fire safety standards across the London rail network. The station is located on the London Inner Ring Road at the end of Euston Road, next to the junction with Pentonville Road, Grays Inn Road. To the west, at the side of Pancras Road, is St Pancras railway station. Several London bus routes, including 10,30,59,73,91,205,390,476 pass in front of or at the side of the station, Kings Cross is spelled both with and without an apostrophe. Kings Cross is used in signage at the Network Rail and London Underground stations, on the tube map and it has been used on official maps from Underground companies since 1951 – the apostrophe was used on them only very rarely before then. Kings Cross is used in the National Rail timetable database and other National Rail railway pages, Kings X, Kings + and London KX are abbreviations used in space-limited contexts. The National Rail station code is KGX, the area of Kings Cross was previously a village known as Battle Bridge which was an ancient crossing of the River Fleet, originally known as Broad Ford, later Bradford Bridge. The river flowed along what is now the west side of Pancras Road until it was rerouted underground in 1825, the name Battle Bridge is linked to tradition that this was the site of a major battle between the Romans and the British Iceni tribe led by Boudica. According to folklore, Kings Cross is the site of Boudicas final battle, platforms 9 and 10 have been suggested as possible sites. Boudicas ghost is also reported to haunt passages under the station, Kings Cross station was built in 1851–1852 as the London hub of the Great Northern Railway and terminus of the East Coast main line. It replaced a station next to Maiden Lane that had been quickly constructed with the lines arrival in London in 1850. The station took its name from the area of London, named after a monument to King George IV that was demolished in 1845
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East Coast Main Line
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The East Coast Main Line is a 393-mile long railway link between London and Edinburgh via Peterborough, Doncaster, Wakefield, Leeds, York, Darlington and Newcastle, electrified along the whole route. Services north of Edinburgh to Aberdeen and Inverness use diesel trains, the main franchise on the line is operated by Virgin Trains East Coast. The route forms a key artery on the side of Great Britain and is broadly paralleled by the A1 trunk road. It links London, the South East and East Anglia, with Yorkshire and it also carries key commuter flows for the north side of London. It is important to the health of several areas of England and Scotland. It also handles cross-country, commuter and local services. The route has ELRs ECM1 - ECM9, the line was built by three railway companies, each serving their own area, but with the intention of linking up to form the through route that became the East Coast Main Line. In 1923 the three companies were grouped into the London and North Eastern Railway and this later became part of British Railways in 1948. The Selby Diversion was opened in 1983 and diverged from the original ECML at Temple Hirst Junction, north of Doncaster, the ECML has been the backdrop for a number of famous rail journeys and locomotives. The line was worked for years by Pacific locomotives designed by Gresley, including the famous steam locomotives Flying Scotsman. Mallard achieved a record speed for a steam locomotive, at 126 miles per hour. It made the run on the Grantham-to-Peterborough section, on the descent of Stoke Bank, steam locomotives were replaced by Diesel electrics in the early 1960s, when the purpose-built Deltic locomotive was developed by English Electric. The prototype was successful and a fleet of 22 locomotives was built, the Class 55s were powered by two Napier Deltic engines originally developed for fast torpedo boats, with the three crankshaft triangular configuration of the engines giving the Deltic name. Their characteristic throaty exhaust roar and chubby body outline made them unmistakable, the Class 55 was for a time the most powerful diesel locomotive in service in Britain, at 3,300 hp. Just after the Deltics were introduced, the first sections of the East Coast Main Line were upgraded to allow 100 miles per hour running. The first length to be cleared for the new higher speed was a 17 miles stretch between Peterborough and Grantham on 15 June 1965, the second was 12 miles between Grantham and Newark. A prototype of the HST, the Class 41 achieved 143 mph on the line in 1973, a secondary factor was that the signalling technology of the time was insufficient to allow detection of two broken rails on the line on which the train was operating. Locomotives have operated on the ECML at speeds of up to 161.7 mph in test runs. 3A equipment and this included the Hertford Loop Line
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Lea Valley lines
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The Lea Valley lines are three commuter lines and two branches in North East London, so named because they run along the Lower Lea Valley of the River Lea. They were part of the Great Eastern Railway, now part of the Anglia Route of Network Rail. The first section was opened by the Eastern Counties Railway on 20 June 1839 from the London end at Devonshire Street to Romford, extended on 1 July 1840 to Bishopsgate, a branch from Broxbourne to Hertford opened in 1843. Enfield was reached on 1 March 1849 by the single-track Enfield Town branch from the N&ER at Angel Road via Lower Edmonton, the ECR was incorporated into the Great Eastern Railway in 1862. The line from there to Enfield was doubled at the same time, another branch, the Chingford branch line, went from Lea Bridge to Walthamstow, Shern Hall Street, in 1870, extended southwards to Hackney Downs in 1872 and northwards to Chingford in 1873. A station was proposed near Clapton called Queens Road but never opened, all express services start at either London Liverpool Street or Stratford and are operated by Abellio Greater Anglia as part of the Greater Anglia franchise. Suburban services operating on the Southbury Loop terminating at Cheshunt, on the Enfield Town branch, services operating via the Southbury Loop that continue beyond Cheshunt, as well as on the line via Tottenham Hale, including services originating at Stratford, are operated by Greater Anglia. Chingford Branch, London Liverpool Street – Chingford via Walthamstow Central, Wood Street and Highams Park, until 1968 the Stratford and Chingford lines were connected by the Hall Farm Curve, which may be reconstructed. The line is part of the Network Rail Strategic Route 5, SRS05.02,05.04 and it is classified as a London and South East Commuter line. A number of services to/from Liverpool Street/Enfield Town start or terminate in different places on special occasions, when Tottenham Hotspur F. C. are playing at home, additional trains run, some starting/terminating from White Hart Lane or Seven Sisters. It is electrified at 25 kV AC using overhead line equipment and has a speed of 40–75 mph except between Cheshunt and Coppermill junction where it is 60–85 mph. Different sections have different loading gauges, most is W8, with the branches to Enfield Town and Chingford being W6 and the branch to Stratford W9. The Tottenham Hale–West Anglian route is planned to part of Crossrail 2 to Cheshunt, Broxbourne. These trains will go into service on the Romford-Upminster branch
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Temple Mills
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Temple Mills Lane is to the north of the London 2012 Olympic Park Medieval Hackney was almost entirely rural with much land owned by Sir Thomas Mead. Agriculture and related trades were the forms of employment. Arable crops were grown, such as beans, wheat, oats and this created a need for milling of the grain, and there were several mills in Hackney. Temple Mills were water mills belonging to the Knights Templar, used mainly for grinding corn from their lands in Homerton. The mills straddled the River Lea and so were partly in Hackney, during the 17th century and 18th century, the former Templar mills were used for a variety of industrial purposes. These included grinding rapeseed for oil, processing leather, making brass kettles, twisting yarn and his family, and a French minister, also died in the blast. Temple Mills was also the site of Chobham Farm, a cold storage warehouse. A strike and picket of the site in July 1972 led to the arrest, the dispute spread nationally becoming a cause célèbre for the trade union movement and created a political crisis. As Temple Mills is located in part of the Lower Lea Valley, Temple Mills wagon works was opened in 1896 by the Great Eastern Railway on a 23-acre site to the east of the Stratford to Lea Bridge line with an entrance off Temple Mills Lane. Before then, wagons had been constructed and maintained on the original Stratford Works site located between the Great Eastern Main Line and the Stratford to Lea Bridge line, the constrained nature of that site saw the move to Temple Mills. In 1921 the works employed 800 men, producing 10 new wagons, the works also produced steel frames for carriages which were sent to Stratford Works for completion. In February 1919 the works area flooded, in 1923 the wagon works was taken over by the London and North Eastern Railway. In 1948 British Railways took over the operation of the works, around this time the New Wagon Repair Shop was built on the western edge of the site. This consisted of 8 roads and access was by a wagon traverser, in the 1960s the works was responsible for the design of early freightliner and cartic wagons. This was also a time when a lot of older wagons were being scrapped, at this time the works employed around 400 people. In 1970 the works became part of British Rail Engineering Limited, at this time there was also a workshop known as the New Road Van Shop that dealt with repairs to road vans, containers and barrows etc. This was located just south of the works site, during the 1970s some re-modelling was carried out to enable the works to cope with longer wagons such as Freightliner flats. The works was closed in 1983 and it is reported that some 33,000 wagons were built jointly by Stratford Works and at Temple Mills
37.
Stratford International station
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Stratford International is a National Rail and connected Docklands Light Railway station located in Stratford in the London Borough of Newham, east London. On the DLR it is a terminus for services via Canning Town. Construction of the National Rail station was completed in 2006 but it opened in 2009. In 2011 an extension of the DLR was opened to connect Stratford International to the wider London public transport network, the DLR station is physically separate and across the road from the HS1 station. Oyster cards are valid for travel to and from the DLR station, which is in Travelcard zone 2/3, the four-platform HS1 station is built within Stratford Box, a 1. 1-kilometre concrete-sided cutting. It is located on the edge of the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park. The station is on the High Speed 1 railway between St. Pancras and Ebbsfleet International, as the station lies just inside the eastern boundary of the London Olympic Park, much of the surrounding land was little more than construction site until mid-2012. The tracks descend into tunnel at both ends of the station as its platforms are closer to the surface than the tunnels, Stratford International has four platforms in the station box, two at the outer edges and two shorter ones forming a central island. The main line tracks run down each side of the station between the adjacent platforms. There is a room on the island platforms but not on the outer platforms. Thirty-five metres beyond the portals, the tunnels pass just below the Central line tunnels turning north from Stratford. The bottom invert of each Central line tunnel is only 4.3 metres and 8.0 metres above the running tunnels. The station was not authorised by the Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act 1996, in the centre of the station is a single-track inclined viaduct, rising to the east end along and above the length of the island platforms. This is to allow trains to leave the station box. The full service started on 13 December 2009 using Class 395 multiple units, the peak hour service is 19 trains arriving at St Pancras between 07,00 and 09,59. During the 2012 Olympic Games, a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the high speed service, two of these would be extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet would be increased to twelve per hour, to enable the domestic services to stop at platforms previously designed for Eurostar trains the platforms had to be raised. Originally planned to open in July 2010, this was delayed to 31 August 2011, London Buses routes 97,108,308 and 339 and night route N205 serve the station
38.
Docklands Light Railway
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The Docklands Light Railway is an automated light metro system opened in 1987 to serve the redeveloped Docklands area of London. It reaches north to Stratford, south to Lewisham, west to Tower Gateway and Bank in the City of London financial district, and east to Beckton, London City Airport and Woolwich Arsenal. The system uses minimal staffing on trains and at interchange stations. Similar proposals have made for the Tube. The DLR is operated under a franchise awarded by Transport for London to KeolisAmey Docklands and it was previously run for over 17 years by Serco Docklands, part of the Serco Group. The system is owned by Docklands Light Railway Ltd, part of the London Rail division of Transport for London, in Fiscal Year 2014, the DLR carried 110.2 million passengers. It has been extended several times and further extensions are under consideration, the docks immediately east of Central London began to decline in the early 1960s as cargo became containerised. They had been connected to the railway network via the London and Blackwall Railway. The opening of the Tilbury container docks, further east in Essex, finally rendered them redundant, as early as 1972, consideration was given to how to redevelop the moribund Docklands. Travis Morgan & Partners were commissioned by the London Docklands Study Team to consider the issue, the Greater London Council formed a Docklands Joint Committee with the Boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham, Newham, Southwark and Tower Hamlets in 1974 to undertake the redevelopment of the area. A light railway system was envisaged, terminating either at Tower Hill tube station or at Fenchurch Street, but both options were seen as too expensive. This was intended to be the stage of the Fleet line – which had been renamed the Jubilee line. The government created the London Docklands Development Corporation in July 1981 to coordinate the redevelopment of the Docklands, the need to provide a cheap public transport solution led to it commissioning London Transport to evaluate a number of exclusively light rail options. The core of the route ran alongside the Great Eastern line out of London, three terminus options were proposed at the west end, at Tower Hill, Minories and Aldgate East. The Tower Hill option would have required a low-level interchange to be constructed alongside the existing Underground station, the Minories option, a high-level station virtually on the site of the old Minories railway station, was selected and became the current Tower Gateway DLR terminus. However, it became apparent that there was no capacity on the existing network for integrating the DLR into the Underground. Two southern terminus options were put forward, at Cubitt Town and Tiller Road, on the west side of Millwall Dock, with two possible routes to reach them. The central option required the West India Docks to be infilled or bridged and would run down the middle of the peninsula, the contract for the initial system was awarded to GEC Mowlem in 1984 and the system was constructed from 1985 to 1987 at a cost of £77 million
39.
London, Tilbury and Southend Railway
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The line is also heavily used by leisure travellers, as it and its branches serve a number of seaside resorts, shopping areas and countryside destinations. Additionally the route provides an artery for traffic to and from the port of Tilbury. The route was extended in phases and partnerships were formed with the Midland Railway, the main line runs from Fenchurch Street to Shoeburyness via Basildon over a distance of 39 miles 40 chains. A loop line between Barking and Pitsea provides a route via Grays and Tilbury, and there is a short branch line connecting the two via Ockendon. The line has a speed limit of 75 mph, although the Class 357 electric trains which run on it are capable of a speed of 100 mph. The line forms part of Network Rails strategic route 6 and it is classified as a London and South East commuter line. Passenger services form the Essex Thameside franchise that is operated by train operating company c2c. The construction of the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway line was authorised by Parliament on 17 June 1852. The first section, built by Peto and Grissell, was opened between Forest Gate junction on the Eastern Counties Railway line and Tilbury, via Barking and Grays on 13 April 1854. Services initially ran from Fenchurch Street and Bishopsgate stations over existing lines to Stratford, further extensions opened in late 1854 to Horndon, to Leigh-on-Sea on 1 July 1855 and finally to Southend on 1 March 1856. Under the management of civil engineer Arthur Lewis Stride, the line was extended from Southend to Shoeburyness in 1884, a more direct route from Barking to Pitsea via Upminster was built between 1885 and 1888, completing the current main route. A single-track branch was constructed between Romford and Grays via Upminster in 1892-93, the connection allowed through-running of District Railway trains from the tunnels under central London to provide local services to Upminster from 2 June 1902. The electrified tracks were extended to Barking and that opened on 1 April 1908. Delayed by World War I, the tracks were eventually extended to Upminster and District line services started to. Of course, the Waterloo & City tunnels would have had to be bored out to size for this proposal to succeed. In 1974 a station was opened to serve the new town of Basildon, platforms were re-established and opened at West Ham in 1999 to provide interchange with the extended Jubilee line. The railway was jointly promoted by the Eastern Counties Railway and London and Blackwall Railway and was leased for 21 years to Peto, Brassey. The lease expired in 1875, leaving the LTSR to take over operation itself, the Midland Railway and LTSR jointly constructed the Tottenham and Forest Gate Railway, which enabled through-running of trains between St. Pancras and the Tilbury docks
40.
M25 motorway
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The M25 or London Orbital Motorway is a 117-mile motorway that encircles almost all of Greater London, England, in the United Kingdom. An ambitious concept to build four concentric ring roads around London was first mooted in the 1960s, further widening is in progress of minor sections with plans for managed motorways in many others. To the east of London the two ends of the M25 are joined to complete a loop by the non-motorway A282 Dartford Crossing of the River Thames between Thurrock and Dartford and this crossing, which consists of twin two-lane tunnels and the four-lane QE2 bridge, is named Canterbury Way. Passage across the bridge or through the tunnels is subject to a toll, in the opposite direction, to the east of the point where the M25 diverges from the main east–west carriageway, that carriageway become the M26 motorway. The radial distance from London varies from 12.5 miles in Potters Bar to 19.5 miles in Byfleet.8 miles, major towns listed as destinations, in various counties, adjoin the M25. North Ockendon is the settlement of Greater London situated outside the M25. In 2004, following a poll, the London Assembly mooted for consultation alignment of the Greater London boundary with the M25. Inside the M25 and outside/beyond the M25 are colloquial, looser alternatives to Greater London sometimes used in haulage, the Communications Act 2003 explicitly uses the M25 as the boundary in requiring a proportion of television programmes to be made outside the London area. Two motorway service areas are on the M25, and two others are accessible from it. Those on the M25 are Clacket Lane between junctions 5 and 6 and Cobham between junctions 9 and 10 and those directly accessible from it are South Mimms off junction 23 and Thurrock off junction 31. Cobham services opened on 13 September 2012, originally, the M25 was unlit except for sections around Heathrow, major interchanges and Junctions 23–30. By 2014 only one significant stretch was still SOX-lit and the units were removed the same year, the motorway passes through five counties. Junctions 1A–5 are in Kent, 6–14 are in Surrey, 15–16 are in Buckinghamshire, 17–25 are in Hertfordshire, policing of the road is carried out by an integrated policing group made up of the Metropolitan, Thames Valley, Essex, Kent, Hertfordshire and Surrey forces. The M25 is one of Europes busiest motorways, in 2003, a maximum of 196,000 vehicles a day were recorded on the motorway just south of London Heathrow Airport between junctions 13 and 14. A precursor of the M25 was the North Orbital Road, the idea of an orbital road around London was first proposed early in the 20th century and then re-examined in Sir Charles Bresseys and Sir Edwin Lutyens The Highway Development Survey,1937. Sir Patrick Abercrombies County of London Plan,1943 and Greater London Plan,1944 proposed a series of five roads encircling the capital, the northern sections of the M25 follow a similar route to the World War II Outer London Defence Ring. Little was done to progress these plans until the 1960s when the Greater London Council developed its London Ringways plan consisting of four rings around the capital. Sections of the two outer rings – Ringway 3 and Ringway 4 – were constructed in the early 1970s and were integrated into the single M25 orbital motorway, but the Ringways plan was hugely controversial owing to the destruction required for the inner two ring roads
41.
Ebbsfleet International railway station
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Ebbsfleet International railway station is a railway station in Ebbsfleet Valley, in the Borough of Dartford, Kent,10 miles outside the eastern boundary of Greater London, England. It is near Dartford and the Bluewater shopping centre to the west, the station is part of the Thames Gateway urban regeneration, a project of national priority. It stands on the High Speed 1 rail line, around 400 metres south-west of Northfleet railway station, the station lies off the A2 trunk road, about 5 mi from its junction with the M25 motorway. During the London 2012 Olympics, it served as a primary service as it is very close to the M25 motorway. The name Ebbsfleet is a creation of seventeenth-century antiquaries, partly inspired by the name of Ebbsfleet in Thanet,75 km to the east. The station was opened to Eurostar and dedicated in a ceremony by Dame Kelly Holmes on 29 January 2008. The similarity of its name to that of Dartford railway station,6 mi away, was also of concern, the Olympic Javelin or Javelin was a high-speed train shuttle service operated by Southeastern over High Speed 1 during the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The service ran for the duration of games, between St Pancras International station and this station, via Stratford International station, which is close to the Olympic Park. During the Summer Olympics a service of eight trains an hour ran between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet, calling at Stratford, replacing the usual East Kent highspeed service, two of these were extended to Ashford and one to Faversham. Between 11pm and 1am the service between St Pancras and Ebbsfleet was increased to twelve per hour, on High Speed 1 there are avoiding lines in each direction and four platforms, two serving international Eurostar services and two the Southeastern Highspeed services. Southeastern services travelling between London and the North Kent Line use a junction to the north of the station and are served by another pair of platforms that curve away to the east, ticket barriers control access to all platforms. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link Act allows a total of 9,000 car parking spaces to be constructed, despite being in close proximity to the station, Northfleet has no bus connection to the station. There is a rank directly outside the station entrance/exit. Car rental services for both leisure and business are located in the concourse, the interchange facilities lie at either end of the main station box - taxis, buses and set down at the northern end and coaches to the south of the station box. However, a Crossrail extension from Abbey Wood to Gravesend remains safeguarded, there is a shorter walking route through the car park to the north of Ebbsfleet station, but there are no footpaths provided and this way is obstructed by the car park access barriers. There are no pedestrian or cycle route signs for Ebbsfleet station on any of the possible routes between the stations. As of the Summer 2014 timetable, there are up to five Eurostar services to Paris on Mondays to Fridays, up to four on Saturdays, most of these services run non-stop from Ebbsfleet to Paris, though some also stop at Ashford en route. There are four trains to Brussels on Mondays to Fridays, three on Saturdays and two on Sundays, all Brussels services call at Lille and some also call at Calais
42.
North Kent Line
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The London terminus is Charing Cross station. The North Kent Line was the means by which the South Eastern Railway was able to connect its system to London at London Bridge. From 30 July 1849 the line was extended, via Blackheath, to a junction with the London and Greenwich Railway at North Kent East Junction, near Deptford, electrification was initially to Dartford and was extended to Gillingham by World War Two. The North Kent Line is a line, with all stations in the London area being served by at least 4 trains per hour. From 1999–2002 there were semi-fast trains starting from Plumstead to London Victoria briefly resuming a 1980s service pattern, there were plans in 2003 to have a Plumstead to Clapham Junction cross south London service but it never came into fruition Abbey Wood is to become the eastern terminal for Crossrail. A possible extension of Crossrail to Gravesend has been safeguarded, currently for freight services Higham Higham and Strood tunnel – actually two tunnels with a gap of 100 yards between. Strood – the junction for the Medway Valley Line, the North Kent Line connects with the LCDR Chatham Main Line at Rochester Bridge Junction, about 200 m beyond Strood station. It totals some 30 miles in length
43.
Chatham main line
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The Chatham main line is a railway line in England that links London Victoria and Dover Priory / Ramsgate, travelling via Medway. Services to Cannon Street follow the route as far as St Mary Cray Junction where they diverge onto the South Eastern Main Line near Chislehurst, a shuttle service operates on the Sheerness Line which starts at Sittingbourne. This line is reserved for use only by Class 395 Javelins travelling to/from Ashford International. As the Eurostar trains have had their 750 V shoes removed, most services on the Line are run by Southeastern, part of Govia Group, which also operate the Southern and the London Midland franchises. Govia Thameslink Railway run a Thameslink service, starting from London Blackfriars and travelling via Denmark Hill on the Catford Loop and it then travels to Swanley before heading to Sevenoaks. Southeastern used to run this service, some services travelling via Catford may stop at Denmark Hill. From 13 December 2015, the timetable consists of two trains per hour from Victoria, calling at Bromley South, Longfield, Meopham, Rochester, Chatham. One service will call at Newington, Sittingbourne, Teynham and Faversham, the other service will only call at Sittingbourne and Faversham then all stations to Margate and Ramsgate. These trains will no longer split or join up at Faversham, the hourly stopping service from Victoria now goes as far as Dover Priory, calling at Denmark Hill, Bromley South, St Mary Cray then all stations to Gillingham. It then becomes a semi-fast service, calling at Rainham, Sittingbourne, Faversham, Canterbury East, a High Speed Service sees two trains per hour from St Pancras International to Faversham via Gravesend and Chatham. One service terminates at Faversham before travelling back to St Pancras International via Chatham, the other service continues coastbound as a semi-fast service calling at Whitstable, Herne Bay, Birchington, Margate, Broadstairs and Ramsgate. A service operates in the opposite direction, during this time, a replacement bus service operated between Dover Priory and Folkestone Central. The following trains are operated on the line, Class 395 Javelin since 2009, Class 375 Electrostar since 2001, Class 465 Networker since 1992, the line was built by the London, Chatham and Dover Railway, who were in competition with the South Eastern Railway. They subsequently built lines to Sevenoaks and Ashford from the Chatham main line, the line was electrified in a series of stages. Initially the new Southern Railway electrified the urban workings of the SECR in the 1920s, in July 1925 South Eastern Electrification saw the line from Victoria to junction with the South Eastern Main line at Bickley, including the Catford Loop Line electrified. This was extend to outer suburban workings to Sevenoaks via Swanley in two stages, reaching St Mary Cray in May 1934 and Swanley in January 1935, full outer suburban electrification was achieved with the Maidstone & Gillingham Electrification scheme in July 1939, extending electrification from Swanley to Gillingham. Post war, under the BRs 1955 Modernisation plan, electrification was completed under Kent Coast Electrification stage 1 in 1959. At the same time the four track section between Shortlands and St Mary Cray junction was extended to Swanley Junction with a rebuilding of the St Mary Cray Junction
44.
London Waterloo station
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Waterloo main line station is one of 19 in the country that are managed by Network Rail and the station complex is in fare zone 1. The first railway station on site opened in 1848, the present structure was inaugurated in 1922. Part of the station is a Grade II listed building, with just under 100 million National Rail passenger entries/exits in 2015/16, Waterloo is Britains busiest railway station by patronage. Waterloo railway station alone is the 15th-busiest passenger station in Europe, however, including National Rail interchanges, the Underground station, and Waterloo East, the complex handled a total of 211 million passengers in the 2015/2016 financial year. It is therefore the busiest transport hub in Europe and it has more platforms and a greater floor area than any other station in the UK. The station was the London terminus for Eurostar international trains from 1994 until 2007, the London and South Western Railway opened the station on 11 July 1848 as Waterloo Bridge Station when its main line was extended from Nine Elms. The station, designed by William Tite, was raised above ground on a series of arches. The unfulfilled intention was for a station with services to the City of London. In 1886, it officially became Waterloo Station, reflecting long-standing common usage, the L&SWRs aim throughout much of the 19th century was to extend its main line eastward beyond Waterloo into the City of London. Given this, it was reluctant to construct a grand terminus at Waterloo. However traffic and passenger usage continued to grow and the company expanded the station at regular intervals and this resulted in the station becoming increasingly ramshackle. The original 1848 station became known as the Central Station as other platforms were added, each of these stations-within-a-station had its own booking office, taxi stand and public entrances from the street, as well as often poorly marked and confusing access to the rest of the station. Passengers were, not surprisingly, confused by the layout and by the two adjacent stations called Waterloo, from 1897 there had also been the adjacent Necropolis Company station. This complexity and confusion became the butt of jokes by writers and music hall comics for many years in the late 19th century, by the late 1890s the L&SWR accepted that main-line access to the City was impossible. In 1898, the company opened the Waterloo & City line and this gave the company the direct commuter service it had long desired. Legal powers to carry out the work were granted in 1899 and extensive groundwork and slum clearance were carried out until 1904, the new station was opened in stages, the first five new platforms being opened in 1910. The engineers J. W. Jacomb-Hood and Alfred Weeks Szlumper designed the roof and platforms, construction continued sporadically throughout the First World War, and the new station finally opened in 1922, with 21 platforms and a concourse nearly 800 feet long. The new station included a stained glass window depicting the L&SWRs company crest over the main road entrance
45.
Fawkham Junction
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Fawkham Junction is a railway junction that currently connects High Speed 1 with the Kent Rail Network. Originally the Junction was part of the London, Chatham and Dover Railways line to Gravesend West, the intermediate stations were, Longfield Halt, Southfleet, Rosherville Halt and Gravesend West. With the amalgamation of the two competing companies into the South Eastern and Chatham Railway in 1899, the lines future was doomed. Passenger services were curtailed and the line was not electrified, it closed to passengers in 1953. The Channel Tunnel Rail Link gave part of the line a new lease of life with the rebuilding of the section near Southfleet as a spur linking the CTRL. Much of the route was followed but the initial Fawkham Junction was repositioned slightly to allow for higher speeds. Several bridges were also rebuilt alongside or in place of their originals, the CTRL was built in two stages and the initial stage was connected to the rail network via this rebuilt line. The completion of phase 2 means this section is no longer used by Eurostar trains, the line is the changeover between the third rail and overhead systems of electrification
46.
Singlewell Infrastructure Maintenance Depot
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The Singlewell Infrastructure Maintenance Depot is a railway maintenance depot located near to the Gravesend ward of Singlewell, Kent, in the United Kingdom. The depot is located between the A2 road and High Speed 1 and it lies halfway between Ebbsfleet International railway station and the Medway Viaducts, and is connected via a spur at the Singlewell freight loops. When originally constructed in 2007, the area between the A2 and the depot formed a field, but the subsequent long-planned realignment of the A2 meant that the road now runs closer to the depot, the depot has fuelling facilities, workshops, plant storage and offices
47.
Medway Valley line
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The Medway Valley line is the name given to the railway line linking Strood and the Medway Towns with Maidstone West and onward to Paddock Wood, Tonbridge and London St Pancras International. The section from Maidstone West to Tonbridge passes through some of Kents most picturesque countryside along the sections of the River Medway. The line was built in two stages by the South Eastern Railway, the first stage opened on 24 September 1844 and was a branch off the SERs first main line that crossed Kent between the coast ports of Dover and Folkestone and the LBSCRs main line at Redhill. The junction was at Paddock Wood and followed the Medway Valley down to the county town of Maidstone that had been by-passed by the new main line. Twelve years later, on 18 June 1856 the extension of the further down the Medway Valley was opened. The extension was built by the railway contractor Edward Betts, who lived locally at Preston Hall, Betts arranged for his local station at Aylesford to be built in a much grander style than the other country stations along the line. The SER merged with local rival London, Chatham and Dover Railway on 1 January 1899 to form the South Eastern, post World War One, the railways were grouped and the SECR became part of Southern Railway. For a brief period in the 1990s some services were extended to Gillingham via Rochester and this involved reversing trains and switching tracks at Strood. It was designated by the Department for Transport as a community service on 28 September 2007. The line is double track throughout, apart from a section on approach to Paddock Wood. Between Paddock Wood and Tonbridge the maximum speed is 100 mph, further modifications have since been made with the expansion of the North Kent Signalling Centre. At Yalding, however, exists the only signal on the Southeastern network to display a white light as the proceed aspect at the ABCL level crossing. The line from Strood to Maidstone West was electrified by the Southern Railway, the rest of the line from Paddock Wood to Maidstone West was electrified under Stage 2 of Kent Coast electrification by BRs 1955 Modernisation Plan, opening to traffic on 18 June 1962. Trains typically run a service between Strood and Maidstone, with one train per hour carrying on through to Paddock Wood. There is no longer an early morning service to London Bridge, since the December 2009 timetable change, some trains continue on to Tonbridge rather than terminate at Paddock Wood. On 18 March 2011, Southeastern announced the start of a new high speed service from Maidstone to St Pancras International via Strood on a trial basis. During the morning rush hour, there are 3 trains from Maidstone West to St Pancras International, in the evening rush hour, the service is reversed. A trial service commenced on 23 May 2011 and comes as a result of changes on the North Kent line to improve punctuality of existing services and this service has since been made permanent
48.
River Medway
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The River Medway is a river in South East England. It rises in the High Weald, Sussex, and flows through Tonbridge, Maidstone and the Medway conurbation in Kent before emptying into the Thames Estuary near Sheerness, about 13 miles of the river lies in Sussex, with the remainder being in Kent. It has a catchment area of 930 square miles, the second largest in southern England after the Thames, the map opposite shows only the major tributaries, a more detailed map shows the extensive network of smaller streams feeding into the main river. Those tributaries rise from points along the North Downs, the Weald, the major tributaries are, River Eden River Bourne, known as the River Shode and River Busty River Teise, major sub tributary River Bewl. The river and its tributaries flow through largely rural areas, Tonbridge, Maidstone, until 1746 the river was not navigable above Maidstone. Up to that point each village on the river had its wharf or wharves, at Halling, Snodland, New Hythe, cargoes included corn, fodder, fruit, stone and timber. In 1746 improvements to the channel meant that barges of 40 long tons could reach East Farleigh, Yalding, in 1828, the channel was further improved up to Leigh. There are eleven locks on the river, the lowest, opened in 1792, is at Allington, and is the tidal limit. The others are at East Farleigh, Teston, Hampstead Lane, Stoneham Old Lock, Sluice Weir Lock, Oak Weir Lock, East Lock, Porters, Eldridges and Town Lock in Tonbridge. The locks will take craft up to 80 feet by 18 feet, the shallowest point is just below Sluice Weir Lock, which is prone to silting after heavy rain. Small craft such as canoes can travel as far as Penshurst. The stretch from Leigh to Allington is known as the Medway Navigation, the Environment Agency is the navigation authority. Until recently the lowest crossing of the Medway was at Rochester, in the 14th century the Wardens and Commonalty of Rochester Bridge were instituted by Sir John de Cobham to pay for the rebuilding and upkeep of the bridge. Until 1963 the nearest crossing to Rochester Bridge was the 14th-century bridge at Aylesford,12 miles upstream, since then the following additional crossings have come into use,1963, A viaduct over the river was built south of Rochester to carry the first section of the M2 motorway. In 2003 this was widened to two separate spans, between 1963 and 1996 the M20 was built, with a bridge over the Medway south of Aylesford. 1996, The Medway Tunnel became the rivers lowest crossing, connecting Gillingham to Strood, the four-lane tunnel was constructed using the immersed tube method, and was partially paid for by Rochester Bridge Trust, the successor to the Wardens and Commonalty. 2003, A railway bridge 0.8 miles long, with a span of 498 feet, was constructed for High Speed 1. The railway bridge lies parallel to the M2 motorway bridges,2017, A new road bridge from the A228 between Holborough and Halling across to Hall Road, Wouldham, to facilitate the development of Peters Village
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