Now Sussex bishops call for an end to “cycle of blame” in Southern rail strikes December 6, 2016 The Southern rail situation just took a rather bizarre twist. Bishops in Sussex have now stepped into the long-running dispute between the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union and the train operator over the role of the guards. Writing to Southern's parent owner Govia, union leaders and the Department for Transport (DfT), the church leaders [...]
Britain’s busiest stations: London Waterloo takes the top spot with over 99m passengers December 6, 2016 Commuters at London Waterloo might have guessed it already, but new figures from the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) have confirmed it: it's still Britain's busiest station. Annual passenger numbers reached over 99m in one year (99.1m for 2015/16), ahead of Victoria and Liverpool Street stations, which were the second and third busiest stations [...]
“A slippery slope to privatisation”: Network Rail shake-up draws mixed reactions December 6, 2016 Chris Grayling's plans to shake-up Network Rail's monopoly on track maintenance have already caused quite the stir. Service operators will be given a role in managing the tracks and Grayling wants the firms operating services to form a joint management team with bosses from state-owned Network Rail. He said on BBC's Today programme that he [...]
Step-free access on the Underground is getting a £200m boost from the mayor December 6, 2016 The mayor of London has announced step-free access on the Underground will get a financial boost to the tune of £200m over the next five years. Sadiq Khan said this will bring the total number of step-free access stations on London Underground to more than 100 stations and 40 per cent of the network. The [...]
Chris Grayling: All rail commuters will be able to use Oyster-style cards by 2018 December 6, 2016 Chris Grayling's announcement on splitting up Network Rail's dominance over track maintenance has caused a stir, but it's not the only change the transport secretary has unveiled. Rail commuters will be able to use an Oyster-style pay-as-you-go smart card to travel anywhere in the country by the end of 2018. Writing in the Telegraph, Grayling said: "We [...]
Southern rail strikes by drivers and conductors cause fresh travel disruption for long-suffering commuters December 6, 2016 London Underground passengers might have got some respite after today's Tube strikes were called off yesterday, but there was no such joy for Southern rail commuters. They're facing yet more delays today as the latest three-day strike got under way: with the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union walking out at midnight over the ongoing [...]
Those who benefit from new infrastructure should pay for it December 6, 2016 To many people’s relief, there were not many big ideas in Philip Hammond’s Autumn Statement last month. In so far as there was anything new, it was the widely-trailed extra investment in innovation, infrastructure and housing. The justification for spending money on these things is that it will raise productivity and growth. There is no question [...]
Tube strikes: Piccadilly and Hammersmith and City line driver walkouts cancelled tomorrow December 5, 2016 A 24-hour strike by drivers on the Piccadilly and Hammersmith and City lines from 9.30pm tomorrow has been suspended, the RMT union has said. The suspension follows successful talks at the conciliation service Acas, according to RMT. The union said "all objectives in the Piccadilly line dispute" had been achieved, while the union is "committed [...]
Tottenham Court Road station has been closed due to a power failure December 5, 2016 Services on the Central and Northern Lines are disrupted this afternoon, after Tottenham Court Road was closed due to a power failure. https://twitter.com/centralline/status/805793171288498177 https://twitter.com/northernline/status/805793168256073730 Meanwhile, there are delays on the Circle Line due to an "absence of staff", according to Transport for London. https://twitter.com/circleline/status/805795047933353984 Elsewhere, the Piccadilly Line is still experiencing severe delays – which are [...]
Uber’s created its very own lab for researching artificial intelligence December 5, 2016 Uber is getting deeper into the artificial intelligence game, creating a dedicated lab staffed with top researchers by acquiring a startup with expertise in the technology. The 15 staff of Geometric Intelligence will form the basis for the billion dollar startup’s San Francisco Lab, which will research the growing area of AI and machine learning [...]
