London’s weekly railway news

A weekly round-up of London’s rail transport news…

Passengers evacuated from Heathrow Express train

London Underground

Finsbury Park Tube station goes step-free with two new lifts Mayor Watch

The tube station that no longer takes cash Diamond Geezer

TfL plans to shut the Bakerloo line over the May bank holiday have angered narrowboat afficionados. Ham & High

A teenage Iraqi asylum seeker who planted the Parsons Green Tube bomb has had a bid to challenge his conviction rejected. BBC News

Elizabeth line / Crossrail

Crossrail is burning through £30m a week, potentially pushing the new £17.6bn train line further over budget, according to a KPMG report Financial Times (£)

Crossrail only has 80% chance of hitting new budget, report says Building

Transport chiefs have revealed the crisis-hit Crossrail line has no chance of opening this year — and they have no idea when it will. Evening Standard

Mainline / Overground

Building work on a new station for Kidbrooke is now well underway with foundations in place Murky Depths

Rail passengers are facing travel chaos on a major rail route into one of London’s busiest stations after overhead electric wires were damaged. Evening Standard

Delays in delivering new trains to London Overground’s Gospel Oak to Barking line means that travellers will be offered a month’s free travel in compensation. IanVisits

Southeastern train passengers ‘passed out’ after heating turned up in cold snap Evening Standard

This Christmas, Battersea Pier junction became the latest focus of intense activity as it was renewed over an 11-day blockade. Rail Engineer 

Heathrow Express has announced it has been named top of the passenger satisfaction tables Rail Advent

Miscellaneous

A man was left with life-changing injuries when he was kicked and stamped on by a gang at Oxford Circus Tube station. LBC

To mark the 150th anniversary of the opening of District line, steam trains will once more ply the route. IanVisits

Drawings from the National Rail archive: London Charing Cross

12 Great Bars In London’s Railway Arches Londonist

‘I was charged £700 extra using contactless on the tube’ – don’t be caught out Money Saving Expert

A Highgate man has just completed a charity run of more than 500km along every tube line in London Ham & High

And finally, Fire used to melt ice on Chicago train tracks BBC News

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Image above is from Sept 2014: Passengers evacuated from Heathrow Express train

from IanVisits http://bit.ly/2RvCg5r