Latest news with #TransportforLondon
Yahoo
20 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Urgent action demanded over 'insane number' of buses speeding in Catford street
A woman has demanded urgent action over the 'insane number' of buses speeding down her narrow Catford street. Alison Howard, who lives in Sandhurst Road, said she was worried somebody would eventually be killed if Transport for London (TfL) bus services did not slow down. Freedom of Information (FoI) data suggests that there have been more than 17,000 incidents of speeding buses in the street since 2021, some of which may have been travelling at more than double the 20mph speed limit. TfL also confirmed that there have been 85 crashes involving buses over the last four years. This data includes crashes in neighbouring Sangley Road which shares the same bus routes. The stretch currently supports four bus routes in each direction, as well as a night service, meaning it's a common occurrence for buses to thunder past homes throughout the day and night. Pictures shared with the News Shopper by Safer Sandhurst & Sangley campaign group appear to show that multiple cars and buses have been damaged in the crashes. READ MORE - Neighbours have asked TfL to reroute bus services (Image: Safer Sandhurst & Sangley) 'It's an insane number of buses speeding and they routinely hit cars,' Ms Howard said. 'Someone is eventually going to get killed because there's not great visibility on the road because there's cars on either side. 'We're not allowed to have dropped kerbs in front of our houses anymore so there's not really any option to park your car elsewhere. 'You just have to risk the consequences if you choose to park your car near your house.' In total, 3,700 buses pass along the two streets every day. According to TfL, one incident in September 2022 resulted in an injury, but all other crashes were damage-only. It also said that the speeding data comes from iBus technology which can be impacted by GPS tracking errors or vehicle faults and is used only for general monitoring purposes. 'An additional set of data which measures speed of buses more precisely is used by bus operators,' Philip Gerhardt, TfL's Head of Bus Performance, said. According to TfL, operator Stagecoach has found that this data suggests that the amount of speeding incident has 'significantly' reduced, and that only a 'small number' of breaches were recorded in April. Mr Gerhardt added: 'We continue to work with bus operators to ensure that appropriate action is taken against any driver found to be breaking the speed limit.' Local people have also raised concerns that heavy buses shake the Victorian houses in the area when they drive over speed bumps in the road. One mum previously told the News Shopper that these vibrations felt like a 'mini earthquake' and had caused cracks in her walls. READ MORE - Ms Howard added: 'The speedbumps clearly aren't really doing their job in terms of slowing the traffic. 'We have asked Lewisham Council for a chicane instead but ideally we want the bus services rerouted.' She suggested that Brownhill Road, a main road that runs parallel to her street, would be better suited for the bus routes, especially the 160 which uses heavy electric double-deckers. TfL claimed it had previously investigated 'all possible options' for the two streets, including alternative route options. But it said it had not pressed ahead with changes after deciding that these would result in a 'significant worsening' of bus services for a large number of passengers in the wider area. Lewisham Council has been approached for a response.
Glasgow Times
6 days ago
- Glasgow Times
London Underground and Overground closures: July 18
The changes will see some stations closed or partly closed for TfL to carry out essential work. So you don't get caught out by the changes, we've broken down a list of all the work on the London Underground, Overground and Elizabeth Line this weekend. To get the most up-to-date stats for the Underground, you can use the TfL app or website. What's your go-to Tube line, and why is it your favourite? 👇 — TfL (@TfL) June 3, 2025 London Tube and Overground closures this weekend Friday, July 18 Suffragette: Friday 18 July, the 0618 Barking Riverside to Gospel Oak train is revised to start from Barking, platform 1, at 0624. Tram: Monday 14 until Tuesday 22 July, no service between Reeves Corner and East Croydon. From 2230 Sunday 13 until Sunday 27 July, no service between Arena and Elmers End. This is due to planned engineering work. Cutty Sark station: The Station is closed until spring 2026 while they replace all four escalators at the station. Roding Valley station: From Tuesday, May 6 until the end of July 2025, westbound trains (towards Woodford) will not stop at the station, and the footbridge will be closed. Saturday, July 19 District: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July, no service between Earls Court and Ealing Broadway / Richmond. DLR: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July, no service between Bank / Tower Gateway and Canning Town / Lewisham, or between Stratford and Canary Wharf. Piccadilly: Saturday 19 July, between 0100 and 0430 approximately, no service on the entire line. Tram: Monday 14 until Tuesday 22 July, no service between Reeves Corner and East Croydon. Waterloo & City line: Service operates between 0600 and 0030, Monday to Friday only. There is no service on Saturdays, Sundays and on bank/public holidays. Windrush: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July, no service between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction / Battersea Park. Cutty Sark station: The Station is closed until spring 2026, while all four escalators at the station are being replaced. Roding Valley station: From Tuesday, May 6 until the end of July 2025, the westbound trains (towards Woodford) will not stop at the station, and the footbridge will be closed. @tfl Historic maps, signs, and vehicles? We have them all 🤩 Join us at the London Transport Museum Depot open days from 6 – 8 June and 18 – 21 September! Book now on London Transport Museum's website 🔗 ♬ original sound - Transport for London Sunday, July 20 District: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July, no service between Earls Court and Ealing Broadway / Richmond. We track your journeys and cap them, so you never spend more than you need to 👏 For more info on how TfL's daily cap benefits you, visit: — TfL (@TfL) May 29, 2025 DLR: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July, no service between Bank / Tower Gateway and Canning Town / Lewisham, or between Stratford and Canary Wharf. Mildmay: Sunday 20 July, no service between Clapham Junction and Willesden Junction. Piccadilly: Saturday 19 July, from 0430 approximately, and all day Sunday 20 July (including Saturday Night Tube), no service between Kings Cross St Pancras and Heathrow (all terminals) / Uxbridge. Tram: Monday 14 until Tuesday 22 July, no service between Reeves Corner and East Croydon. Recommended Reading Waterloo & City line: Service operates between 0600 and 0030, Monday to Friday only. There is no service on Saturdays, Sundays and on bank/public holidays. Windrush: Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 July, no service between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction / Battersea Park. Cutty Sark station: The Station is closed until spring 2026, while they replace all four escalators at the station. Roding Valley station: From Tuesday, May 6 until the end of July 2025, westbound trains (towards Woodford) will not stop at the station, and the footbridge will be closed.
Mint
7 days ago
- Climate
- Mint
The London Tube ‘feels like hell.' Efforts to cool it just make it hotter.
A century ago, the London Underground wooed passengers during the summer with the promise it was 'cooler below." That seems like a cruel joke today. 'It genuinely feels like hell down there," said Hussein Zaaiter, a London-based student. 'It's a free sauna on the Central line," he joked, referring to one of the Tube's hottest train lines. Riding the Tube during the summer has long been an unpleasant, sweaty experience. The bad news for Londoners is that the Tube isn't just hot, it's getting hotter. And figuring out how to cool it down presents challenges that air conditioning can't easily fix. Engineers have spent decades trying everything from industrial fans to giant blocks of ice to temper the sweltering subterranean climate, but a remedy remains elusive. Heat has been steadily building below the surface ever since the world's oldest underground transportation system opened in 1863. Across all lines, average temperatures increased by 1 to 3 degrees Celsius over the past 10 years, according to measurements from Transport for London. Summer temperatures on the Tube now regularly exceed 30 degrees Celsius, or 86 degrees Fahrenheit, the legal limit for transporting cattle, pigs and sheep in the U.K. The temperature at the surface doesn't really affect the temperature in the tube. Throughout the summer, the tube maintains a fairly constant 86 degrees, while the surface wobbles between lows in the 50s at night and as high as 104 degrees during the day. The busy Central Line is one of the transit system's deeper lines, where narrow tunnels have made it difficult to add air conditioning to trains. Zaaiter has ridden the Paris Metro and the New York subway, but 'it's never as bad," he said. For Verity Walker, a musical-theater actress in London, the heat underground has a habit of sticking with her. 'I'm turning up to auditions, and I'm worried I smell," she said. 'The price should be decreased in the summer because of the conditions." Climate activists turned the Tube into their personal sauna, riding around the city in their bathrobes and hair towels to raise awareness about the heat. Experts pin the Tube's hot mess on its tight Victorian-era tunnels, which restrict air circulation, especially on deeper lines. Moreover, London's bedrock is composed of a dense, stiff clay that absorbs and retains warmth. Every day, friction from accelerating and braking trains generates more heat. Even carelessly discarded newspapers obstruct air vents behind seats and trap hot air in train cars, exacerbating the problem. In 2003, then-Mayor of London Ken Livingston launched a competition with a £100,000 prize for a tunnel-cooling solution, or about $159,500 at the time. Of the 3,400 entries, many simply suggested riders not wear clothes. Other proposals included handing out Popsicles or putting up pictures of snowmen. No practical designs emerged, and the competition was closed in 2005. Since then, TfL has spent millions of pounds on initiatives to beat the heat. Early attempts included placing large blocks of ice in refrigeration units under train seats, where the thawing ice would cool air passing over it. Groundwater was also tapped to try to cool the tunnels. Industrial fans were installed at stations. Even after the TfL discovered they slightly increased temperatures because of the heat generated by the motors, the fans remained. Surveys indicated the fast-flowing air made people feel more comfortable. 'It always perplexed me that boffins could produce mobile phones the size of a credit card yet passengers would emerge dripping with sweat from Tube trains," Boris Johnson said in 2018 during his stint as mayor. Air conditioning has now been added to roughly 40% of London Underground trains, but it is hard to install on the smaller, deeper Tube lines. It also isn't a panacea. AC simply moves heat from one place to another, so while trains may get cooler, platforms and tunnels get hotter. Engineering experts have proposed various solutions, all to cool reception. Ideas included regenerative braking, where heat from brakes is recovered to use as energy for trains or stations; improved ventilation systems; energy-efficient construction materials; and smart sensor networks to monitor and regulate temperatures in real time. Even successful solutions, such as using heat pumps to remove excess heat, have proved tricky to employ across the vast network. One London borough uses the excess heat from the local Tube station to warm nearby homes, but expanding the program faces logistical and funding challenges. A citywide heat network is at least a decade away. TfL, noting the 'stop-start nature of funding," says it's focused on areas that provide the greatest relief to passengers. Next year, after several delays, it plans to finally introduce the first air-conditioned trains on a deep tunnel Tube line. They will still fit along the Piccadilly line thanks to the AC being placed under the trains, a design that took years to master. TfL said it is also exploring the possibility of cooling panels, subject to funding. While the heat makes journeys uncomfortable for passengers, it's a prolonged punishment for staff—even with the cooling systems in drivers' cabs. Tube bosses have been encouraging train drivers to drink more water, but union organizer Finn Brennan says that's an impractical solution. 'With more water, we need the toilet more," he said, adding that drivers are often on a strict schedule with limited breaks. 'This isn't a situation that will get better." With London enduring repeated summer heat waves, some train workers are planning a 'heat strike" if temperatures rise above 96.8 degrees. TfL has sought to reassure the public, saying it has 'a comprehensive hot weather plan in place" to get through the summer. Its enduring advice: 'Please carry water with you." Write to Anvee Bhutani at
BBC News
15-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Sound artwork launched at London Waterloo Tube station
A sound artwork has been installed at Waterloo London Underground station by Transport for London (TfL).Rory Pilgrim's 10-minute Go Find Miracles, which combines music and spoken word, partly written by prisoners, will play along the moving walkway connecting the Jubilee and Northern lines on weekdays until 25 July.A collaboration with the Feminist Library in Peckham, the Prison Choir Project and the Mayor of London's culture and community spaces at risk programme, it reflects London's links to Pinfield, head of Art on the Underground, said: "Pilgrim's collaborative approach has brought together voices from London and Portland to consider the miraculous in the everyday." The Dorset Isle of Portland's stone is the material used to build many well-known London buildings, including the headquarters of TfL and the BBC, as well as Waterloo station in an underground quarry and on a disused Jubilee line platform, Go Find Miracles explores how the law impacts our lives and environment and is structured around a prayer of call and response between London and lyrics and melodies of the work have partly been written together with men from HMP/YOI Upton, neurodiversity support manager at HMP/YOI Portland, said: "This has been an inspiring experience for both staff and prisoners. "We're looking forward to seeing it come to life on the Underground."
Metro
14-07-2025
- General
- Metro
Inside the fight against graffiti on trains across the UK's railways
To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video We've all been there, haven't we? You're sat there, minding your business on a platform, waiting for your train to pull up when suddenly it arrives – covered in tags, markings and signatures. Some people are unbothered about it, while others have said it makes them 'feel like they're in Gotham city' or branded it as a 'complete eyesore' which leaves people feeling unsafe. It's a growing problem. Last month, Transport for London said it was removing about 3,000 pieces of graffiti each week on the Central and Bakerloo Tube lines alone. While the UK railways have other issues – delays, cancellations and an ageing infrastructure being some of them – graffiti is also continuing to plague train bosses. So, how are they tackling the problem? Metro was invited along to a train depot to see how staff at South Western Railway – the UK's fourth busiest operator – clean the trains in London. Despite the UK's scorching heatwave this week, the grunt work continues at the SWR Wimbledon maintenance depot around the clock, 365 days a year. Temperatures soared to 30°C as we entered the depot area on Thursday as workers continue to clean up the trains ahead of the Wimbledon final matches this week. Inside the covered area, nicknamed 'the shed,' a group of men were seen working away in protective suits, with the heady smell of cleaning chemicals filling the air. As punters were enjoying tennis matches less than two miles away, train presentation operative Jeff Asiedu explained how his stomach sinks every time a graffitied train rolls in. 'It's been a tough one because today is very, very hot. But we got on with it and make it look good,' he said. 'Sometimes you get very serious graffiti from top to bottom. Most of the time, it is not easy to remove it, but we try as much as we can to get it done.' When a train rolls in covered in graffiti, Jeff just wants it 'off the unit' as quickly as possible. He added the graffiti levels tend to peak when kids are on their holidays and get bored at home. 'After you've got it done, you feel so proud – you get a buzz. The end result is very important,' he said. 'It is a team effort.' In recent years, their task has become even harder with new, higher-quality spray paints. Scrubbing one carriage clean of tags usually takes about an hour, and if all carriages are affected, it can take an entire day. How it works is the team sprays on a chemical that breaks down the paint. It is so strong they have to be careful not to corrode the body of the train. Charlie Hatcher, the head of train presentation at SWR, told Metro they work on small sections at a time, making it a fairly significant task. 'Workers have to wear safety equipment too, which, on a day like this when it's 30 degrees, makes it an even more laborious task for them,' Charlie added. Other train cleaning leads across the UK have told him at meetings that they have seen a spike in graffiti across the whole country in recent months too. 'We're seeing that spike and we need to keep on top of it, and we need to keep the graffiti levels down, and we are going to try to keep cleaning that graffiti as regularly as possible,' Charlie said. 'We will be bringing extra security measures in place, such as CCTV cameras and extra security, to make sure we limit that from the very start.' Graffiti painters face severe risks when breaking into the tracks, including the dangerous, high-voltage third rail carrying 750 volts, which can easily kill. A sinister type of vandalism called acid etching has also recently emerged, where a corrosive acid pen is used to edge tags on the train's interior surfaces. Contact with a fresh etching before the substance is cleaned could cause skin irritation and even burns. South Western Railway was the first train company to be renationalised in May. Now that it is back under public ownership, vandalism will directly cost the taxpayer too, the firm said. This is because the renationalised train companies will be owned and run by a government-linked company instead of a privately owned firm maximising profits and paying dividends to its shareholders. South Western Railway, which saw 165.6 million passengers between April 2024 and March 2025, faces its busiest season in the summer as thousands travel to the iconic British summer events. It recorded around 80,000 more people during Royal Ascot in June, while the Wimbledon Championships saw an extra 100,000 passengers. Twickenham rugby games meanwhile add an extra 40,000 passengers. More Trending But which fans leave the biggest mess behind? Comparing the level of mess was 'tricky' as there are also music festival passengers to consider, Charlie said. 'I would say Ascot has a larger proportion of prosecco bottles and beer cans than you might see for the Wimbledon goers, who are maybe saving their Pimm's for a bit later when they get to the tennis,' he said. 'But we do see definitely a heightened level of rubbish and other impacts on the train during the Ascot week and during Twickenham for the rugby matches during the autumn and Six Nations as well.' Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@ For more stories like this, check our news page. MORE: 'Pole hogging' is the latest Tube habit tormenting commuters on the London Underground MORE: Amazon driver killed after London-bound train strikes van 'trapped in level crossing' MORE: Stevie Wonder called London to say he loves us last night – and the feeling is mutual
