Return of steam on the Underground

30587 in steam at Baker Street Station

It isn't every night you get the chance to do this!

Last night we carried out a test designed to demonstrate the feasibility of running a steam locomotive on the London Underground for its 150th anniversary in 2013.

Locomotive Met no 1 and the Metropolitan first class 'Jubilee' coach 353 are currently being restored and fundraising is underway. Restoration of both vehicles is progressing and the London Transport Museum is overseeing both the fundraising and the restoration projects.

To have a working steam locomotive on the Underground presents significant challenges and last night after end of traffic a special train undertook some proving runs. Beattie 30587 was the steam locomotive used. It is owned by the National Railway Museum and was built in 1874. It was coupled to 1923 Metropolitan Electric loco 'Sarah Siddons' which provided a viewing platform, and between two battery locomotives and wagons carrying water and coal.

It left Lillie Bridge depot after 0100 and ran from Earl's Court at 0135 via the District line to Edgware Road. After a stop it then proceeded to Baker Street. At Baker Street the loco was run with protracted steam venting whilst heat and smoke levels in the station were tested. Later it shunted east to west and ran back to Edgware Road. Other trains - composed of S stock and C77 stock - ran around the steam loco train testing the effect on passing trains. With the tests complete the train ran back to Lillie Bridge via Earl's Court.

All went very well. But the sight and sound of a steam locomotive on the Underground was pure magic. It is, of course some 40 years since there was any steam propulsion on the Underground and then of course for engineering/permanent way reasons. The last passenger train hauled by steam here was in 1905.

A truly historic night out!

See the YouTube video http://youtu.be/i33KnnY6e24

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Crossrail

Some of the major physical manifestations of Crossrail are now very visible.

Last week I was able to go and see the first of the Tunnel Boring Machines which is currently being (re-)assembled at the Royal Oak portal. You can easily see it from  the Great Western Main Line and it is on the site of the old Westbourne Park Bus Garage Base.

Constructed by Harrenknecht AG these eight machines are the 'Rolls Royce' of TBMs. At £10m each they weigh 1000 tonnes. They are a moving factory, digging their way through the earth at the front and pressing into place the tunnel segments at the rear. Next month this machine will be pushed into place and the drive to Farringdon (Drive X) will start. Behind it a second machine will be delivered from Tilbury Docks to start work on the second tunnel.

In time further machines will start from near Canning Town in the opposite direction towards Farringdon (Drive Y), and two more from Pudding Mill Lane to Stepney Green. Lastly two TBMs will dig from Plumstead to North Woolwich.

The scale of the machine can be seen from the photo - the external diameter is 7.1m - and that's me on the right.

Across at Paddington this weekend the taxicab road on the west side of the station has been closed for the last time. This area forms part of the Crossrail station. The associated side entrances to the station are also closed at this time as is Eastbourne Terrace. Originally it was envisaged that this road would remain open in a limited way but it was discovered that this would double the length of time needed so a two year complete closure has been agreed. All bus routes have ben diverted.

A new drop off and pick up area has been fashioned on the east side of the station. and this photo shows it in the last stages of construction earlier this week. Access is from the Bishops Bridge - it was build ready to accept the new connecting road. The centre of gravity of the station thus moves very much towards the Grand Union canal.

Later this year further changes at Paddington will be made to deal with the significant numbers of Olympic Games family members arriving and departing on the Heathrow Express.






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Snow

I hope Mark Kehoe doesn't mind me using this photo
from last night in Whitehall

This is a tribute to the many hundreds of our people who have worked day and night this weekend to keep London moving.

From the news you might have thought there had been a major catastrophe and some significant neglect.

So, for the record, we knew the snow was coming from the excellent weather forecasts we get and we were prepared. This includes extensive stocks of grit for the roads and teams ready to spread it. We are working closely with our colleagues in TfL and at the Highways Agency, National Rail, BAA and so on.

So before the snow arrived gritting was underway and this includes bus routes and access to garages. It did come down in London quite quickly but in general we kept services moving. Towards the end of the night some suburban roads became impassable - not just due to snow but due to abandoned or accident-damaged vehicles.

On the Underground the outer ends of the Central and Jubilee lines became blocked but even at midnight 91% of the service was running. Bus and rail staff kept going to the end of service. During the night de-icing trains ran and the night bus network operated broadly as usual. Again some outer London issues meant there were some diversions and curtailments.

Gritting was repeated during the night. But the issue here is that grit needs to be moved about to be effective and on Sunday mornings traffic is very light. As a result it took a while for its melting properties to take effect. Nevertheless at 0630 all of London's major roads were open as were most of the other roads in Central London and the suburbs.

As London Underground opened up its service there were again some troubles in the more exposed areas but all services came on stream well, as did the Docklands Light Railway after technical hitch at the start.

As I said on BBC Radio and LBC today London was 'open for business' and whether you were travelling on buses, trains, or in your car provided you gave yourself a little more time you could carry on as normal today.

During the day most of the snow turned to slush and so in case temperatures fell below freezing and turned to black ice the gritters were back out late afternoon and during Sunday night.

The media did its best to portray this as poorly planned. In fact the effects were minimised by the great work by hundreds of people. The bus drivers, train operators, station staff, gritting gangs and back office people who worked throughout to keep things going, keep them open and get the message out to London.

The media might have looked everywhere for someone to blame but without any luck. All our people did an outstanding job and that includes those who work for our extended family of contractors of course.

Thank you all for everything you did and as a result we are looking forward to as near normal Monday morning peak hour as we could have hoped for.


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A last look at LT1 before it enters service.

In this photo LT1 shows the other destination panel on the 'launch' set
which featured on Wrightbus' Christmas Card in 2011

Exclusively here for my readers is a unique photograph of the first prototype New Bus for London LT1 after its London launch alongside its predecessor the Engineering Test Vehicle. The latter has been at Millbrook for testing since the Spring and has now been joined by LT1 for its own testing prior to its entry into service at the end of February on route 38.

Testing continues to go extremely well and the vehicles are delivering exceptional fuel economy and lower emissions than we had expected.

Delivery of LT2 is imminent and the entire prototype fleet will be in service by Spring.

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Happy Christmas

It does seem like a time to set the record straight.

After a tremendous launch of the New Bus for London, the media and some enthusiasts got themselves really excited about the sight of LT1 on the hard shoulder of the M1 last Monday.

Yes it was there - it was on it way to Millbrook for completion of handover testing and pre-delivery preparations.

The truth is that we had already learned from the delivery journey that a non-stop motorway journey can discharge the batteries and force the need for a stop to enable them to recover. And when it is in normal use the engine switches itself off whenever it has enough battery power.

So the precautionary stop on the M1 was no real surprise and it did take a while to discover that it wasn't clever electronic wizardry that caused the engine to stop but lack of fuel. Simple human error which has its roots in the care Arriva took to keep the bus safe whilst in London.

There have been some wonderful wild stories about illegal activity, lack of proper project management, and the driver's exposure to prosecution. Rather more simply it ran out of fuel, we put some more in, and off it went.

For those who chose to capitalise on this - just to say, it took seven years from authorisation of the Routemaster (1947) to prototype (1954). We have done this in less than half that.

It took two more years to get RM1 into service and even then it had numerous problems requiring a gearbox change, attention to subframe cracks, exceptional front brake temperatures and excessive tyre wear - all within the first six months.

We will have LT1 in service in less than two months.....


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LT1

The media pursues Boris Johnson as he takes a short walk
as LT1 pauses on Westminster Bridge for a special photo

Today was the day that LT1, the first passenger-ready prototype New Bus for London, was launched in Trafalgar Square.

LT1 was delivered from Wrights' Ballymena factory on Tuesday. It ventured out for some radio testing earlier this week but at 0630 this morning it was parked, in the dark, outside City Hall. From 0700 LBC's Nick Ferrari broadcast his morning show from it, interviewing a number of key people including the Mayor.

As Nick's show ended at 1000 LBC's team swiftly removed all of the broadcast equipment and handed the bus back. It was promptly manoeuvred so a position where now, in daylight, it could be seen against Tower Bridge.

At this point the Mayor, Boris Johnson, announced he wanted to drive it again (he did so in Ballymena a few weeks ago). So within the precincts of Potters Field he moved it down to Tooley Street. He was keen to take it on the road but was persuaded otherwise.

So he handed it to me and I took it from City Hall, via Tooley Street and Stamford Street to Westminster Bridge. Three of my elite team of Metropolitan Police motorcyclists from the Safer Transport Command based with TfL escorted us.

Here we had arranged a particular photograph with the Houses of Parliament in the background. Photographs done I handed the bus in turn to Commissioner Peter Hendy who took it via Whitehall and onto Trafalgar Square where the main media were waiting.

From then on it was a constant stream of media interviews and demonstrations of the features of the bus.

I had warned people not to read too much into the registration shown at the Ballymena event recently. LT1 has its own "LT61"registration which will grace the further seven prototypes as well.

As those who have seen will know, the bus is built to an exciting modern design but with many acknowledgements to the Routemaster. The maroon interior, Indian Red wheels, Treadmaster flooring and shallow windows all offer a nod to the last bus specifically designed for London.

After that it is bristling with new features - it is basically an electric bus with a small engine to extend its range. (Several times during my journey was the engine off entirely whilst we ran on battery power).

And down to the smallest detail, its bell pushes are wireless so the miles of wiring associated with multiple hand pole buttons are eliminated.

The bus handles beautifully. It has an excellent turning circle, there are no rattles or similar noises, and accelerates and brakes very smoothly. The tight exit from City Hall onto a narrowed-by-roadworks Tooley Street was easily done.

We have already announced that from 20th February the first couple of LTs will enter service on route 38, operated by Arriva. Crew operation with full open boarding will be provided during the day. It will run on a conventional signal person operation basis at other times. The remaining vehicles will progressively join this group and all will be in use by Spring.

We already know from testing that the bus is delivering better fuel efficiency and lower emissions than expected. These new vehicles will make a positive contribution to London's bus fleet and although no fare paying passengers have yet been carried, the hundreds of visitors today at Trafalgar Square were almost completely positive in their reaction.

From inside LT1 The Mayor talks to a huge group
of media all anxious to learn more. 

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UK Bus Awards

Photo from Mark Howarth of
Western Greyhound.
I know since he posted it on Facebook
he won't mind me using it here!

Yesterday was the UK Bus Awards - its 16th year and I have been to all of them. How it has grown since it was a small event in the City of London to now a full house in the Ballroom of the Hilton Hotel in Park Lane.

For the first time in many years Stephanie Flanders (daughter of one of my personal heroes Michael) and news anchor for BBC's Newsnight was unable to be the compare since it was of course a highly charged political day. Jane Hill, also from BBC News, took her place.

Minister for Transport Norman Baker was able to announce new initiatives for air quality improvements in London with TfL and another £30m Green Bus funding to continue to promote hybrid vehicles.

Former Minister Gillian Merron, now Chairman of Bus Users UK handed out the prizes and I was privileged to announce the winners for London Bus Garage of the Year (First's Lea Interchange) and be part of the Luke Rees-Pulley Award for the Top London Bus driver, Gary Jones from London United at Fulwell.

The UK Bus Awards celebrates success and the achievements of individuals and companies. The judges had some difficult choices to make. As usual Trent Barton were up there with the winners and Roger French of Brighton and Hove was rightly given the award for services to the bus industry.

A great event and by the time we are together again next year, the Olympics will have come and gone!

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