London Reconnections
londonreconnections.com · Group blog · on HN since 2012
London Reconnections is a blog on London transport, covering Crossrail, rail operations, and the policy behind them, written in depth by volunteers.
What HN saysCommenters cite it as a detailed source, calling its Kings Cross Christmas 2015 piece a must-read on project management and contingency planning.
45HN people shared it
23linked it in comments
42stories submitted
896story points
10 months agolast shared
2012people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1Understanding Uber: It's Not About the App4 people · 221 points · first shared 2017 · 242 comments on HN
- 2Know When to Run: The Story Behind the Xmas Kings Cross Problems3 people · 119 points · first shared 2015 · 13 comments on HN
- 3The Ninety Second Railway3 people · 1 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 4Homepage3 people · first shared 2016
- 5Crossrail: The End of the Beginning2 people · 85 points · first shared 2015 · 11 comments on HN
- 6The myth of the driverless tube train2 people · 66 points · first shared 2021 · 143 comments on HN
- 7The Purple Elephant in the Room: Crossrail’s Opening Date2 people · 50 points · first shared 2022 · 34 comments on HN
- 8Soviet fleet on the Thames (2020)2 people · 48 points · first shared 2022 · 23 comments on HN
- 9The Rise and Fall of a Vision: Wrightbus Enters Administration2 people · 30 points · first shared 2019 · 52 comments on HN
- 10You Hacked: Cyber-security and the Railways (2017)2 people · 20 points · first shared 2021 · 2 comments on HN
- 11Schrodinger’s Cab Firm: Uber’s Existential Crisis2 people · 3 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 12Transport for London: The Impossible of Finances of Fighting a Pandemic2 people · 3 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 13A Legacy of Iron: Crossrail, Connaught and WW22 people · 1 points · first shared 2012 · discussion on HN
- 14IKEA’s Crimes Against Cartography1 people · 163 points · first shared 2022 · 179 comments on HN
- 15The DNA of a London Underground Station1 people · 35 points · first shared 2015 · 26 comments on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
gerjomarty · 2024-07-11
By most accounts the Elizabeth line in its operational phase has been a great success.
According to the ORR's (Office of Road and Rail) first annual report after opening the central section of the Elizabeth line, passenger numbers have exceeded their "post-pandemic optimistic scenario" and the line is on course to be revenue-positive within a few years.
More details in this London Reconnections post here: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2023/the-state-of-rail-breaking-do…
zeristor · 2022-09-13
This is but part 1, there is a follow up article too:
Capitalist hydrofoils strike back! (Part 2):
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2020/capitalist-hydrofoils-strike-…
KaiserPro · 2021-05-20
The timetables bit is key here.
the reason a lot of services failed so horribly in 2018/2019 was because as OP pointed out, greyling fucked up the timetabling.
Not only that, they decided to pick a fight with the unions on southern rail, which turned out to end in a messy stalemate.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/ has some good references.
avianlyric · 2020-06-11
That’s interesting, I wonder how that interacts with the Greater London Authority Act, the legislation that give TfL its authority, and determines it obligations.
Unfortunately I can’t find exact line in that act that outlines TfL obligations, but this article[1] quotes TfL’s CFO making this statement with regards to TfL obligations and it funding:
> I think it will shock everybody, if you are to read the GLA Act, just what our minimum statutory obligations are as a transport authority. It does not include running a Tube service. It includes running a minimal bus service for children living more than two miles away from their school.
[1] https://www.londonreconnections.com/2020/tfl-the-impossible-finances-o…
monkeyprojects · 2017-09-25
If anyone is in project management the story about Kings Cross at Christmas 2015 is must read article on how what seems like the best contingency plans can go wrong https://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-ki…
jsingleton · 2016-05-10
You probably mean this: http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/crossrail-documentary-the-fifteen-bill…
Not on iPlayer any more but you can buy it on DVD if your don't think tunnelling is boring. :)
http://www.londonreconnections.com is also a detailed resource.
andrewaylett · 2025-02-07
Meanwhile, in places with sensible rules about taxis and private hire, the only thing that Uber did was make it easier for people to break the rules. And rack up an enormous tax bill that they somehow believed they'd be able to get out of paying.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2021/uber-loses-appeal-against-rul…
chx · 2024-05-07
That's cool.
Sometimes... it doesn't work out.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/know-run-story-behind-xmas-ki…
eynsham · 2024-04-10
This misses the main benefit of HS2 which is making the network as a whole more efficient by eliminating bottlenecks. When people say ‘we should improve regional rail services’, they ignore that HS2 is what that looks like. And, frankly, if HS2 doesn’t reach Euston, it’s nearly cancelled for many Londoners due to the inconvenience.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2023/hs2-a-high-speed-beeching/
Symbiote · 2023-12-20
It's nothing to do with bombs, that's just a conspiracy theory.
There's some explanation here — power, space, time and cost were all issues: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2023/deep-inside-bringing-mobile-p…
The wifi is available if you have a British SIM from a major network, there are also locals who can't use it.
ano-ther · 2023-11-21
rwmj · 2022-12-18
Right, disproving my own point, this is a good article: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2021/the-political-myth-of-the-dri…
cricalix · 2022-08-21
London Reconnections has some articles on the subject, including how the term has basically become a political football.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2021/the-political-myth-of-the-dri…
bobthepanda · 2022-06-17
Paris runs an 85 second headway on Line 14, >40TPH. https://web.archive.org/web/20061019140333/http://references.transport…
London runs 36 TPH on the Victoria Line: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/ninety-second-railway-making-…
JazCE · 2019-11-25
It's from 2017, but this is still relevant: https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/understanding-uber-not-app/
earnubs · 2019-10-24
> In 2018 it reported a loss of £1.7m, citing a difficult UK bus market and near non-existent overseas sales aggravated by Brexit.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2019/the-rise-and-fall-of-a-vision…
> It [Church set up by Jeff Wright] received more than £15m from the firm in recent years, most of which was donated while the group was profitable.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-49869944
I'm sure someone smarter than me can explain how Brexit was the cause of Wright's downfall, especially given Brexit hasn't happened.
spiralx · 2018-05-23
> London's Victoria Line now runs at up to 36 trains per hour, a train every 100 seconds.
And have thinking about pushing it even further for quite a while now.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/ninety-second-railway-making-…
_Codemonkeyism · 2017-09-25
It looks like this is not the case,
"It is also this setup that also allows Uber to pay what their critics say is less than their ‘fair share’ of tax – Uber pays no VAT and, last year, only paid £411,000 in Corporation Tax."
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/understanding-uber-not-app/
zimpenfish · 2017-09-25
> Considering that you can easily report the behaviour of a Uber driver I can believe it.
Reporting an Uber driver doesn't necessarily mean any action is taken.
https://www.londonreconnections.com/2017/understanding-uber-not-app/ has a story about a driver committing a sexual assault, being reported to Uber who didn't report it to the police -or- fire him, and he went on to commit another which Uber -also- didn't report to the police.
> In total, Uber had failed to report six sexual assaults, two public order offences and one assault to the police. This had lead to delays of up to 7 months before they were investigated.
This is why MetPol are arguing strongly against licensing Uber.
ropiku · 2016-09-28
That's a totally separate idea and won't be done anytime soon. From what I read Camden Town station would need to be rebuilt and plus a lot of other upgrade works: http://www.londonreconnections.com/2013/we-need-to-talk-about-camden/
Animats · 2016-05-14
There was much early enthusiasm for pneumatic propulsion, and some lines were built. London had a working system, the London Pneumatic Dispatch Railway, 1865.[1] It could carry passengers, but was really for mailbags. Unfortunately, the elevator hadn't been invented yet, and getting the mailbags up from track level to post office level quickly was a bottleneck. Also, the system leaked air at many points. (Good rubber gaskets are quite modern - oil resistant rubber (Neoprene) dates from WWII. Early systems used oiled leather. There were many early pneumatic and steam powered ideas that didn't work because gaskets and piston rings weren't good enough yet.)
[1] http://www.londonreconnections.com/2015/londons-lost-pneumatic-railway…
arethuza · 2013-07-12
On that subject, unexploded ordnance (UXO) is a real danger for the Crossrail tunnels deep under London:
http://www.londonreconnections.com/2012/a-legacy-of-iron-crossrail-con…