BLOGS
December 16 A work of art
Crossrail’s commitment to making London a more beautiful,
as
well as accessible, city should be applauded.
Turning stations into art galleries,
using natural
light to transform concourses,
and better
public realm plans are all commitments to making huge construction works culturally valuable.
Even the press images regularly updated on Crossrail’s website are amazing. The photography really captures the gigantic scale that they are working to; the eerie tunnels and the incredible aerial
shots of stations as they grow.
Approaching big works in such a way disproves the idea that building a new railway only brings disruption and dust. The impact
very valuable indeed.
December 2 Taking it seriously
© Crossrail Ltd
on public perception, and thus tolerance, of construction could be
The new national scheme to tackle unwanted sexual behaviour on the railway should be widely welcomed. BTP offi cers will be present on stations and on board trains to raise public awareness; all reports of harassment will be taken seriously. Following on from the success of Project Guardian in London, this initiative will help passengers across the country to feel safer when they travel.
As well as the police presence, is there more that individual train operators can do to target sexual harassment on their services and at their stations?
November 28 Money unspent
The ORR’s latest report raises some important points about Network Rail’s approach to the railway.
Reducing work overruns and timely renewals of infrastructure are already well-known to cause delays, and Network Rail is taking steps to improve this.
But the amount of underspend on maintenance and asset renewal – two of the growing causes of infrastructure failure and delay – suggests that there is far more the company could do. This funding
i 16 | rail technology magazine Dec/Jan 14 More blogs like this at:
www.railtechnologymagazine.com/ the-sleepers-daily-blog
is currently doing nothing, despite Network Rail continuing to miss performance targets. Why isn’t this money being used to drive improvements?
As the funding for CP5 is agreed, this is a question Network Rail must provide an answer to.
November 21 Invisible staff
The new plans for the Tube provide a signifi cantly ambitious vision for the future. 24-hour services would be a huge step up for public transport in the capital.
But the issue under scrutiny for many commentators is the number of station closures and job losses. You can talk about “more visible staff” at stations as much as you like, but this is just a distraction from all the other staff who will face redundancy.
It’s the familiar tension between technological advances and the need to maintain both employment and a greater sense of safety for passengers. If only a small proportion of passengers are using ticket offi ces, should they be kept open regardless?
See our daily blogs at
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