Elizabeth Line branded a ‘folie de grandeur’ in Treasury campaign against Crossrail Transport and infrastructure Tory Chancellor Kenneth Clarke warned that initial plans for the Elizabeth Line were a “folie de grandeur” that taxpayers would be unwilling to foot the bill, during a protracted rearguard action against the megaproject by the Treasury in the 1990s, City AM can reveal. According to a fraught set of ministerial correspondence released to the [...]
London Museum: inside the £400m cultural development at West Smithfield Destination City The London Museum is set to open at West Smithfield in 2026. It is one of Europe’s largest cultural developments and is backed by more than £400m in funding from the City of London Corporation and the Mayor of London, of which the City Corporation is contributing £222m. I recently toured the museum and met [...]
Elizabeth Line operator doubles profit before contract loss Transport and infrastructure Profit at the first company to operate the Elizabeth Line in London more than doubled in the year before it lost the contract, it has been revealed. The division of MTR Corporation is part of the wider majority government-owned public transport operator and property developer in Hong Kong and had run the line since it first opened. However, the [...]
Londoners paying £42,700 premium to live near Tube and train stations September 23, 2025 Home buyers in London are paying as much as a £42,700 premium to live close to a train station. According to research from Nationwide Building Society, there is a stark pricing gulf between houses within 500 metres of a station compared to 1,500 metres. Londoners face a significantly higher premium compared to other major urban [...]
Thameslink boss steps down after less than two years July 21, 2025 The chief executive of Go-Ahead, the group which operates London’s Thameslink, Gatwick Express and the Elizabeth Line through a joint venture, has stepped down after less than two years in the role. Miguel Parras has resigned from his role at the Newcastle-headquartered group to “pursue other opportunities” after 20 months. The group has not announced [...]
Thameslink operator slumps into the red ahead of Elizabeth Line takeover June 9, 2025 The operator of London’s Thameslink and Gatwick Express slumped into the red before taking over the Elizabeth Line, it has been revealed. Go-Ahead has reported a pre-tax loss of $36.9m for 2024, having posted a pre-tax profit of $9.7m for the prior 15 months. However, the group pointed to it making a profit after tax [...]
The Elizabeth Line has clocked enough miles for 45 round trips to the moon May 23, 2025 The Elizabeth Line has clocked up enough miles in its first three years to reach the moon and back 45 times, it has been revealed. More than 600m passenger journeys have been made on the UK’s single busiest railway service since operations began in 2022, according to Transport for London (TfL). That means London’s ‘Lizzie [...]
Rents near Elizabeth line stations rocket up a third since opening May 15, 2025 Rents for homes near recently-added Elizabeth line stations have shot up by more than a third since 2022 as the housing crisis in the capital continues to intensify. In some locations, prices have risen by more than 70 per cent as demand for well-connected properties soars, according to lettings software firm Goodlord. This rise outstrips [...]
Sadiq Khan is squandering the success of the Elizabeth Line May 1, 2025 Despite the popularity and success of the Elizabeth Line, other major transport projects in the capital are in limbo, writes James Ford Everybody loves the Elizabeth Line, right? There are the sleek, open-plan trains, the breathtaking, well-designed stations and, perhaps best of all, there are the smooth and swift journey times that have created new [...]
TfL launches fresh crackdown on fare evasion with new measures April 30, 2025 Transport for London (TfL) plans to expand its team of investigators as part of a suite of new measures to crack down on fare evasion. London’s transport body is aiming to halve fare evasion across all its services, which costs hundreds of millions each year, to 1.5 per cent or less by 2030. The rate [...]