Overground, Olympics and a Christmas Card: Like most of my posts on My London Diary earlier than a redesign of the positioning in 2008, my contributions for Thursday thirteenth December 2007 are just a little troublesome to learn and navigate, with the textual content separated from the images. However a minimum of by then I had found the capital letters once I was writing about my actions. So I’ll repost them once more after the introduction right here.
On thirteenth December 2007 I started with a morning protest by the RMT union over the privatisation of the East London Line, beforehand run by London Transport. They needed the road to stay run, just like the Underground run by a publicly owned physique – the Underground is run by London Underground Restricted (LUL), a statutory company wholly owned by Transport for London (TfL).
Though TfL remains to be chargeable for the Overground it’s was till lately run by Arriva Rail London which was owned by the German nationwide rail firm Deutsche Bahn from 2010 till June 2024. It was then offered to I Squared Capital, a US-based non-public fairness agency with world investments primarily in infrastructure. The Elizabeth line is run by a subsidiary of MTR Company, largely owned by the Hong Kong authorities.
Each Overground and the Elizabeth line have been appreciable enhancements to move throughout London, however we will nonetheless query whether or not it is smart to have a lot of our infrastructure run by overseas corporations – and a lot land and buildings turning into owned by abroad traders.
The RMT protest ended shortly earlier than midday and within the afternoon I walked from Stratford Excessive Avenue to Hackney Wick previous the Olympic space round Stratford Marsh.
RMT Protests East London Line Privatisation – Metropolis Corridor, Southwark
Bettering our transport system in London must be excellent news, though the closure of the East London Line for nearly three years from 22 Dec appears extreme (and naturally the Shoreditch finish has already been closed for a while.
Checked out on the map, the brand new overground routes, from Dalston (and later, Highbury and Islington) all the way down to Crystal Palace and West Croydon (and maybe ultimately additionally to Clapham Junction) appear primarily a matter of connecting collectively present routes, and including a few new stations at Hoxton and Haggerston.
However what upsets the unions – and nearly three-quarters of Londoners – is that when the road reopens after nice public expense, it is going to have been privatised, paying income to eight totally different corporations for varied elements of its operating – together with some concerned within the Metronet failure.
A part of these income will come from paying employees much less – and worse working situations. The unions are additionally nervous about doable security issues because the signalling on the route will likely be shared between London Underground and Community Rail programs.
100 or so demonstrators from the RMT union, Respect and others marched round Metropolis Corridor a number of instances, led by a coffin for the road carried by ‘undertakers’ to symbolize the non-public contractors and a tuneful 3 piece jazz band, earlier than a brief rally.
And though there are numerous substitute bus companies through the years of closure, these depart a niche on the most important half of the present route – throughout the Thames between Wapping and Rotherhithe. It’s apparently past the wit of Transport for London to search out buses that may use the Rotherhithe tunnel – and even present a ferry service (the ferry downriver at Canary Wharf takes 3 minutes, however prices £1.90 you probably have a journey card or over £500 for an annual season.)
Until you deliver your individual canoe, the quickest different might be to swim, although swallowing the water could be deadly. On the tube it takes one minute; the alternate options the TfL site suggests on a weekday are primarily round an hour. Certainly not acceptable.
Extra footage at RMT Protests East London Line Privatisation
Stratford Marsh – Hackney Wick (2012 Olympic Web site)
The ‘Greenway’ path on the highest of London’s Northern Outfall Sewer reopened lately after a brief closure through the close by demolition works, and because it was a fantastic day I took a stroll alongside it from Stratford to Hackney Wick.
Nearly all the buildings on the Olympic website have gone, with simply occasional bits of wall or outbuildings left, and there are some fairly enormous piles of earth or no matter. Gone too are a lot of the many bushes, notably the willows by Marshgate Lane and all of the wild areas – in addition to the tyre mountains and different automotive elements.
The sunshine beneath the Northern outfall the place it crosses the navigation was attention-grabbing, low solar bouncing up from the water and giving the construction a golden glow.
I went on over the lock at Outdated Ford to ‘Fish Island’ after which via the pink circle footbridge to Hackney Wick, taking a number of footage from the station footbridge whereas ready for the prepare again to Stratford. The road additionally provides some views of the huge constructing website.
Many extra footage at Stratford Marsh – Hackney Wick (Olympic Web site).
My London Diary – Christmas Card – Tower Bridge
For as soon as I’ve printed and despatched my Christmas playing cards earlier than the final date for posting, which is a pity, as a result of if I’d waited I believe the image of two Santas on the Christmas Truthful subsequent to Tower Bridge [taken while waiting for the RMT protest to begin] would have made a great picture. I believe it’s the third determine in pink at left of image that actually makes it work.
So this image comes with my Christmas Greetings for all of you who go to the positioning.
I believe I used this image on my 2008 Christmas Card. I’m nonetheless looking for an acceptable image for 2024.
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Tags: 2007, Christmas card, Metropolis Corridor, East London Line, Greenway, Hackney Wick, London, London Olympics, London Photographs, London Underground, Olympic website, Overground, peter Marshall, non-public contractors, privatisation, protest, Rotherhithe, Santas, Stratford Marsh, Tower Bridge, Underground, Wapp
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