Sunday Variety

Re-Unification Progress

It's a train on the Great Central route crossing the Midland Main Line at the southern end of the platforms of Loughborough (Midland) Station. 

And here is what happened to the bridge in 1980.

But the good news is that the bridge has been replaced. Hurrah!

So the two outstanding bits of Great Central heritage railway can now be joined together. That would allow through trains to run from Leicester North ...

... to Loughborough as now, then on to .,,.

East Leake and Ruddington.

Sadly, not quite yet!

Although missing bridge 328 is in place, the red dots show a missing embankment; also bridges 329 and 330 over local roads in Loughborough are still to be un-missinged!

But, coming up is the 125th birthday of the Great Central Railway ...

... and the two lines are to be linked ...

... albeit by bus!

fbb had intended to publish a timetable for the through service; but. alas, this magnificent heritage railway doesn't want to tell us!

Poor!

And Another One!

And the mayor reckons he will get franchising done by the end of 2024!

Fat chance!

South Yorkshire's mayor has said bus franchising has been recommended as the best way to improve the county network.

It would mean the South Yorkshire Mayoral Combined Authority (SYMCA) would decide services and timetables.

Mayor Oliver Coppard said the estimated cost of the whole transition to franchising would be £25m.

First Bus said it was confident it could help deliver change. Stagecoach said it was committed to working with SYMCA to make the network successful.

Bus services in England outside London were deregulated in 1986, enabling private operators to control routes, timetables and fares and to receive the revenue from fares.

However, the Bus Services Act gave city regions the power to introduce bus franchising in 2017.

Mr Coppard said an independent audit had looked at different options for the bus network in South Yorkshire and had recommended franchising.

He said he hoped it could be introduced by the end of this year.

"Franchising would be a publicly-controlled bus system where we decide what the routes, fares and timetables look like and we would use the money from the profitable bits of our network to reinvest in those vital services in other parts of our communities," he said.

Don't laugh too loud!

But Meanwhile In Rotherham

So no chance, then of Mayor Oliver expanding his frenchised operation into the best bus depot in South Yorkshire!

Non Superloop Route This Way

Remember those weird routes numbered in the Superloop series but not part of the Loop? Two of them do "connect" with the loop but one never makes it to join in joyous union with the circle.

Silly Loop SL4 will run from Canary Wharf to Grove Park.

But to get to Blackheath it will need to cross the Thames. And that crossing is not finished yet. It will be known as the Silvertown Tunnel. immediate logic suggests that a route via the Blackwall Tunnel would be sensible ...

... but not for SL4. it will use the new tunnel.

This is the Silvertown tunnel map ....

... and this is what the north portal looked like under constriction.

The road (left) is the Silvertown Flyover, the water is the Royal Docks as was! And the railway (right) is Docklands Light to London City Airport and under the Thames to Woolwich.

The tunnel will be two bore and big bores at that!

The northern portal has a control room like something out of Doctor Who ...

... and the southern entrance is at North Greenwich and is equally scary!

Here is a short video about the tunnel.

Did we hear aright? User charge? One lane for buses only? Just the SL4? 60 buses an hour (maybe that's 30 each way?

Somebody is gong to be very busy in the schedules office?

Tomorrow we go from Streatham in London to Leeds, which isn't!

 Next Politics & Transport blog : Monday 11 March