User Class 50 on Flickr has photos of progress on the DLR station at Stratford International. One shows the station box close up (ignore the mentions of Crossrail in the caption). For context, check out this wider shot and the project map.
The station is deep inside the Olympic exclusion zone, so you're not going to see photos like this very often.
There's been some confusion over whether last night's fire in Camden did any damage to the North London Line. I happened to be in Camden last night so I couldn't resist going for a look.
I've made a map showing the area affected. The bridge in the foreground carries the North London Line and is a safe distance from the fire. The bridge in the centre is the freight link from Camden Road and South Hampstead via Primrose Hill, which was in the middle of it.
Update: I've just been through on the already-reopened North London Line, and the other viaduct looks fine.
In 2004, the DLR commissioned a study into possible future routes called "Horizon 2020". They seem to have quietly forgotten about it, at least publicly, but I spotted a mention of the results in this Hackney Council report:
Three schemes remain under review in spring 2006. These are Bank – Farringdon, Bank – Liverpool Street – Shoreditch (Bishopsgate Goodsyard site), and Bank – Charing Cross.The Charing Cross scheme has been widely discussed and even appears on one of the Crossrail maps. The other two are complete news to me. The route to Farringdon would surely involve the abandoned Thameslink tracks from Moorgate, and the route to Liverpool St would be a logical extension of the overrun tunnel that already points northeast.
The government have made an announcement regarding whether Crossrail should terminate at Reading rather than Maidenhead.
I have now decided to safeguard additional land between Maidenhead and Reading. While I am clear that Crossrail services will terminate at Maidenhead and have no plans to extend them to Reading, this measure gives the flexibility to be able to extend Crossrail in the future, should there be a business case.While there's a prevailing opinion that Reading is the more "logical" place for services to terminate, the Crossrail people argue that it would be too expensive since "the first station where Crossrail would be likely to pick up considerable passenger traffic would be at Maidenhead". However, the biggest expense is the rebuilding of Reading station, which is happening anyway, making some regard an extension as the inevitable next step. There'll be various local, semi-fast and fast services in addition to Crossrail, so most passengers will be well-served whatever happens.
Continuing my run of posts about Shepherd's Bush, here's a picture of construction progress on the new Wood Lane station, on the Hammersmith & City Line at the opposite corner of the shopping centre from the other stations.
Due to open November this year, looks like it will. No snarking about platform width.
I received an email from TfL today that all but confirms my suspicions about the station:
There are indeed some issues regarding the safety of the narrow northbound platform which must be resolved before the station can open. London Overground Rail Operations Limited, the operator of London Overground, have identified potential risks to passengers as trains pass at high speed. As the station is owned by Network Rail and is being developed by Westfield (the developers of the shopping centre), it is their responsibility to ensure that safety requirements are met.What's implied is that Network Rail and Westfield are (or were) happy with the station as it is. The "built too narrow" farce angle may make a good headline, but it appears there's a genuine dispute about whether or not the platforms are safe.
Please be re-assured that TfL and LOROL are in regular contact with both parties, with a view to resolving these matters as soon as possible. At the moment, frustratingly, we are unable to confirm an opening date. London Rail has designated a senior manager to monitor developments, and both the Project Director at Westfield and the Network Rail director with responsibility for this station are working closely with him to determine a solution.There's a tiny bit of hope something's happening. I had a look last weekend and nothing's changed. The current wording on TfL's project page is "due to open shortly".
Shepherd's Bush station on the Central Line is closed until mid October for modernisation. What are they actually doing?
This factsheet goes over the details. Basically the plan during the closure is:
Time for another look at East London Line construction progress. You might want to look at the last one and the map of Shoreditch first.
We'll start with the dreaming spires of Dalston Junction - it recently gained a huge assortment of cranes, drills and piling rigs poking out of the station cutting. The trackbed has been tarmacced to allow road access, via a gate on the north-south bit of Richmond Road. They've only just started serious work here, and given the complex plan for the site it's likely to be the last bit to be completed, determining when the line opens. 
Next, Haggerston station. They've demolished a couple of viaduct arches to build the station entrance.
The end of the old viaduct in Shoreditch. A new viaduct will curve round to the right, leading to...
After going through Shoreditch High Street station (which hasn't changed much since last month) and crossing Brick Lane, we come to the bridge over the Great Eastern Main Line. The abutments were just frames last month, but now they're solid concrete. 
The massive framework for the bridge looms over the old Shoreditch station, with Weaver House in the distance. It's a lot like the bridge over Kingsland Road, but twice as long and, carrying only two tracks, half as wide.
Or, if you're an optimist like the Watford Observer, it just "edged closer to approval". Hertfordshire County Council have just rolled the dice once more by submitting the project's business plan to the Department for Transport, in their latest bid to get the required funding.
They want £95 million to divert the Watford branch of the Metropolitan Line to Watford Junction, via the disused Croxley Green branch. It requires 500m of new connecting viaduct and 1.5 miles of replacement track on the branch line, figures very similar to the East London Line's northern extension (and likewise involves the probable closure of an unlikely looking existing tube station).
The project is not terribly exciting, completely irrelevant to Londoners, and doesn't have a great chance of happening. But it is the only extension of the tube network on the table right now.
This month's Modern Railways magazine has a big article on London Overground, written by the CEO of MTR Europe, making him indirectly responsible for running the service. It's a bit thin on new information, but between it and some other bits of the magazine, there are a few things worth sharing:
I was in Borough yesterday and noticed this building, the Hop Exchange, immediately to the south of the existing Borough Market viaduct. As we all know, Network Rail are planning to build a new viaduct to the south of the existing one for Thameslink 2000, but I couldn't believe they were ballsy enough to propose demolishing a building like this.
Turns out they aren't. I couldn't find plans in any of the usual places, but the Save Borough Market campaign has some. The route swings to the north at its west end just in time to avoid affecting the Hop Exchange. Extra tracks will be built north of the existing viaduct instead, cutting off the westward connection from Cannon Street (off the top of the diagram) to Charing Cross.
This plan shows what will be affected. From right to left:
Metro Shopping Fund have big plans for Clapham Junction station. Or rather, they have big plans for the pokey shopping centre that currently forms the main entrance, since that's the bit they own.
The first thing they're going to do is build a new station entrance further west that connects to the footbridge (the thick white line on the masterplan) rather than the subway (the thin line), and the entrance on the north side will be similarly relocated to a new building. The subway will then be for interchange only, which is the reverse of the current situation.
This is mostly a good thing, since the footbridge is much wider than the subway, but it'll be a longer walk for pretty much everyone. Network Rail will be simultaneously upgrading the footbridge with new stairs and new lifts (first photo), and I'm told they're thinking about realigning the southern boundary, so the currently very curvy platforms that side (second photo) can be straightened out.
Once the entrance is moved, the shopping centre site will be free for redevelopment, and the plan is to flatten the entire block (third photo) and put up two 39 storey towers and a new shopping centre.
The model shown above is on display in a big green portakabin in the shopping centre car park for the next few days. Opening times here.
The order for new diesel trains for London Overground's Gospel Oak to Barking Line has been formally announced by Bombardier:
Bombardier Transportation has won a second order for its next generation “Green Trains”. The contract, worth approximately 44 million euros ($65 million US), is an order for twelve 2-car BOMBARDIER next generation diesel multiple units from Angel Trains. The trains are being provided for London Overground Rail Operations Limited (LOROL) for use on the London Overground network and for Chiltern Railways.The unusual thing is the order being split with Chiltern, who London Overground's operators LOROL share a parent company with.
The worst thing about London Overground is the mandatory 18 minute wait on Sunday evenings in the grimmest part of London. The best thing about London Overground are these swish new benches you get to wait on. Joined up thinking.
I've complained before about the lack of a decent map of all the bits and pieces going in at Shoreditch for the East London Line extension, so I thought I'd make one. Includes bonus side elevation.
Later in the week I'll be posting about some of the detail of what's being built, as well as linking to the various source documents.
A few months ago I posted the London Gaps Map, which shows the quarter and half mile catchment areas of every tube, rail, DLR and Tramlink station, and highlights the bits of London that don't have any stations nearby. But it was pretty useless because I didn't bother to label it.
I've corrected that in this version, labelling various stations and also adding the Thames, which should be a big help figuring out which stations the other dots represent.
For good measure, I've also shown the roures the East London Line extension and the Croxley Link, two projects that will fill in a couple of gaps (or will and probably never will, respectively).
The last couple of weeks I've been ringing and emailing pretty much everyone involved with Shepherd's Bush Overground station, and although no one's keen to speak, I think I might have figured out what's going on. Here goes:
There is nothing fundamentally wrong with the station. It was designed correctly, it was built correctly, and the platform isn't really all that narrow. It was only when London Overground got involved last summer that objections were raised, demanding after the fact that the station be built to a higher standard.
This would explain why we haven't heard any fuss from the Mayor's office, and how the station came to be completed without anyone saying anything, because as far as Network Rail and Westfield were concerned, there wasn't a problem. And the Office of Rail Regulation (responsible for health and safety) have very frankly denied any involvement.
I still need to confirm some of this theory, but the key part has been stated explicitly to me: The station hasn't opened because, rightly or wrongly, London Overground refuse to use it.
[Latest: The wall will be moved, taking at least four months]
There's a new brochure (well I think new, it's undated) on TfL's website that gives an overview of what the "Transforming the Tube" programme amounts to. There's a whole chunk of information hidden in the timeline that I thought I'd repeat here.
Completion of line upgrades (new signalling and trains):
TfL are planning to install ticket barriers at Finsbury Park, the last ungated tube station of any significance*. They'll also be installing lifts down to the tube platforms.
The tube station is buried underneath the railway viaduct, so the only access is via narrow passageways that open directly onto the street, with no ticket halls to speak of. A year or two ago they added a new canopy on the east side which will allow the entrances there to be gated without making people queue in the rain. The small Wells Terrace ticket hall will be extended slightly to fit in two tiny gatelines, and the tunnel from Seven Sisters Road will have its gateline positioned deep inside the station, where there's a wider part.
The top end of the lifts will be in a reopened passageway off the National Rail entrance (behind the braille station map in the first photo and the blue area on the diagram). The passageway will be extended so that it doubles as a shortcut from the Wells Terrace entrance to the tube platforms, though you'll need to either use the lifts or go up to the National Rail subway (on the right in the photo) before going down the spiral interchange staircases. It's not clear whether the National Rail entrance will be signposted as a tube entrance via a similar route, but it'd certainly reduce pressure on the tube gateline next door.
TfL say they're going to "reinstating the disused double spiral staircases", which is strange as they're already open. It turns out the key word here is "double". Each shaft has (or had, in the northbound's case) a second staircase interleaved with the open one (the bottom two photos). This was news to me and I use those staircases every week.
While the new gates also cover the National Rail platforms, the step-free access won't. It's stated the plans are compatible with (while completely ignoring) the Finsbury Park "Western Ticket Hall" proposal that appears in Islington Council's Area Action Plan, which was published two years ago.
Meanwhile, a consultation over similar modifications at Highbury and Islington ends soon. They plan to demolish the shops the entrance building is hidden behind, create a bus interchange and install lifts. No news on where the lifts will go, but with the platforms so far from the current station building, it's going to be a challenge.
* We'll ignore the leaky topology at Paddington
