From TfL news
Upgrade work has been completed to prepare for Elizabeth line services between Liverpool Street and Shenfield in December 2018.
The improvements will allow the introduction of the first new trains for TfL Rail services later this month.
Additional capacity has been added to the railway at Shenfield to cater for the higher frequency service that will be provided once the Elizabeth line extends from Essex and through the central tunnels in 2019.
This includes a new dedicated platform and three new sidings at Shenfield to accommodate the new trains.
An amended TfL Rail service from Brentwood to Shenfield has resumed on weekdays, with three trains an hour. There is a full service at weekends. Trains have been terminating at Brentwood since January to allow Network Rail to carry out the work, with replacement buses provided for those travelling on to Shenfield.
A full service will resume from Monday 22 May.
I should add that during the day (off peak) passengers can connect to Shenfield without switching to the railway replacement bus at Brentwood.
Greater Anglia operates a service during ‘off peak’ from Romford which skips past Gidea Park, Harold Wood and Brentwood, and stops at Shenfield. To catch the train, you need to go to Romford station and the service is on platform 3.
Also worth mentioning is if you wish to go in the opposite direction, at platform 2 in Romford station, Greater Anglia also operates a ‘fast train’ service which only calls at Stratford and London Liverpool Street, skipping Chadwell Heath, Goodmayes, Seven Kings, Ilford, Manor Park, Forest Gate and Maryland during the off peak hours.
You can see the Greater Anglia timetables which serve Romford station here and the live arrivals and departures from Realtime Trains here.
Below is a London Bus news update from LOTS:
LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:
* 4 vehicles will be new Euro VI hybrid.
| Route | Current Operator | New Operator | PVR | Vehicles |
| 142 | Arriva London | London Sovereign | 17 | 2012 Euro V diesel double deck |
| 258 | Arriva London | London Sovereign | 11 | 2012 Euro V diesel double deck* |
| 642 | Arriva London | London Sovereign | 3 | 2012 Euro V diesel double deck |
* 4 vehicles will be new Euro VI hybrid.
Contracts will commence on the following dates:
6th January 2018: Routes 142 & 642.
3rd February 2018: Route 258.
1) A batch of new E400(MMC) buses (Nos 6521-29) is arriving at Hemel Hempstead for Arriva route 320. These are in the new lighter blue livery with dark blue fronts and fitted out to ‘Sapphire’ standard.
2) In London, the past week has seen the last of the Tower Transit Volvo B5LH/MCVs (MV 38201-51) entering service, the later examples on routes 58 and 308 in east London. Stagecoach has put more of its new E20Ds into service with routes 167, 362 and 380 now having some in use. Of Arriva London’s new HVs (HV 201-323) just three (226, 291, 322) are outstanding for service.
3) At Go-Ahead LT 875-902 had been those delivered with London General names for the 76 and LT 903-953 with Blue Triangle names for the EL1/2/3. Priorities over allocation meant that many got mixed and ended up at the ‘wrong’ garage. The current programme of swapping LTs between the 76 and EL1/2/3 is continuing - if very slowly. Overall, just five (910, 937/8 and 951/3) are outstanding for service. The next LTs due for London are LT 954-983 for Arriva.
4) At Hackney CT, all examples of the HTL, DCS, DE, EO and SD classes are now withdrawn from service, in turn eliminating East Lancs and Caetano bodied buses from the fleet. Scania SD 5 is staying on as a training bus but the others are all being gradually disposed of.
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Greater Anglia Class 321 Stratford to Romford... by clondoner92
Image attribution
By PeterSkuce - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=56276998