London Bus Tender Awards: Route 111 Confirmed To Use New Electric Buses

A recent London Bus tender award has confirmed route 111 (Kingston to Heathrow Airport via Hounslow) will convert to new double-deck electric buses by next year.

LBSL intends to enter into new contracts for the following routes with the operators listed below:

TfL and Siemens Mobility Unveil Design of the New London Underground Piccadilly Line Trains

It’s been a while since I’ve posted London Underground related content on my website.

Recently, Siemens Mobility and TfL have unveiled the design of the new Tube Trains for the Piccadilly Line, expecting to enter passenger service from 2025.

From Siemens Mobility Press Release

Transport for London (TfL) and Siemens Mobility have today unveiled the detailed design of the new generation Tube trains for the Piccadilly line, which will soon be in production to replace the existing 1970s fleet.

The trains currently running on the line have become increasingly unreliable and expensive to maintain and will be 50 years old by the time they are replaced. Despite the devastating impact that the coronavirus pandemic has had on its finances, TfL is continuing to replace these assets, meaning that from 2025, new spacious ‘Inspiro London’ trains will serve customers on the Piccadilly line, future-proofed to ensure they are suitable for many years to come.

Five new Enviro200 MMC’s for Q-Park Limited

Alexander Dennis has announced on their website that Q-Park Limited has purchased five new small Enviro200 MMC buses.

From Alexander Dennis

Q-Park Limited, the company that operates Purple Parking at Heathrow and Gatwick airports on behalf of Holiday Extras, has introduced a fleet of five new Enviro200 single decks built by Alexander Dennis Limited (ADL).

TfL awards Siemens Mobility to build 94 new trains for the Piccadilly Line

TfL ended the rollout for the three-door, two-staircase hybrid New Routemaster bus, but they have now announced that Siemens Mobility will be building 94 new trains for the London Underground Piccadilly Line.

From TfL Press Release

Siemens Mobility Limited to design and manufacture 94 new, state-of-the-art Deep Tube trains to serve the Piccadilly line

TfL takes over the Heathrow Connect services

TfL has taken over the Heathrow Connect services as part of launching the new Crossrail Elizabeth Line over the coming months.

From TfL press release

From Sunday 20 May TfL will take over the Heathrow Connect services between Paddington and Heathrow terminals 2/3 and 4 in another major milestone in the creation of the Elizabeth line.

Old Oak Common depot is built for new Crossrail Elizabeth Line

In preparation for TfL Rail taking over the Heathrow Connect services, the new Old Oak Common depot is ready for the new services which will begin on 20^th May 2018.

From TfL Press Release

Old Oak Common depot will support new TfL Rail services from Paddington to Heathrow, which begins on Sunday 20 May

Heathrow Express to continue service till 2028

Heathrow Express will continue to operate the express service from Heathrow Airport to London Paddington until 2028.

From Heathrow Express

Heathrow Express rail service has been preserved to at least 2028 under a new agreement announced today.

· New agreement confirms Heathrow Express for at least a decade

· Will improve rail service connections, resilience and reliability for Heathrow passengers

· Rail services to Heathrow to rise from 18 trains per hour to at least 22 trains per hour from December 2019

· Confirms Government support for developing western and southern rail links to Heathrow

TfL fares will apply to new Crossrail Elizabeth Line service

TfL has announced that the Elizabeth Line pay as you go fares will be the same as on existing TfL services.

From TfL Press release

TfL confirms that Elizabeth line pay as you go fares in central London will be the same as the equivalent Tube fare - saving money for millions of Londoners.

Crossrail Elizabeth Line to serve Heathrow Terminal 5

Heathrow Terminal 5 will be served with Elizabeth Line services once Crossrail fully opens by December 2019.

From Heathrow Media Centre

• Heathrow agrees new plan with TfL and DfT to boost rail services to the airport
• Elizabeth line services to serve Terminal 5
• From 2019 at least 22 trains per hour connecting Central London and Heathrow – up from 18 today
• Thousands of rail passengers to benefit from the convenience of Oyster and contactless ticketing – including on the Heathrow Express
• New services will increase choice of routes in and out of airport, strengthening rail network resilience for future generations

Timetable and maps for London National Rail services

Looking at TfL’s website - they don’t feature timetables for National Rail services, only timetables for their own services such as London Buses, London Underground, Docklands Light Railway, Tramlink, London Overground and TFL Rail.

TfL do have a map though which shows the railway services in London as they are part of the Oyster Pay-As-You-Go fare system. TFL also provide “National Rail journeys,” on their Journey Planner.

ULTra Heathrow Pods PRT – we need them everywhere!

ULTra (Urban Rapid Transit) is a Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) system for Heathrow Airport.

The pod-car system was developed by a British engineering company called Ultra Global PRT. The pod-cars use four car batteries as they don’t have any engines; they use 50% less energy than a bus does, are driverless, computer driven and are guided by lasers on an open guideway; they also charge automatically at the charging points and instead of rails, they use rubber tyres.

Route X26 awarded back to Metrobus with double deck buses

In this article, I have an exciting news update from LOTS from the recent London Bus tender awards: