News Round-up July 2026

Featured in the Future Transport London Newsletter July 2026

Mayor’s bid to run Great Northern Inners

The Mayor has submitted a proposal to take the clumsily named ‘Great Northern Inners’ out of GBR control and absorb them into London Overground.

The lines from Moorgate extend beyond London to Welwyn Garden City and Stevenage.  They include the Hertford Loop, which would need the kind of improvements associated with London Overground if plans for a new town at Crews Hill were to proceed.

A GN (Inner) train approaches Finsbury Park

In a separate development on the same lines, the former marshalling yard at Drayton Park is being looked at as a rare unused piece of land in Islington.  Its use for housing would require improvements to Drayton Park station – a second point of egress, via the bridge to the Emirates stadium, and a wider platform which would require a little of the vacant land as the northbound tracks would need to be diverted. 

Silvertown one year on

Congestion through the tunnels under the Thames has definitely eased since the Silvertown Tunnel was opened a year ago. Before the tunnel was opened about 100,000 vehicles a day used the Blackwall Tunnel. Today this number is down to around 68,000 with an additional 20,000 using the Silvertown Tunnel. The reduction in overall number is likely to mean that many drivers are using alternative crossings such as the Rotherhithe Tunnel or the Woolwich Ferry to avoid the toll and reports suggest that the ferry, in particularly, is experiencing heavy demand.

The new tunnel has enabled a substantial increase in the number of bus passengers crossing the Thames here. A year ago there were about 2,700 passengers a day using bus route 108 through the Blackwall Tunnel. There are now about 7,000 passengers making use of the 108 or one of the three routes through the Silvertown Tunnel.

The free cyclists’ shuttle has not so far proved very successful. It is used only by about 100 to 150 people a day. One problem is the poor infrastructure for cyclists in North Greenwich which makes the route approaching the bus stop unattractive.

Robotaxis

Tension is developing between the Government’s desire to licence driverless taxis and TfL’s reluctance to allow them on the road. DfT roads minister Simon Lightwood said that implementing the Automated Vehicles Act 2024 permitting the operation of automated vehicles is a key step to supporting economic growth, but TfL commissioner Andy Lord said ‘autonomous vehicles would have to meet our current private hire regulatory requirements, and no driverless vehicle would comply as it stands’.

There are more than regulatory issues at stake here. One is the effect on jobs. Robotaxi operators are likely to charge uneconomically low fares initially to attract passengers, as Uber did when they started operating in London. This is likely to have a serious effect on the use of buses and conventional taxis. In New York the introduction of Uber led to a fall in the use of yellow cabs from 500,000 to 100,000 per day. Mayor Sadiq Khan said: ‘While we want London to be the global capital of innovation, enterprise and creativity, this must not be at the expense of jobs and livelihoods’.

Another issue is the effect on congestion. If robotaxis take passengers away from buses this will increase the amount of traffic on the roads. Whilst safety is an overriding concern there is fear that robotaxis will increase congestion by being overcautious, particularly if they are allowed in bus lanes.

Whether robotaxis prove to be successful or not will ultimately depend on whether people are willing to use them. The attitude of the public towards autonomous vehicles remains cautious particularly amongst women and older people.

Bridge Woes

We have reported on the ongoing saga of Hammersmith Bridge which is closed to all motor traffic with no signs of money being available for reopening. Albert Bridge is now also closed and now Westminster Bridge, Lambeth Bridge and Vauxhall Bridge have been assessed by Transport for London as being in a ‘very poor condition’. There is a 18-ton weight limit now imposed on Vauxhall Bridge.

All these bridges, and many others, were built in the nineteenth century when the volume and weight of traffic was a fraction of that found today and, after more than a hundred years, it is not surprising that they are in need of major repairs, but the issue of who is going to pay for the work is one which has not been resolved. Most bridges are owned jointly by the boroughs on either bank but the costs are far beyond their budgets. Fleur Anderson, Labour MP for Putney, has suggested that all bridges should be controlled by the mayor and TfL rather than cash strapped local councils. The government is hinting that Hammersmith Bridge might be in line for cash from the new Structures Fund. Government help for these assets of national importance would certainly be welcome and perhaps be crucial.

Hither Green upgrade

Hither Green was one of the stations which benefitted from the Department of Transport’s Access for All programme for the 2019–2024 funding period. Few stations have had £28m spent on accessibility and few stations will have two new entrances, either end on Fernbrook Road and Springbank Road, and an 80 metres long footbridge.

The new footbridge links all six platforms and, whilst not yet in service, has been in place since the Mayday Bank Holiday. The new footbridge replaces two existing footbridges: one linking platforms 1 to 4 (the Orpington lines) the other linking platforms 5 and 6 (the Sidcup line) and will link to new station entrances. It will facilitate transfer from one line to the other enabling passengers to interchange at Hither Green rather than having to travel further into Central London and back out again.

When four large lifts are installed, there will be step-free access from street level to all six platforms. Network Rail expects the accessibility works to be completed around summer 2027.