A look ahead at what's happening with London transport in 2024 — including new trains, station closures, and big anniversaries.
Sometime in 2024: New teal-coloured DLR trains should begin to roll out this year, although TfL hasn't said exactly when. (There have already been public sightings in the wild during test sessions though.) By 2026, 43 new trains should have replaced the 33 older trains.
Also sometime in 2024: Feeling bamboozled trying to navigate the orange tangle of the Overground line, which now comprises 112 stations? Help is at hand: by the end of 2024, TfL promises us the hot mess will be divvied up into six lines, each with their own name. (Although we think they'll still all be orange...)
5-11 January: What better way to kick off the year that with some tube strikes! For a week in January, various RMT members will strike over pay, causing disruption across the tube network, particularly on 8 and 10 January.
March: We had expected TfL fares to rise from March, however, it's since been announced that Sadiq/TfL will freeze them. That doesn't apply to fares across the board though: read more here. And that's not all — March also sees the beginning of a three-month trial of off-peak Fridays.
3 March: A new Day Pass for Santander Cycles is launched, meaning (if you're happy to keep switching cycles) you can cycle as much as you want for 24 hours, for just £3.
3 or 10 March: Brockwell Miniature Railway reopens for the season — fun!
2 April-30 June: There'll be various closures on the Northern line between Golders Green and Edgware, while Colindale station (which turns 100 years old this year: see 27 October) gets a major overhaul.
8 April: The fifth anniversary of ULEZ, which (let all grumbling Tories remind themselves) was introduced by Boris Johnson, before he later decided it was 'bone-headed'.
Spring: The Superloop bus network loop is finally 'completed' (even though it's not strictly a loop), with the opening of the SL2, SL3 and SL5 routes. However, the SL4 'spoke', running from Canary Wharf to Grove Park, won't start running till 2025.
Also spring: We've been promised by TfL that those 'tram-buses' we've been getting ourselves worked up about since 2022 will finally be trialled on the 358 route between Crystal Palace and Orpington, although it now seems there are no plans to extend the futuristic vehicles further than this.
Summer: Colindale tube station will close for a while in the summer, while its swish new station building is completed:
Also summer: For a bit of balance, around the time Colindale shutters, we should see the reopening of another Northern line station — Kentish Town — which has been closed since last summer, while escalators are fixed.
May: The mayoral elections take place on 2 May 2024, and we can expect to hear a fair bit of transport talk in the build-up, particularly about ULEZ and Superloop. (And possibly Susan Hall talking about stopping boats.)
27 May: 175th anniversary of Euston's Great Hall opening — one of the most remarkable pieces of transport architecture London has ever had, and which, in the 1960s, we decided would be a good idea to reduce to rubble for shits and giggles.
June: The Netherlands to London Eurostar service will be suspended in that direction for the rest of 2024, while renovation works are carried out at Amsterdam Centraal. Although if you fancy an extra-long holiday, Eurostar services will still run from London to the Netherlands. This suspension has now been cancelled — normal service resumed!
Also June: Heathrow Terminal 4 station gets a series of new artworks from Joy Gregory, themed around plants and migration, and created with input from refugees and asylum seekers in Hillingdon.
18 August: Colindale and Edgware stations' 100th birthdays.
October: Hannah Quinlan and Rosie Hastings unveil a permanent new six-panel mosaic at St James's tube station, in which they "unpack the various forms of authority, power and disorder within our public spaces and question how social hierarchy, class and obedience are negotiated."
27 October: Burnt Oak station's 100th birthday.
14 November: 30th anniversary of Eurostar (being celebrated with a major closure: see June).
