Removals London

Transport and Infrastructure
Transport is one of the four areas of policy administered by the Mayor of London, but the mayor's financial control is limited. The executive agency which runs London's transport system is Transport for London (TfL). The public transport network is one of the most extensive in the world, but faces serious congestion and reliability issues.

Rail
The London Underground at Green Park station.London's Underground Railway is the oldest in the world, and possibly one of the busiest. It is thought that more than 3 million people use the Underground every day. The Underground has in recent decades suffered from a lack of sufficient investment since the sums of money needed to keep it fully modernised are very high. This has led to congestion and delays for passengers in some areas of the network, although there have also been improvements, for example the opening of the Jubilee Line Extension. Recently the London Rail and Tram network has received substantial funding.

London has the second largest urban rail system in the world after Tokyo. It includes:
Mainline services
London Underground
Tramlink
Docklands Light Rail
Heathrow Express
Eurostar

Many of the UK's rail lines radiate from London. London's rail termini are: Blackfriars, Cannon Street, Charing Cross, Euston, Fenchurch Street, Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, London Bridge (which also has through platforms), Marylebone, Paddington, St. Pancras, Victoria and Waterloo. With the exception of Fenchurch Street, all of these stations also have associated London Underground stations.

The Heathrow Express is not strictly a part of the public rail system, but is owned by BAA plc. As of 2005, Transport for London runs the London Underground (the world's first underground rail network or metro), commonly also known as "The Tube". The national government's recently introduced public–private partnerships to the Underground despite opposition from many parties, including the Mayor of London.

The largest project currently underway is the Channel Tunnel Rail Link, (CTRL) Phase 2, which will provide fast Eurostar rail services all the way from Stratford in East London to the CTRL Phase 1, which was completed in 2003, and on via the Channel Tunnel to Paris, Brussels and other destinations in continental Europe. Currently Eurostar operates out of Waterloo International Terminal at Waterloo, and Eurostar trains have to traverse a circuitous route over local railway tracks through Vauxhall, Clapham and Brixton before connecting to the CTRL Phase 1 at Ebbsfleet in Kent. The CTRL Phase 2 project involves a huge civil engineering project to construct a tunnel from Stratford to St Pancras Station (now completed), where a major renovation and redesign of the terminal will open for Eurostar train services in 2007. Eurostar will then run from London to Paris on high speed track for its entire journey. The CTRL project is significant in that it represents the first new major rail line to be built in the UK for over 100 years.

An ambitious project is Crossrail, which proposes a new east-west tunnel traversing central London. Financing for this has not yet been agreed. Smaller projects include extensions to the East London Line of the Underground, and to the Docklands Light Railway. The tram system is also being extended, particularly in Croydon, in South London.

There are far fewer Underground rail lines in South London than in North London. This is partly because the underlying geology of South London is much less favourable for tunnelling than it is north of the Thames. It also reflects the concentration of the network on Central London, which was focused to north of the Thames to a greater extent when most of the underground lines were built than is the case today. South London relies on over-ground commuter lines to a greater extent, but these tend to offer less frequent services.
T he North London Line runs from Canning Town in East London all the way to Kew in the west, going through Hackney, Hampstead and Acton on the way.

Until 2003 there was also an underground railway for mail transport, the London Post Office Railway.

Roads
Most of the streets of central London were laid out before cars were invented and London's road network is often congested. Attempts to tackle this go back at least to the 1740s, when the New Road was built through the fields north of the city; it is now just another congested central London thoroughfare. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, new wide roads such as Victoria Embankment, Shaftesbury Avenue and Kingsway were created. Some drastic plans for motorways in the heart of the city were put forward in the decades immediately after World War II, but they came to little due to the costs involved and objections to the mass demolitions required. By the end of the 20th century policy swung towards a preference for public transport improvements.

The most significant road scheme in the London area in the late 20th century was probably the M25 orbital motorway, many sections of which are outside the boundaries of Greater London. There is also an inner circular route, comprised of the North Circular (the A406 from Gunnersbury to West Ham) and the South Circular (the A205). This route is narrow and inadequate in places, especially in South London.

Many of the UK's motorways radiate from London. These are: M1 (to the north); M11 (north east); M2 and M20 (south east); M23 (south); M3 (south west); M4 (west); M40 (north west). Various other trunk roads start in London, for example the A1 (The Great North Road), the A10 (to Cambridge), the A2 (to Dover), the A20 (via Folkestone to Dover) and the A3 (to Portsmouth).

Buses and taxis
London's famous red double decker buses are now run by private companies, although it is a requirement that the buses still be painted red. However the iconic red "Routemaster" bus has now almost disappeared.

There have been major improvements to the bus service in recent years, and passenger journeys are now more than 5 million a day, which is around 2 million more than on the Underground. Another icon, the famous London taxi black cab remains a common sight.

Cars
In February 2003, Transport for London (TfL) introduced a radical scheme to charge private motorists £5.00 per day for driving vehicles within a designated area of Central London during peak hours: the Congestion Charge. This scheme has succeeded in significantly reducing traffic congestion and hence improving reliability of bus and taxi services. It is generally approved of by London's residents, but is still controversial in some quarters, notably amongst those claiming to represent small businesses. The charge will rise to £8 in July 2005.

Air travel
London Heathrow, the world's busiest international airport.The London region is served by six main airports. The largest and two smallest of these (Heathrow, City Airport and Biggin Hill Airport) are inside the boundary of Greater London, but the other three (Gatwick, Stansted, and Luton) are outside Greater London. There are also a few small airfields and private airports.

Heathrow is London's principal airport and a major hub. It is currently the busiest international airport in the world, with four terminal buildings. A fifth terminal will open in 2008. City and Biggin Hill are both smaller airports, the latter does not currently have scheduled flights.

Gatwick and Stansted airports are also large international airports, with approximately 30 million and 20 million passengers a year respectively. They are both outside the boundaries of Greater London, as is the fourth largest airport which serves London, London Luton Airport. Dedicated direct rail services serve Gatwick and Stansted, Luton is served by Thameslink, and the Heathrow Express and London Underground Piccadilly Line both serve Heathrow. London's fifth largest international airport, and the one closest to the city centre, is London City Airport in Docklands.

Other airfields in Greater London include Northolt, and others close to London include Manston in Kent and Southend in Essex.

Water transport
The Festival Pier on the River Thames.The River Thames is navigable to ocean going vessels as far as London Bridge, and to substantial craft well past Greater London. Historically, the river was one of London's main transport arteries. This is no longer the case, but there are still small scale passenger services, and a large number of leisure cruises operating on the river. Additionally some bulk cargoes are carried on the river, and the Mayor of London wishes to increase this use.

London also has several canals, including the Regent's Canal which links the Thames to the Grand Union Canal and thus to the waterway network across much of England. These canals are no longer used to transport goods, but they are popular with leisure cruisers.

Electric power supply
Several power stations were built to generate electricity in the centre of London, including the famous power stations at Bankside and Battersea (both now disused). Bankside power station has now been converted into Tate Modern, but still houses part of a large electricity transformer substation (you can hear it humming when you visit Tate Modern).

HVDC Kingsnorth has been a unique element of the London power grid since 1975, the first urban high voltage direct current transmission system in the world. It was subsequently converted to standard 3-phase alternating current.

Water
The Thames Water Ring Main supplies much of London with water. Sewage disposal was historically a problem, causing major pollution of the Thames and potable water supplies. London suffered from major outbreaks of cholera and typhus well into the mid-1800s. Indeed, the problem was so severe that Parliament was suspended on occasion due to the stench from the river. These problems were solved when Sir Joseph Bazalgette completed his system of intercepting mains to divert sewage from the Thames to outfalls east of London, where the tide would sweep the sewage out to sea.

Education
Universities and Colleges
London has the largest student population of any British city, although not the highest per capita. Universities in London may be divided into two groups:

First, the federal University of London, which, with over 100,000 students, is the largest university in the United Kingdom. It comprises over 50 colleges and institutes with a high degree of autonomy. Constituent colleges have their own admissions procedures, and are effectively universities in their own right, although all degrees are awarded by the University of London rather than the individual colleges. The largest and most prestigious colleges include University College London (UCL), Imperial College, King's College London, Queen Mary, University of London and the London School of Economics, while smaller schools and institutes include the School of Oriental and African Studies, the Institute of Education, and Birkbeck College, which specialises in part time and mature students.

Secondly, there are the independent universities, most of which were polytechnics until UK polytechnics were granted university status in 1992.

Arts Education
London is Britain's leading centre for arts education. London's four music conservatories are the Royal College of Music, the Royal Academy of Music, and Trinity College of Music, and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. Other drama schools include Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts ("RADA"), and the Central School of Speech and Drama. Art schools include Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design, Chelsea School of Art, and Camberwell School of Art, (all part of the University of the Arts), and Goldsmith's College and the Slade School of Art (both part of the University of London), and The Royal College of Art. The former Hornsey School of Art is now part of Middlesex University.

Medical education
There are many medical schools in London, some of which are centuries old, for example Barts, Guy's, and St. Thomas'.

Research
Imperial College is a leading centre of scientific research and stands alongside MIT and other US universities in terms of international reputation.
The Royal Institution is an historic and important repository and proponent of the acquisition of scientific knowledge through research and study.

Schools
Most state schools in London are run by the London Boroughs. In common with other large cities in the UK, there are problems in some inner city schools, particularly those in less affluent areas. It is difficult to retain teachers in struggling schools. London's high property prices mean that teachers are often unable to afford to buy their own homes, which forces many to moving to more affordable parts of the country. There are many private schools in Greater London including some of England's best known public schools such as Harrow and Westminster.