Boris waves as he arrives on the first train at Dalston station this morning Photo: John Sturrock
Jules Pipe, Mayor of Hackney was left locked outside the gates of Dalston Junction station as the first train on the newly-opened East London line set off. “Sadly, Boris didn’t invite anyone from the local authority,” Mr Pipe said. “I hope once this naked electioneering is finished, he will invite everyone who has actually had a hand in making this happen.”
Jules Pipe and his predecessors lobbied for the street level extension of the line as well as contributing towards getting £1bn of funding for the line.
Ken Livingstone, who was Mayor of London from June 2000 to May 2008, initiated TfL’s £1bn extension of the East London line, which was partly designed to boost transport capacity for the 2012 Olympic Games.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, refuted Mr Pipe’s claims however. “This is a completely non-political event,” he said. “I hope that people can appreciate the wonderful achievement that has been made today.
“We are not in the grubby business of electioneering. We are united in celebrating a titanic achievement by Transport for London.”
TfL commissioner Peter Hendy announced that the line had been completed “on budget and early”.
A spokesperson for TfL said:
“The East London line is now open and is a fantastic contribution to Hackney and London’s transport network. Due to the laws covering the conduct of public bodies during election periods, TfL was unable to invite any political figure standing in either of the upcoming elections to the East London Line launch.
“To be as politically impartial as possible, we chose to invite London Assembly members of all political parties with connections to the line to the launch.”
A “preview” service of the line will run from 7am to 8pm Monday to Friday. Full evening and weekend services will run from 23 May.
See our video for an interview with Jules Pipe.
If Boris wasn’t electioneering, surely he could have left the “opening” until the full line opens at the end of May?
How does he explain himself in this photo then?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/24772733@N05/4558921836/
Perhaps Mr Pipe is the one doing the electioneering…?
Thank you for your comment. In the photo that you have linked to, you can see that it says ‘first passenger train’, this departed at midday and was for the general public. The launch for the press and important transport figures happened at 9:45, as you can see from our photo, the train says ‘first train’ and it was this that the mayor wasn’t invited to.
The big questions are how come it took so blinking long to reopen the line and will it stay open? There is a long history of rail lines opening in Shoreditch and then not lasting very long. And why did we have to wait for the Olympics to get the line reopened? If the general redevelopment of Hackney and the Shoreditch area had taken place much sooner, without the residents having to live through fifty years of neglect, we wouldn’t have some of the problems we have now with younger members of the community (under 45 years of age) believing Hackney and Shoreditch have always been a dump, and resisting gentrification, whilst those over about fifty will remember that Hackney was once a pleasant place with poor and gentrified living close together without the conflict there has been since Shoreditch was discovered overnight.
Don’t like Jules but he is right in what he says, Boris has only just arrived on the scene.
I was there for the opening. I was told that Boris left before it! The opening was when the 12:06 left from Dalston Junction with passengers. Jules Pipe strap-hanging is in some of the photos I took:
http://www.youtube.com/hiblacom#p/a/u/1/gIm88bHUAh4