Engineering and fleet

The former Metronet, now back in London Underground Ltd

Up The Wall Again

The job was up the wall on the District, Circle and Central Lines this morning, due to yet more late surrenders by Metronet. Severe delays are continuing through the morning.

Sorry, were we just saying that Metronet is crap?

Doubtless, LUL and the Mayor will make all the usual statements about how...

Wrong Size Bolt

Last week, there was a track failure at Seven Sisters at start of traffic, on the points coming out of the depot. The cause? Apparently in overnight maintenance, a bolt of the wrong size had been used and when the first train went over the track the block joint keeled over and failed. Result: major...

One Size Fits All?

Union reps were surprised to stumble across a "new Victoria Line train" being tested on a recent visit to Derby. It's odd that it could get so far along the production process without our reps being consulted. You could almost suspect that Metronet and LUL are trying to sneak things past us.

They...

Sparing The Blushes

Well, that's odd. Metronet's chief executive appeared before the GLA's transport committee on Thursday afternoon. And a shedload of P-way work was called off without warning on Wednesday night. A coincidence? Surely not.

When Metronet protection masters tried to book on with the Track Access...

Blocked Drain

After five months' closure, the Waterloo & City line reopened last week, and immediately ran into trouble.

The cabling was incompatible with the signals, causing surges. The Correct Side Door Enabling kit didn't work. There were power feed problems - all of which should have been sorted through a...

Sub-Safety On The Track

LUL and the Infracos have allowed even the most vital, safety-critical services to be contracted out. One result is a crisis of confidence in Protection Masters as the role is given to cowboy companies who do not train their people properly.

Engineering workers have experienced horror stories...

Big Brother is Back

Metronet and Tubelines have revived their plan to make their staff book on duty using a 'smartcard'. This would carry biometric data with a capacity to include everything from fingerprints to credit records.

LUL has no plans to foist this on its own staff - yet, but station supervisors will be...

Another Metronet Cock-Up

The Victoria Line took the brunt of this Metronet incompetence. Monday morning, 10th July, saw a late start to the line following over-run of weekend engineering works. The next day the service startup was again delayed, because of damage to cables and air pipes, apparently caused by an engineers...

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