Underground runaway - some thoughts

Telegrammed by our International Correspondent
LUL’s little difficulty with a runaway engineer’s train is now subject to a RAIB investigation.

Without wishing to prejudge this, or indeed add to the media frenzy, the Eye would like to make mention of various people to whom the Underground and Londoners owe a debt of thanks.

So firstly a deep doff of the bowler to the Northern line controllers and signallers who responded so well to an unprecedented situation, cleared the line and by so doing prevented an incident of far greater magnitude taking place.

Eye offers another doff of the bowler to the Northern line motormen and women (Train Operators) who, when faced with a whole set of new instructions over the radio, put their faith in what they were being told by Control and got on and did it.

The Northern line is led by General Manager Jeff Ellis.

Jeff is a heavyweight railway operator, who cut his teeth as railway incident officer for the Moorgate accident. Although one of a dying breed in an increasingly politicised TfL, Jeff will have inclulcated in his team a professional approach to railway operations.

These tried and tested skills served Londoners well on Friday.

Meanwhile, with the ever present threat of cuts hanging over public sector LU perhaps Jeff could help top up the Northern line's coffers.

Eye suggests he hires out his railway controllers to Eurotunnel - who proved not nearly so adept at handling the unexpected in real time last Christmas...

UPDATE: This from Lock and Load...

Just thought you might want to know that Jeff has been looking after projects at LUL for a couple of months now and that the Northern's GM is Pat Hansbury.

Regardless, what a fantastic demonstration of professional operating though.

Daily sex Tube map

Telegrammed by Charles Yerkes
So the Thames has vanished from TfL's new Tube map.

Yadder yadder.

The rot set in when they failed to restrict 081 to South of the river.

You want to see a Tube map?

Try the inclusive Dyslexic's guide to the Underground.

Brown bounces back

This from the Gruaniad...

Mike Brown, chief operating officer at Heathrow, will return to LU as managing director a year after he quit as chief operating officer of the organisation to join airports operator BAA, which owns Heathrow.

As one old LU hand put it "better the monster we know..."

A riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma

Telegrammed by the Velopodist
I wonder if your readers can help me to solve a puzzle.

The Rail, Maritime and Transport Union insists its strike on London Underground is solid and that its members have all supported it.

They can't be lying, so it's either all Aslef drivers out there driving trains or, as the RMT claims, management who are exaggerating how many trains are running.

Yet services do seem to be running on the Victoria Line, where nearly everyone is an RMT member.

What can be going on?

UPDATE: This just in from Events, Dear Boy, Events...

Certainly it was delightful yesterday on the Vic, where I at 1230hr I was able to stretch out in a carriage with three other people.

I assume the rest of London was on the Northern Line where they were counting on a rival ASLEF service.

But the light blue line seemed pretty healthy from Seven Sisters (where I understand Bob was on picket duty himself according to the Standard) as far south as Victoria.

Ghostly experience.

Underground strike on

This from Sky News...

Thousands of members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union will now walk out from 7pm tomorrow until 7pm on Thursday, bringing the network to a standstill.

At least the weather forecast is good for a day at home...

London Bridge or Waverley?

Good news for Michelle Jenkins whose son was safely born at London Bridge station on the Jubilee line.

Of course now comes the difficult bit.

What to name the child - the first boy to be born on the Underground.

Perhaps we should turn to Richard Bowker for guidance?

Richard, it will be remembered, shared with the nation that he thought about naming his child 'Waverley', to celebrate NatEx winning the East Coast Franchise.

Then again...

Whitsun madness UndergrounD

Telegrammed by our Independent Expert
With Liverpool Street closed for engineering work this weekend weary travellers are being fed onto the Central line at Stratford - like meat into a mincer.

With the Jubilee shut beyond London Bridge and no Loo Roll there is little choice of trains into the centre except via this sweating hell.

So which muppet in S&SD programmed the train announcement system to proclaim: "Thank you for choosing the Central line" at every swealtering station?

UPDATE: This from D-Notice who rather helpfully advises that...

The DLR is working fine for people who want to go from Stratford to central London.

Better the devil you know...

Outgoing Tube Lines boss, Terry Morgan, has let rip at TfL in the FT today.

Terry Morgan... said the comments of senior figures at Transport for London, the London mayor’s transport organisation, were sometimes based “on emotion, not fact”.

“I think people have to think through the consequences of some of the things they are talking about,” Mr Morgan said.

Comments surely designed to delight senior figures in TfL, for whom Mr Morgan will be working when he joins the transport organisation's Crossrail subsidiary as CEO.

Mind you.

No doubt all will be forgiven the moment Dean Finch takes over at Tube Lines.

The real Parry people mover

***Richard Parry to be London Underground's interim MD***

UPDATE: The Fact Compiler's view can be found over at Boris Watch...

T-cup lassoed

The proposal to extend Circle line services to Hammersmith is known within London Underground as the 'T-cup' service.

Announced to Londoners last week it received a surprisingly warm welcome, even earning a new popular sobriquet as the 'Lasso line' in the process .

Let's hope it doesn't turn out to be a lynch mob's noose...

LU confirms COO

***Howard Collins confirmed in post as London Underground Chief Operating Officer***

UPDATE: Boris Watch was unclear what this meant - so The Fact Compiler has posted a clarification...

Down the tubes

***1,000 jobs to go at London Underground and TfL***

Keep up!

RMT has welcomed the publication of TfL's 10 year Business Plan.

General Secretary Bob Crow said

“TfL has made vague statements about the need to reduce headcount across TfL and that can only cause alarm among our members.

“Reducing the use of over-priced outside consultants is all well and good, but there can be no question of any job losses among the people who deliver the services that London depends on".

And delivering is key Bob - hint

Whither ED?

So Metronet staff are finally to transfer over to London Underground in December.

And not before time.

The amount of duplication and man marking that has taken place within London Underground, as it sought to rein in the errant contractor, grew to epic proportions before Metronet collapsed.

And still the swollen headcount remains.

First in Tim O'Toole's sights must be LU's bloated Engineering Directorate.

In the heady days of Shadow Running it numbered a mere 16 people, now over 400 are on it's books; most of whom are too busy peering over the shoulders of their now in-house infraco colleagues to add a shred of value to the business.

Whilst the omens aren't looking good for the massed ranks of paper pushers in ED, the future of LU's Engineering Director, David Waboso, looks much more rosy.

Waboso, a former SRA man, has been lobbying hard to take on the Metronet top job since the infraco was nationalised in May this year.

With current MD Andie Harper, and most of his team, coming to the end of their interim contracts can it be long before Waboso and his trusted lieutenants fulfill their dreams and Metronet posts?

Don't run

Telegrammed by our independent expert
Your correspondent is aboard a Piccadilly line train from Heathrow where the driver has just announced:

"Wishing you a safe journey with me."

Is LU about to enter the airline business we wonder?

Or have they all been listening rather too closely to the Stockwell inquiry?

Oh the irony

Guido Fawkes points out the dangers of being indiscreet on a train.

View Guido's post here.

The Fact Compiler rather enjoys listening into other people's on-train conversations.

Only last week two ladies were discussing a business meeting with a client.

"I was only 10 minutes late and they gave me a really hard time!" moaned one.

It transpired the meeting was with London Underground and the ladies had been commissioned to work on a new staff campaign.

The name of the campaign? "Valuing Time"!

Cheek

As ever, it is a case of who you know, not what you know.

There have been a growing number of complaints about ride quality on South West Trains 458 (Juniper) units that ply the Waterloo - Reading route

As part of a planned programme of modifications vehicle 8017 has just been fitted with new springs, anti-roll bars and dampers to improve the ride.

Similar modifications are to be rolled out across the fleet.

But what is this?

Priority is to be given to modifying those vehicles with First Class seating.

Could this be connected with the deluge of emails and videos about ride quality that have landed on the desk of SWT MD Stewart Palmer, from a "powerful senior figure in London Underground"?

The Fact Compiler understands that there is no truth to the rumour that SWT staff have been instructed to collate similar evidence of piss-poor track quality on LU's roller-coaster District line.

Oyster in BBQ Sauce

The TranSys' summer BBQ was an unusually subdued affair last Wednesday (23rd July) .

In previous years the Smartcard PFI Contractor has been besieged by TfL staff begging to attend the annual shindig.

However, this year even those with much sought after tickets pleaded prior engagements of the 'underwater knitting' variety.

Regular visitors to Railway Eye may recollect that there have been a number of issues in recent weeks with Oyster card readers.

Surely TfL bosses weren't small minded enough to suggest that staff attending the do might find it "career limiting"?

Careless talk costs...

PPPs are not exactly flavour of the month in London following the high profile collapse of Metronet .

Recent failures of TfL's Oyster Card ticketing system may see PFIs going the same way.

Twice in the last two weeks London Underground has had to open the 'gateline' owing to large numbers of valid Oyster cards being rejected by the system.

The expensive glitches have driven TfL to distraction, so in true "Partnership" style they have named and shamed the PFI contractors responsible for the system.

"We believe that (the latest) problem, resulted from incorrect data being sent out by our contractor, Transys," TfL said.

Voice of London and TfL mouth-piece Tony Travers was more forthright in the Guardian: "Transys just need to get a grip, sort it out and make sure that it doesn't happen again" he said.

However, TfL's continued insistence on publically shafting its contractors at every opportunity is likely to cost London dear. Private sector bids for Infracos BCV & SSL, the soon to be disaggregated former Metronet companies, will no doubt reflect the reputational risks of working for TfL.

Bivalve shambles

***Oyster Card readers are on the blink again this morning meaning that Pay as You Go customers are travelling for free...***

Second failure in two weeks - see here