News


Runaway train causes havoc on Northern Line n


A runaway engineering train swept through six Northern


Line Tube stations during operational hours on Friday 13 August before coming to a halt at Warren Street. Other trains were cleared out


of the way of the unit, running non-stop until they were out of the danger zone. The unit had become uncoupled when it was being towed near Archway after breaking down. Working trains were diverted to the other branch


of the Northern Line until the engineering train came to a halt. The incident, which began at around 06:44 and ended 13 minutes later, caused major disruption to services. London Underground director


Richard Parry said: ‘Safety is London Underground’s top priority, and we have of course launched an immediate and thorough investigation into this incident to establish the cause.


SWT restricts staff from volunteering for Olympics


‘Once that investigation is


complete, we will publish the report, making its conclusions and recommendations clear. In the meantime we have prohibited the use of this design of engineering train on the Underground.’ RAIB’s preliminary


examination identified no evidence that the condition of the track or the signalling system contributed to the incident. Investigations are centring on the coupling unit.


Former Tube manager: PFI flawed from start n


As Transport for London finally waves goodbye to PFI (see Business news, page 10) a new book reveals how impractical the contracting out of Tube maintenance to private consortia was from the start. ‘I only ever heard one manager


below the top management/director level saying he thought PPP was a good idea,’ writes Andrew Melville, (the pen name of a former London Underground manager).


‘A consequence of the break-


up was that the logical pairings of lines… were dissolved.’ He adds: ‘Until recent events


stopped it, we were faced with having two different signalling systems to get trains in and out of Neasdon depot, because the two Infracos were imposing different signalling systems on their respective lines.’


Safety was also compromised under the system of handing the


network to contractors overnight. Depot managers didn’t always have up-to-date diagrams of cabling when work had been done at depots, leading to LUL staff unexpectedly coming up against live cables. Managing (Down) the Tube is a


latterday I Tried to Run a Railway, for the Underground, also charting industrial relations, safety and the arrival of female and ethnic minority managers on the Tube. It is available from www.transportdiversions.com


Weekend closures to continue on Jubilee Line


by Peter Brown


Less disruption on the eastern section of the Jubilee Line has been promised by London


Underground, even though the organisation admits there is only a ‘slim chance’ of completion by the end of this year. The annual PPP Review and


Performance Report for 2009-10 has revealed that progress has been made on the section east of Waterloo, which has affected businesses in Canary Wharf and the 02 Arena at North Greenwich. LU managing director Mike Brown said: ‘Although there is only a slim chance of completion by the end of the year, we are doing everything possible to get the job done as soon as possible, while keeping disruption to an absolute minimum.’


Weights for brake testing are loaded onto a Jubilee Line train


Despite trying to reduce inconvenience, many weekend part or full closures on the western section are planned. Full end-to- end signalling tests will close the line completely one weekend in October, one in November and over Christmas.


The TSSA union is accusing South West Trains of preventing any of its 5,000 staff from working as volunteers at the Olympic Games. The union claims SWT will not consider requests for leave during the games before January 2012. It is expected that the 70,000 vacancies will have been filled by this autumn. The union says it has


obtained a memo to all heads of department at SWT from Steve Bunce, head of employee relations, urging them to ‘stall’ all leave requests for the next 18 months because the company might want to run extra trains during the games. The memo reads: ‘The company is not in a position to agree any requests to take time off to be an Olympic volunteer and it is likely to be the early part of 2012 before we would be in a position to do so. ‘SWT will need to make sure that it has sufficient staff available to cover all operating, customer service etc commitments during the Olympics. ‘SWT does not want to discourage people from volunteering but as a transport provider in London, the company's ability to give employees time off from their job is going to be extremely limited.’ TSSA general secretary Gerry


Doherty is consulting lawyers to see if the ban could be lifted by a legal challenge. The company responded by


calling the union's comments ‘ludicrous’. A spokesman added that:


‘Many events are being held on our network, such as the sailing at Weymouth, and we may be required to run additional trains to help meet demand. It is common sense that we ensure we are in a position to have the right resources in place to make the operation run smoothly.’ SWT said that once the


detailed requirements for the Games are finalised, it would be in a position to consider requests from staff members who wish to volunteer.


SEPTEMBER 2010 PAGE 7


Tube Lines


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