News
Jubilee upgrade will be ready for Olympics, TfL insists
by Peter Brown
TfL has refuted claims that the Jubilee Line will not be ready in time for the 2012 Olympics, saying that there will be no more weekend closures after Sunday 26 June and that the new improved timetable will be introduced in July. But drivers and some managers have spoken
to Rail Professional, claiming the new automatic braking and signalling systems are still causing problems and that data has been sent to Canada where the system has been developed. Concerned that TfL is cutting corners to get
the system up and running, the RMT has balloted its members for strike action. RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: ‘We
know that the high-profi le spate of failures and breakdowns on the Jubilee Line is driving this attempt to short-cut the consultation machinery and safety procedures, and we will not allow that to happen.
‘The solution to the growing problems is to
tackle the core fl eet and operating systems that the failure of tube privatisation has lumbered us with. Cutting corners on safety procedures is a guaranteed recipe for making a bad situation
even worse.’ In a press release issued in April, TfL stated: ‘Jubilee Line passengers are advised that the fi nal set of weekend closures will take place between Sunday May 15 and Sunday 26 June.’ A spokeswoman for TfL told Rail Professional: ‘The date still stands. The new signalling and software is working well. The partial closures will be predominantly on the northern end of the line in June, with more trains scheduled to run from July, increasing capacity by around 5,000 per hour.’
■ The Olympic timetable will have more frequent services, longer trains, and later- running services. There will be more than 2,000 extra services during the Games and 1,500 additional services for the Paralympic Games. It is being drawn up by Network Rail with input from Tocs and the Olympic Delivery Authority.
‘Cutting corners on safety procedures is a guaranteed recipe for making a bad situation even worse’
Northern cleans up with extra services
West Coast start put back
The beginning of the next West Coast franchise has been put back until December 2012 to give the government more time to consider implementing some of the recommendations of the McNulty report in the franchise contract. The current Virgin franchise, a joint
venture between the Virgin Group and Stagecoach, is due to end in March 2012. so the DfT is in discussions with Virgin about a possible franchise extension. Virgin Rail Group CEO Tony Collins
said: ‘We are pleased to have been invited by the government to discuss an extension to the current West Coast franchise.’ If Virgin’s discussions with the DfT
do not reach a satisfactory conclusion, there is a possibility that the state-owned Directly Operated Trains could take over the franchise to plug the nine-month gap. In the meantime, a new Pendolino will be joining Virgin’s fl eet this summer, once safety testing is completed. The new train will operate mainly on the Birmingham-to-Scotland and London-to- Glasgow routes, freeing up a fi ve-carriage SuperVoyager for services between London and North Wales.
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Northern Rail staff volunteer to help BTCV with the clean up
■
Northern has increased its services between Blackpool and Liverpool via Preston, Wigan and St Helens, in a partnership agreement with Merseytravel. Councillor Mark Dowd, chair
of Merseytravel and a former train driver himself, said: ‘It was simply a question of looking at the route and making the best possible use of available rolling stock.’ Two new early services to
Leeds and Carlisle have also been added to the timetable to better serve passengers on the Settle
and Carlisle line. And passengers can look forward to cleaner, more attractive stations, thanks to environmental charity BTCV and Keep Britain Tidy, which have been working with Northern Rail to improve the green spaces around its stations. Karen Booth, head of
sustainability at Northern Rail, said: ‘We manage over 450 stations and get great levels of support from community groups who are keen to work with us to enhance the station environment and facilities.’
Customer Service Team
020 7500 6900
www.expressmedicals.co.uk
JUNE 2011 PAGE 9
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