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Post by aslefshrugged on Nov 3, 2018 15:34:35 GMT
Whilst I would like UK trains to be built in the UK, I struggle with Bombardier's argument that jobs are safe but also that this contract is needed for the security of the plant. To me. It sounds like those who felt entitled to something have been rejected on merit and are now having a tantrum! The trains will be built in the UK, Siemens are opening a factory in Goole, Yorkshire.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Nov 2, 2018 19:44:22 GMT
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Post by aslefshrugged on Nov 2, 2018 10:58:05 GMT
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Post by aslefshrugged on Nov 2, 2018 10:50:34 GMT
I'd give the Cable Car a miss and head for Dalston Kingsland, there are some excellent kebabs to be had around Kingsland High Road/Stoke Newington Road.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Nov 2, 2018 10:34:34 GMT
Sadly Notting Hill Gate isn't on the list, in 2014 there were plans to redevelop the site that used to be the discount book shop on the north east corner of Notting Hill Gate and Pembridge Gardens (66-74 Notting Hill Gate) with the ground floor as a new entrance to the station with a lift. It seems those plans have been shelved and the site is currently waiting planning permission for redevelopment without the station entrance. A lost opportunity when you consider there aren't many alternative sites near the station where you could create a new entrance.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 31, 2018 10:09:48 GMT
Leytonstone has 11m passenger movements a year, its not like Buckhurst Hill (2.3m) where you can just leave the gates open. If you create a new entrance in the bus station you're going to need a gateline which would have to be staffed so you could implement crowd control if necessary. Also if you build a tunnel under the track you'd need stairs in case the lifts failed while people were in the tunnels, that's an awful lot to fit between the track and Kirkdale Road
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 31, 2018 1:04:47 GMT
I can see how Leytonstone could possibly be made step free but it would represent a significant project. Put in a bridge over the tracks nearer the eastern end of the platforms where there are no shelters. The ends of this bridge would have lifts and stairs to the bus stops. It would likely means buses would lay over somewhere else. This would not be connected to the existing ticket hall but would increase capacity. So basically you'd lose the staff car park on the Grove Green Road side of the station next to the Train Crew Accommodation building, reduce capacity in the car park on the other side of Bus Plaza to accommodate staff parking, lose part of the bus parking area on the Church Lane side, build a new ticket hall, install a complete new gateline and have to double station staff because they'd have to be watching two entrances at once. Where exactly would the 66, 145 and W13 buses lay over? Leytonstone isn't overly blessed with quiet side streets.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 29, 2018 2:56:31 GMT
I'm struggling to think how Leytonstone could be made step-free without very significant (and very significantly disruptive) rebuilding works. The ticket hall needs more capacity anyway, so it's probably best to wait until the practical considerations and finances allow you to do the whole job in one go. Even if funding weren't an issue I can't imagine this being possible until after Crossrail relieves some of the traffic, so all in all it's probably a good thing that they haven't spent the money on step-free access there yet. It also has bus connections with Stratford (fully step-free), Walthamstow Central (partially step-free) and South Woodford (works to make it fully step-free are currently in progress). A ramp off the eastbound platform should be possible. Where to? The only way I can see making Leytonstone step free is with lifts, I doubt if there's room to tunnel under the track bed so you'd have to tunnel from the ticket hall along the north side of Platform 3, put one lift up to the platform (losing the offices behind the platform in the staff car park) then up to a bridge, over the track and another lift back down to Platforms 1 and 2. That would probably mean moving the gateline further towards the entrance and losing Perky Blenders.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 29, 2018 2:47:11 GMT
Due to a funding shortfall? TfL had enough money for the Boris bus, the cable car, the cycle superhighways, the garden bridge and promoting Boris Island. Step free access was cancelled at six stations in 2009 after millions had been spent on preparation work; Amersham (ÂŁ4.6m), Greenford (ÂŁ3.9m), Ladbroke Grove (ÂŁ3.06m), Newbury Park (ÂŁ4.6m), Osterley (ÂŁ3.9m) and West Kensington (ÂŁ5.05m). In addition step free access at Shepherd's Bush was cancelled after ÂŁ39m had been spent because they discovered that gas and water pipes weren't where they thought they were. Greenford went step free in 2015, Newbury Park will be step free next year and Osterley by 2020 (but they are in London, Amersham isn't). Buckhurst Hill was done this year, and is outside Sadiq Island(aka Greater London). Debden is promised next year, ditto! Buckhurst Hill was simply a case of fitting a couple of card readers by the existing entrances at the southern end of the platforms (western end for us drivers), resurfacing the ramps and fitting handrails which took just four months. The subway that goes under the track is owned by Epping Forest District Council so TfL's spending must have been minimal. As for Debden that presents a few problems so it will be interesting to see what the plans are.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 29, 2018 2:36:05 GMT
Due to a funding shortfall? TfL had enough money for the Boris bus, the cable car, the cycle superhighways, the garden bridge and promoting Boris Island. After spending on al those vanity projects, is it surprising there was a shortfall for funding on the boring day-to-day stuff? Except the "boring day-to-day stuff" was cancelled before any spending on the vanity projects.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 28, 2018 10:08:44 GMT
Due to a funding shortfall? TfL had enough money for the Boris bus, the cable car, the cycle superhighways, the garden bridge and promoting Boris Island.
Step free access was cancelled at six stations in 2009 after millions had been spent on preparation work; Amersham (ÂŁ4.6m), Greenford (ÂŁ3.9m), Ladbroke Grove (ÂŁ3.06m), Newbury Park (ÂŁ4.6m), Osterley (ÂŁ3.9m) and West Kensington (ÂŁ5.05m). In addition step free access at Shepherd's Bush was cancelled after ÂŁ39m had been spent because they discovered that gas and water pipes weren't where they thought they were.
Greenford went step free in 2015, Newbury Park will be step free next year and Osterley by 2020 (but they are in London, Amersham isn't).
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 17, 2018 6:37:20 GMT
RMT members will not book on for duty "between 12:00 hours on Wednesday 7th November 2018 and 12:00 hours on Thursday 8th November 2018" so its unlikely there will be any trains before 1pm on Thursday. Piccadilly Line tube drivers to strike again
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 15, 2018 11:16:25 GMT
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 11, 2018 7:11:41 GMT
Yeah I just remembered North Acton to West Ruislip isn't electrified. As the Central Line has "parallel running" with Network Rail track the drivers are trained on Network Rail procedures. as are drivers on the Bakerloo and District where they also use Network Rail track. Discharging traction current is part of our training, as is the use of signal clips and detonators which are in our emergency equipment locker in the cab. Thanks for the clarification. I am aware that LU drivers are trained to discharge LU current - many moons ago I did voluntary classes where we all had to have a go at putting the SCD down on the classroom (non electrified) track. That was quite bad enough - with 630 (?) volts it must be far more intimidating. I can obviously understand the need for drivers who drive on NR metals to know the NR rules. I was a tad surprised that full knowledge was needed in areas with parallel NR tracks. Also I was more questioning the asset ownership point as in a past life I had quite a lot of dealings with property delineation issues and those multi coloured LU / NR asset interface diagrams. Does the same training concept apply to the DLR where it is parallel to the Jubilee Line? I'd forgotten the Jubilee/North London Line, no doubt they used to get National Rail "parallel running" training but now get DLR training instead.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 11, 2018 7:02:31 GMT
I have re-read the report and (perhaps controversially) it is my opinion (as a passenger) that if the driver tells me to walk down from his cab, I would assume that the driver was satisfied that it was safe for me to do so, regardless of him/her having authority to do so or not. To be 300mm from a live power rail, without any fail-safe (e.g. short circuiting device) and without any Network Rail staff etc. standing track side would make me nervous... The driver is responsible for the passengers while they are on the train, and technically, climbing down the steps from the cab, I would still be on the train, 300mm from a live rail. Easy to say this in retrospect, but there has to be one person responsible for passenger safety 'on the ground', be it a manager, station supervisor or driver. The only one of these people present when the detrainment started, was the driver. To take on this responsibility maybe drivers need to be paid more/trained more, but the buck has to stop somewhere, and it isn't clear to me that the driver believed that traction current was off or on. As the report states it was the Incident Response Controller (IRC) at the Arriva Rail London strategic command in Swiss Cottage who gave the authorisation to detrain and they have legal responsibility to ensure that traction current had been discharged. Ideally the driver would check with the IRC that traction current had been discharged but it isn't their legal responsibility to do so. From the report the problems are obvious, firstly the driver had to communicate with the ARL strategic command at Swiss Cottage and the signaller at Network Rail Route Operations Centre, Three Bridges but it seems that Swiss Cottage and Three Bridges weren't communicating with each other. In addition in order to contact the Govia staff at Peckham Rye station the ROC had to go through the NR Sussex Route Control Centre, also at Three Bridges but on a different floor of the building. Obviously things would be a lot easier if the driver only had to communicate with a single control room that covered an area but with our fragmented railway system where you have various TOCs operating over track managed by Network Rail that isn't an option. Secondly as the driver is the only member of staff in the immediate vicinity who can go trackside they alone have to supervise detrainment without any assistance from station staff and I would suggest that is too much for one person to deal with. As its unlikely we'll get guards back the solution would be for the TOCs to train station staff to go trackside but its unlikely they'd be able to hire fully trained staff from an agency.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 10, 2018 10:55:00 GMT
The driver can discharge the traction current by contacting Network Rail, as a Central Line driver I can discharge traction current on the Network Rail section between North Acton and West Ruislip or West Acton and Ealing Broadway if necessary. Sorry for a slightly tangential question. I know NR tracks are close by on those sections but it was my understanding that the alignment, tracks etc used by the Central Line are wholly owned by London Underground as is the traction current supply. I wasn't aware LU drivers could discharge traction current on adjacent NR lines with overhead wires (e.g. Ealing Broadway). There is obviously no traction current on the Chiltern tracks in the Greenford - Ruislip section. Yeah I just remembered North Acton to West Ruislip isn't electrified. As the Central Line has "parallel running" with Network Rail track the drivers are trained on Network Rail procedures. as are drivers on the Bakerloo and District where they also use Network Rail track. Discharging traction current is part of our training, as is the use of signal clips and detonators which are in our emergency equipment locker in the cab.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 10, 2018 10:47:16 GMT
The driver (or guard) is responsible for passenger safety while they are on the train, once the passengers leave the train their safety is the responsibility of Network Rail which is why a driver cannot detrain without authority. This driver was given authority to detrain so it seems they assumed someone had discharged current. Ah, I see. But in the context of a tunnel, unless it was an extreme emergency, wouldn't the driver expect there to be staff in orange jackets meeting him to hand the passengers over to? Surely the driver wouldn't just help them off the train and point them in the right direction to walk up the tunnel without a member of Network Rail staff? Even helping passengers climb down the steps could be a two man job? From reading the report, the (agency) member of staff was on the platform when the detrainment started and went to assist the passengers only when he saw them walking up the track. Does a short-circuiting device exist on National Rail, rather like those on the Underground? National Rail isn't like LUL where all station staff (apart from CS2s) are trained and licenced for track-walking. If the agency staff who work for Govia at Peckham Rye station are anything like those who work for London Overground then they aren't licenced to go trackside and would have to wait on the platform. In all likelihood the only member of staff who would be track licenced would have been the duty station manager who just happened to be at Peckham Rye at the time. Not sure where "the context of a tunnel" is relevant to this incident as this was open section. I think Network Rail does have SCDs but I'm not swearing to it.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 10, 2018 8:22:08 GMT
The key issue seemed to be communication, but I can't work out if the driver believed that traction current had been discharged or not? In my mind, as a passenger, if the driver instructs me to detrain, I would hold the driver responsible for ensuring that it was immediately safe for me to do so. The driver (or guard) is responsible for passenger safety while they are on the train, once the passengers leave the train their safety is the responsibility of Network Rail which is why a driver cannot detrain without authority. This driver was given authority to detrain so it seems they assumed someone had discharged current.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 10, 2018 8:18:40 GMT
I believe there was a staff shortage on the train. One man was doing the jobs of two. There also seems to be no provision for the person in charge of the train to discharge the traction current. Let's hope we learn from this mercifully-benign incident. It could have been a tragedy. London Overground hasn't had guards since 2014 (the last ones were on the GOBLIN) so if there was a staff shortage there wouldn't have been anyone to drive the train! The driver can discharge the traction current by contacting Network Rail, as a Central Line driver I can discharge traction current on the Network Rail section between North Acton and West Ruislip or West Acton and Ealing Broadway if necessary.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 10, 2018 8:11:47 GMT
It's a very good thing that only toffs now wear leather-soled shoes. And there aren't many toffs on Cl 378s in Sarf London! At least, I haven't seen David Cameron or George Osborne down there lately... You've obviously not been to Peckham Rye recently, it's Hipster Central with flat whites, artisanal bakeries, cycle shops, craft beer pubs and beard oil emporiums.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 5, 2018 8:25:05 GMT
Shuttle service running between White City and Ealing Broadway, Waterloo & City running.
East Acton was closed due to staff shortage for 11 minutes which I guess is how long it took someone to realise its not a Section 12 and can be left unstaffed.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 5, 2018 4:54:25 GMT
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 4, 2018 13:51:35 GMT
The strike is on after talks broke down.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 4, 2018 9:05:05 GMT
The ASLEF Reps have been released for a meeting this afternoon
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 3, 2018 17:11:04 GMT
What percentage of Central line drivers belong to ASLEF? Will the RMT drivers still be working? There are 322 ASLEF members on the Central Line, I'm not sure how many drivers there are in total on the Central Line, I think the last time I counted it was around 500 so 60/40ish. If the strike goes ahead I suspect there won't be many RMT drivers crossing the picket line as the grievances affect them too.
When I started work this afternoon the ASLEF Rep (in uniform so not on union business) was deep in conversation with the RMT Rep. No talks today but a rumour that there might be a meeting at ACAS tomorrow evening which will probably be too late.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 3, 2018 12:36:04 GMT
What percentage of Central line drivers belong to ASLEF? Will the RMT drivers still be working? ianvisits commented in a post on his blog that last time there was a Central line drivers' strike (2014?) there was no service in the central area and a limited service at the ends of the line. I'd guess that would mean no service west of Leystonstone (or maybe Woodford) and east of White City or North Acton. Leytonstone and White City as they are both are Train Crew depots plus the bus connections are better. From Woodford there's the 275, a double decker that goes to Walthamstow Central every 9-13 minutes and the W14, a small hopper bus that goes to Leytonstone High Road every 15 minutes but those the only non-Central Line stations you can get to from Woodford by bus!
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 3, 2018 9:10:19 GMT
As someone who lives within walking distance of several Central Line stations all I can say is "oh dear" and "thankfully I won't need the trains this coming Friday". Its not that I won't be going out, rather that my journey will be walkable. I don't know if there will be any sort of replacement bus service but if there is then Thames Water works on the Cranbrook Road near the junction with Tanners Lane and Tesco will make a bad situation even worse. Two sets of closely spaced traffic signals (at least one of these is a 3 way junction!) are already creating travel chaos... Simon Replacement buses have to be arranged weeks (or months) in advance, the bus operators don't have enough drivers to cover anything other than their normal day-to-day working at such short notice (another "benefit" of privatisation).
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 3, 2018 9:06:18 GMT
I take it that Thursday night the last trains will run as booked? - unlike the winding down of the Picc line before their strike at 1pm? The notice says "all duties booking on between 00:01 and 23:59 on Friday 5th October 2018" so everyone books on as normal Thursday and completes their duties, no winding down the service early as per Piccadilly Line. All except the Night Turns, they'll book on and run the last trains as usual but I expect they won't be bringing out the first trains as its unlikely there would be anyone to relieve them when they got to Leytonstone or Hainault. Saturday morning will be a mess as I guess the Night Tube drivers will also be on strike. The dead early drivers will have to walk into the sidings to bring trains into service rather than relieving Night Tube drivers on the platforms. They'll probably have to book taxis for the W&C drivers or delay starting the service until 9am.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 2, 2018 17:29:54 GMT
The latest from my ASLEF Rep, the strike is still on but they made "good progress" today and the Reps are available if management want to hold more talks before Friday.
That's if...
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Post by aslefshrugged on Oct 2, 2018 13:00:04 GMT
The enboldened section is very worrying. How are LU management getting away with this at tribunal, unless they can demonstrate 'gross misconduct'? ASLEF went through the company appeals procedure before taking any further action. On average it takes six months from starting the tribunal process to getting a decision, in the meantime the person is out of work and even if they win their case LUL do not have to re-employ them.
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