4 day shutdown this weekend 4-7 Dec

[Deleted]

DLR routes through Canning Town have a range of shutdowns, not just on the weekend but on the Friday and Monday as well.

Route to City Airport closed all four days, which must make the airport happy. Line to Beckton closed three days, which must make the organisers of the "Taste of Christmas" exhibition at Excel think they have just wasted their money as it will be a large turnoff for attendees.

Leaflet about this says it is due to the three-car scheme. Now I thought all the stations on the City Airport line were built ready for three-car trains.

How can the engineers be unable to contain their works within at least Saturday-Sunday, and thus have them spill over into rush hours? If anyone can post what is actually being done I'll go over and have a look at what activity, if any, is actually taking place on the weekdays that couldn't be achieved at nights/weekends.

[madonion]

I believe they're constructing the junction to the Stratford international extension. Obviously as they need to actually cut up the track so it just takes as long as it takes unfortunately.
That isnt directly related to the three car project but they probably are doing some work required for three cars during the closure.
Maybe someone else will have more details

[franknapo]

The 3 car works will changing the docking boards for 3 car trains Blackwall-Woolwich Arsenal and also Royal Victoria. And of course the works that madonion as mentioned.

[Deleted]

Indeed, the works were at what I will call Thames Wharf junction, although they seemed to spill over as far as Royal Victoria as well.

Being a weekend it was appropriate for a family visit to be made to view the works in hand. I led the commentary, but it got out of hand a bit at times.

"Now then, this is the junction, which is all being dug up and reconstructed...."

"Excuse me please, Auntie Diana, but isn't it the same junction which was dug up and reconstructed over the 10 days 22nd to 31st May?"

"Well yes it is".

"So why, after just 6 months, do they have to do it all again? Do junctions only last 6 months?"

"Well I'm not sure why. But they do indeed normally last longer than 6 months".

"So, Auntie Diana, why didn't they do all the work in the 10 days earlier this year? Couldn't the Fat Controller have worked out how to do it all in one go".

“I’m sure he could, but maybe it was a bit cheaper to do it this way”.

“What does a bit cheaper have to do with it? Hasn’t the man read his Thomas the Tank Engine books, like you read to me, where the engines are always concerned to do the best for the passengers?”

“Oh, that’s old fashioned fiction from the 20th Century, dear, about a different Fat Controller. Nowadays, the day after a four-day closure, they have to repeatedly tell you they provide such a Good Service”.

"Oh look over there, Auntie Diana, what is that man doing with that machine giving off all those sparks?"

"Well, he's cutting one of the rails".

"Auntie Diana, why don't they cut the rails to size and lay them out to see if they fit before they start? Isn't there something called a Permanent Way Yard?"

"Oh no, dear, PW yards are seen as Bad Things under privatisaton, so they built yet another supermarket on the land, and works are done in situ.

"Auntie Diana, are there any trains going to Beckton while the man is cutting up the rails?"

"Well, today, Monday, there are until 1600, then they stop and you have to get a bus"

"Isn't 1600 just when people start coming home from work?"

"Well yes it is".

"So isn't it a bit strange that the Fat Controller planned to stop running the trains just when people start coming home from work?"

"Well now you mention it, I suppose it is."

“Auntie Diana, why is the Fat Cotroller so fat? Is it because of all his bonuses for providing a Good Service?”

“Oh dear ........”

[thirstquensher]

Well, if that isn't the most inspired rant ever! Funnily enough, I've had quite a few conversations juxtaposing the Fat Controller with modern-day railway "economics" before, myself. It's a great way of illustrating what happened to the values of old.

It's hard to believe that the railways actually STARTED as private companies before that "failed experiment" at nationalisation that we were dragged away from. Difference then was, if any train company thought anything it might do would alienate passengers, potential or actual, they would avoid it like the plague.

I have to say my ride on the replacement bus service back to Beckton last night was one of the most miserable ever. Took an age to get the bus (Woolwich Arsenal, like with the train service, seem to be infinitely better served - strange, that) and the bus itself seemed to think it was booked to provide a Magical Mystery Tour.

[Deleted]

going slightly off subject, but I sent a complaint about the state of Limehouse Station about 6 months ago. The response was atrocious and read something like this;

'Why has the station been left for an entire year without a roof and why have the normal stair cases not reinstated? Why has the whole project not been worked upon for a year?'

'Sorry, we know there has been a delay and we'd like to apologise for any inconvenience.'

The fat cat is indeed fat. However, this fat cat is better than any of those at Tube Lines or Metronet.

[thirstquensher]

I noticed on the way home tonight that the blue cables (induction loops for the SELTRAC system?) that used to lie just inside the running rails and crossed over each other every so far along are now enclosed in a 'curtain rail' that runs in a straight line exactly halfway between the running rails. I assume this is what the weekend closure was set up to facilitate the installation of.