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Post by silverfoxcc on Jun 10, 2012 16:24:54 GMT
This has puzzled me for years, and i do mean years!
Why are these only situated on deep level tube lines and not all over the system?
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Post by charleyfarley on Jun 10, 2012 17:03:16 GMT
The pits were originally installed to prevent flooding on deep level platforms. Surface stations did not require such a facility.
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mrfs42
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Post by mrfs42 on Jun 10, 2012 17:11:43 GMT
The pits were originally installed to prevent flooding on deep level platforms. Surface stations did not require such a facility. I'm afraid that's utter rubbish! They were anti-suicide spits from the start and referred to as such in the Traffic Notices. |
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Post by charleyfarley on Jun 10, 2012 17:14:35 GMT
The pits were originally installed to prevent flooding on deep level platforms. Surface stations did not require such a facility. I'm afraid that's utter rubbish! They were anti-suicide spits from the start and referred to as such in the Traffic Notices. |
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Post by silverfoxcc on Jun 10, 2012 17:40:09 GMT
Lads, please dont fight about it!!, but if there is a traffic notice with it in, then ...........
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mrfs42
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Post by mrfs42 on Jun 10, 2012 17:43:34 GMT
Lads, please dont fight about it!!, but if there is a traffic notice with it in, then ........... Lots of them (traffic notices that is), as they were dug over an extended period. |
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Post by Harsig on Jun 10, 2012 17:57:20 GMT
To attempt to answer the original question I've always understood the reason for the provision of suicide pits was to improve access to the underside of the train for staff dealing with the incident, rather than as an attempt to improve the survivability of such an event. There is very little room under a tube train and when it is hemmed in by the platform on one side and the tunnel wall on the other, access is very difficult. On open sections access from the side of the train away from the platform is usually available (I know there are exceptions) and so pits are not provided. On Sub-Surface lines access issues are less extreme. Not only is there more room under the trains, but the vast majority of sub-surface stations have double track and so, as on open sections, access from the side is usually possible. Therefore pits are not provided under these circumstances either.
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Post by charleyfarley on Jun 10, 2012 18:11:20 GMT
Lads, please dont fight about it!!, but if there is a traffic notice with it in, then ........... mrfs42 is the last person I want to have a ding dong with  I have to accept that the BBC report was inaccurate. |
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Post by revupminster on Jun 10, 2012 22:01:49 GMT
The reason I thought was to give a bigger survivability because of the low clearance of tube stock as opposed to surface stock. Wasn't the Victoria line designed with deeper but only half the width of the old pits and being only on the side nearest the platform.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 10, 2012 23:39:56 GMT
The reason I thought was to give a bigger survivability because of the low clearance of tube stock as opposed to surface stock. Wasn't the Victoria line designed with deeper but only half the width of the old pits and being only on the side nearest the platform. The pits on the Victoria line are the same width as elsewhere, however they are deeper as you mention, nearest to the platform, this is to make it possible to walk under the train. |
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Post by Deleted on Jun 11, 2012 12:21:50 GMT
Oh dear! More rubbish reporting from the media although the "London Transport spokeswoman" needs to brush up on her facts! Of course the uninitiated can be forgiven for thinking the 'suicide pits' are for drainage as so many have seen puddles large and small over the years. Places such as Finsbury Park where the pit on one road was often flooded with stagnant water and Tooting Broadway which had a constant trickle in at one time flooding both the pit and the platform invert. To be fair most of the pits are dry most of the time but failed invert pumps, water finding its way into the system through segments and cleaners emptying buckets as well as jet washing the ceilings can all make the pits look like open drains. I'm sure the BBC is only reporting what most of us who worked on the system had always known in terms of accident mitigation but it really should do better. In the 1980s, I always remember seeing litter wafting through the tunnels and the suicide pits full of rubbish at the leading end, where there was a concrete and steel mesh grill to catch the litter. Maybe the "suicide pits" were dug to catch litter and fag buts. |
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Post by Colin on Jun 11, 2012 18:52:41 GMT
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Post by trt on Jun 13, 2012 9:14:17 GMT
Maybe they got confused with sewer side pits? ;-)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2012 7:40:43 GMT
Ive seen that recently railtechnician, I think it was at Oxford Circus or Baker St on the Bakerloo
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2012 9:38:09 GMT
It was rails being stored and yes they were the side furthest from the platform. I didnt see a storage license sheet on them though.
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Post by v52gc on Jun 14, 2012 13:35:15 GMT
Same at Leicester Square on the Pic, sleepers and things stored in the pit half furthest away from the platform; storage license is zip tied to one of the columns holding the negi rail up. Covent Garden has quite a few full length/size sleepers across the pit.
Been that way a few weeks now.
Interesting to note it is/was frowned upon as such.
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Post by Deleted on Jun 14, 2012 14:59:11 GMT
If I could just throw in another angle on the suicide pit debate. The actual lowest point of the station barrel in under the platform, in what (If I recall correctly) was called the Invert. This is a large hollow area under the platform. This is the lowest point of the platform where water gathers. From here its pumped out.
At Aldwych on the long disused platform, there is no suicide pit. This was the platform that passengers generally did not have access to. It was used for a series of experiments in the mid 80’s on new station design. From recollection there was no evidence of there actually being one, so I assume the construction of suicide pits might have taken place after the lines opened. This particular platform had a particularly short operational life.
Dean
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Post by abe on Jun 17, 2012 13:32:34 GMT
The eastern platform at Aldwych went out of use in 1912, and was officially closed in 1917. As such, an anti-suicide pit was never dug. The pits were first provided on the Morden extension of the C&SLR in 1926, and then the Cockfosters extension of the Piccadilly line (1932/3). The existing stations had them dug in 1934-5, according to Croome & Jackson.
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Post by rsdworker on Jun 17, 2012 13:38:29 GMT
well on jubbiee line extenden - there no anti suicide pits in them due platform screen doors - i am not sure? (its was built in 1990's)
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Post by Deleted on Jun 17, 2012 21:43:29 GMT
There are indeed pits on the JLE tunnel stations.
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