Weekend Works 21st and 22nd September

Cheers. I'm wondering what the trains will show on their destination indicators, as they can't show places such as Angel and Chalk Farm. I'll probably go into town to have a look for myself.

Yes, I can confirm that this was the case, although I doubt that the average punter even noticed them. It was especially confusing since the trains were displaying their ultimate destination on the dot matrix indicators! Tney did, however, have the DVA's switched off, but the the in car displays were working. Furthermore, the platform DMI's were showing the trains actual destination. I travelled to Angel on a couple of trains, and some people were very reluctant to detrain, saying that "the train's showing High Barnet, so why is it terminating here?"

A few years ago, the policy during engineering work was for the train to display a destination at the end of the line so as to encourage all passengers to get on the train and thus be taken to the point where the service becomes suspended and the replacement buses begin. The policy back then was to run replacement buses over the whole section of the suspension. So in essence, today was a bit of a throw back to the old days, although of course technically, the service wasn't actually suspended in the strictest sense of the word! Perhaps it's just as well that the average passenger wasn't aware that their train which said High Barnet and from which they were prised off at Angel, really DID go to High Barnet . . .

Perhaps a better alternative would have been to cover the platform dmi, or add a scrolling message "system under test, please ask a member of staff for information".

What is NMA3? And what are the other sections?

Thanks.

What about the Belsize Park - Euston section? Is that part of NMA3 also?

OK thanks. And the numbers refer to the order in which TBTC is planned to be implemented?

Presumably NMA5 is the crunch, given that interacts with the depot?

All the areas have challenges in their own right. Camden is not complex as far as the signalling goes, although the layout is a spider's web when drawn on paper as a whole, one must remember that 'Camden' is actually three distinct areas - Camden Town Northbound, Camden Town Southbound, and Mornington Crescent. Once you draw it out in these three areas, the layout suddenly appears very simple.

For TBTC, Finchley Central has proved to be the most problematic area so far. Golders Green is reputed to be the most problematic on the line.

Regarding last weekend, the original desire was to enter passenger service at some time during the Sunday and then remain with Seltrac signalling through the NMA3 area. However basically a small amount of paperwork wasn't completed on time, therefore the system couldn't be "signed off" for passenger use. Once this is complete (which may already be so), then my understanding is the system will be ready to enter service on this section at short notice, it's just a case of finding a suitable date for the necessary resources to be put in to place.

One final point, this is a bit of a grey area, but 'NMA' I believe actually stands for NEW Migration Area. On the original Tube Lines plans the first section to go over was intended to be Morden - Stockwell. Indeed this was the very first section of the Northern Line to see TBTC equipment installed trackside. The NMA designation came in when LUL took over the project management and completely revised the programme in order to reduce the number of weekend closures required. Part of the plan was the roll-out was changed to start with the less risky High Barnet section, hence it became the 'New' migration area.