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Post by jamesb on May 5, 2018 9:19:30 GMT
UPDATE: My father reports that he has just used the new entrance!
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Post by jamesb on May 4, 2018 20:30:36 GMT
This project is coming along and looks like a very good job in terms of workmanship.
There are stand alone Oyster readers - which are up and running (at least the one on the eastbound platform). The entrance isn't in use yet.
With no barrier, at the end of a relatively isolated alley, at the opposite end of the platform from the ticket hall, the entrances do seem vulnerable to antisocial behaviour. That might have been reduced with a barrier, at the entrance to the walkway, but there isn't space. I hope that they are kept open, but suspect they might eventually end up locked with some form of intercom to the booking hall if needed. Walking to Buckhurst Hill from my house, the entrance will shave off 5 minutes, because I can directly enter the Westbound platform from the subway.
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Post by jamesb on May 1, 2018 13:48:35 GMT
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Post by jamesb on Apr 29, 2018 22:03:27 GMT
At Stratford this evening, they were announcing "due to ongoing power supply issues we are unable to display next train information...".
Something still mustn't be "quite right"?
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Post by jamesb on Apr 27, 2018 23:25:13 GMT
The departure boards still weren't working at about 17:30, a secondary issue, and I was grateful that the trains were running. However, it is confusing at Stratford when there are up to 3 trains, not knowing which will depart first: people were walking en mass at a leisurely pace, and the doors closed, leading to people holding them open. It was all a bit of a guessing game!
Was the piece of equipment that feeds information to these boards damaged by the power surge/cut/restoration?
The entire system doesn't appear to be very resilient... As rare as a failure of this nature might be.
TfL are still not showing any live departures for the Jubilee on their website.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 26, 2018 16:29:06 GMT
It is up and running but the indicator boards on the platforms (at least at Stratford & West Ham) were blank.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 26, 2018 14:10:31 GMT
Would there be an alternative power source in this eventuality?
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Post by jamesb on Apr 25, 2018 23:05:17 GMT
I haven't heard any announcements this week, regarding priority seating, as was advertised would happen by TfL. I wonder if these signs are here to stay?
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Post by jamesb on Apr 24, 2018 16:30:12 GMT
I sometimes forget if I have touched in or not at Roding Valley, especially if there is a long wait for a train. It is quite convenient to complete an incomplete journey online, and whenever I have phoned the CCC they have always refunded me and are very polite.
We are lucky to have a contactless system.
Step on a bus at Epping station, for example [outside TfL's area] and there is a queue of people waiting to pay with cash. I now regularly travel to Harlow using this route, and it is amazing how much time it takes for people to get the correct change etc. Oyster / contactless speeds things up a lot. In addition, I pay over £5 for a return fare from Harlow to Epping, vs unlimited journeys by bus within 1 hour for £1.50 on TfL services.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 19, 2018 12:10:37 GMT
I passed through the points failure at Woodford today. I was excited to see the train passing a danger aspect, with the "Route Secured" board lit up. LinkThe yellow light on the (back) of the train wasn't flashing; does this mean it was passing the signal in coded manual, or does the yellow light only flash on the front of a train being driven in restricted manual?
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Post by jamesb on Apr 18, 2018 23:01:44 GMT
They might be more effective on the floor, in front of the seat. Whenever a stubborn or unaware passenger sits in a seat, and 'doesn't notice' a pregnant, disabled or elderly passenger, their back is obstructing the sign. On the floor, it might be a bit more obvious/visible when the seat is occupied.
They are most visible when the seat is unoccupied, in which case the seat would already be available for somebody who needs it.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 18, 2018 17:51:52 GMT
I suppose I was wondering why you would bother passing the signal at danger and waiting for the ATP to stop the train, instead of changing to RM mode and proceeding through the affected area without needing to come to an abrupt halt.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 18, 2018 17:02:20 GMT
I see a new generation of priority seating signs making their way onto tube trains, a big circular sign "Priority seating. Please consider other passengers when using this seat. #TravelKind".
They are a good idea, except that when somebody sits in the seat, they are obstructed from view.
Its a pity they can't be in another location that isn't obstructed when somebody sits down on the seat, such as on the floor in front of the seat, for example...
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Post by jamesb on Apr 18, 2018 16:50:50 GMT
On my way home today, at around about 4 o'clock, my train came to a stand outside Hainault station, almost certainly at signal HAI 6751, the signal giving access to the three platforms. However I was quite far down the train so can't be perfectly sure. We then moved off and came to a smart halt, almost certainly by my judgement, we were stopped by an emergency brake application. We then proceeded in what felt distinctly like RM to the platform - in this case platform 1. We were bound for Woodford via Hainault, so 2 would be the more usual choice, but it was one and a train then departed from 2 for Hainault depot before we quickly followed, heading off to Grange Hill. I noticed that the boards were advertising the train I left at Roding Valley as being bound for Ealing Broadway and there was a Woodford very close behind. I'm also quite confident my Woodford via Hainault had been described as a Newbury Park service at Mile End. Anyone got any juicy details? Sounds very much like a signal failure, HAI 6751 presumably passed at danger (I mean in accordance with the relevant procedures, I don't mean a SPAD), though very slickly and efficiently from my vantage point. As a passenger, I have experienced 92ts coming to an abrupt halt on numerous occasions, usually related to ATO not working well in slippery rail conditions (but on other random occasions also - for example, if somebody opens the J door leading into the rear drivers cab). As the Central line is automated, do trains 'apply the rule' in the same way as on non-ATO signalled lines if they are required to pass a signal at danger? There aren't train stops. So the ATP wouldn't allow the train to pass the signal at danger in the first place in the traditional non-ATO way? I have been on a train passing over a defective section in RM mode, with the yellow light flashing on the front of the train. This sounds like ATO threw a random hissy fit, and the driver continued into Hainault in coded manual, and passing the signal HAI 6751 was just a coincidence. All speculation from a humble passenger though!
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Post by jamesb on Apr 11, 2018 23:45:32 GMT
Today, I was at Leyton going to Stratford shortly after 19:00. Two Emergency Response Unit personnel turned up alongside a manager (who I recognised from The Tube documentary) and a BTP officer. We stopped shortly outside Leyton and the ERU personnel went down onto the track to check something, we slowly proceeded to Stratford, eventually gaining full speed.
The service was severely delayed this evening on my way home due to the track defect.
I was surprised that the ERU would be called out to such an incident. Would the ERU ever carry out emergency repairs?
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Post by jamesb on Apr 6, 2018 16:53:45 GMT
I have found the process of ordering a replacement Oyster card to be extremely efficient. I received a replacement by post within a couple of days, with my balance included.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 4, 2018 23:07:33 GMT
I am sitting now at Woodford, and have noticed that every evening around this time a 92ts train is stabled in the siding and seems to undergo some form of testing. The doors are cycled open and closed, the PA system announces "OPO Alarm, 1,2 3, 4, 5" and the front passenger emergency alarm is tested briefly. Also , somebody walks through the train with a torch and checks that all the inter-car barriers are correctly in place.
Are there different levels of tests for these trains? How often does this type of check happen?
My attention was drawn to the train by the characteristic cab "duh duh" noise when the PEA was tested.
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Post by jamesb on Apr 2, 2018 19:04:14 GMT
I see on the official Northern Line Twitter feed that the works are overrunning and there is likely to be disruption tomorrow.
It seems quite sensible to pre-warn people so that they can make alternative arrangements in advance.
The delay is understandable, given the scale and complexity of the task. I imagine that the concrete needs to set before trains can run over it, the signalling re-connected and tested etc.
I wonder if it was an ambitious plan to get the work completed over a 4 day bank holiday in the first place?
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Post by jamesb on Mar 30, 2018 5:39:26 GMT
What happens to the trains between stations in the section that failed? It must be unnerving for all the signals to suddenly go blank, from a drivers perspective!
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Post by jamesb on Mar 29, 2018 22:25:58 GMT
The line ended up in a terrible mess this evening following the signalling systems failure in the Plaistow area. At Victoria, the driver said that he taken over 1 hour and 15 minutes to travel eastbound from Earls Court and was advising passengers to use an alternative route.
I think that trains were reversing at Tower Hill, Aldgate East and Whitechapel.
I was curious about how a 'signalling systems failure' could happen on a line with conventional signalling?
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Post by jamesb on Mar 24, 2018 10:26:38 GMT
I once saw a train move from east of the eastbound platform (platform 3) just outside the station, across the points and into the westbound platform (platform 2). I can't quite recall where it went next - I assume into the sidings.
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Post by jamesb on Mar 18, 2018 22:10:28 GMT
Today I caught a train Westbound from Woodford in the late afternoon. We were delayed at each station to Leytonstone, and the doors were taking a long time to close. A '? train maintainer' had a look at Leytonstone and the doors were opened and closed several times during this process. When we pulled out of Leytonstone, the driver announced that the train was not long out of the depot, and the air in the doors was very cold, causing them to close slowly.
I had not considered that before, but it makes sense that air pressured mechanisms might not work as well in the cold, if the pressure goes down.
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Post by jamesb on Mar 10, 2018 1:36:14 GMT
Even a plain “Woodford” destination can lead to a Snaresbrook Shuffle, as some people do assume it’s running to Woodford via the loop. Does the system have the capacity to say "Woodford via Snaresbrook"? The only alternative would be to label the train as Epping and then change it to Woodford after it has passed Leytonstone - perhaps that would create a Snaresbrook tsunami !
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Post by jamesb on Mar 8, 2018 9:14:53 GMT
I didn't catch it, so I don't know (I was on the Westbound platform at the time)... There was another train on the board indicating Hainault via Newbury Park, but I could imagine people getting on the Hainault train expecting to go via Newbury Park (as 99% of the trains would be) and ending up at Snaresbrook (if they didn't pay attention). Although I agree that there would be plenty of opportunities to see if it was going via Woodford - such as the destination of the train & the announcements.
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Post by jamesb on Mar 7, 2018 23:04:04 GMT
The indicator board at Stratford was displaying "Hainault" at around 19:00ish, without specifying via... I assumed that "Hainault" without a via... meant that it would be going via Woodford.
Serves people right, for not listening to the driver...
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Post by jamesb on Mar 4, 2018 1:31:12 GMT
Its amazing that the predecessors to the Underground had devices to prevent trains passing red signals over 100 years ago, but NR has only introduced such devices over the last 10-15 years, and then only at high risk locations Except that tripcocks and trainstops don't prevent trains from passing red signals at all, they merely get a train stopped if it does pass a red signal. It's SPAD mitigation rather than SPAD prevention. When you have (relatively) quickly accelerating and decelerating trains, running at (relatively) low speeds, with a common fleet (or very similar fleets), you can design a signalling system around stopping trains from full line speed within overlaps and thus provide really good protection. But that sort of thing is much less practical when you have 1-car DMUs mixing with freight trains that can be five, six, seven hundred metres plus long and speeds of 75, 80, 90, 100, 110, 125 mph. TPWS can more or less do it, but it was a much harder nut to crack. Aren't tripcocks and trainstops sometimes located half way up the platform to force a train to slow down before it reaches a red signal (if there is a junction ahead) or a buffer at a terminus?
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Post by jamesb on Mar 3, 2018 23:24:50 GMT
There seemed to be a lot of deicing units on the Jubilee line, more than I have observed on the Central line. Based on my visit to Stratford - I saw at least 3 trains with blue lights - maybe it was just a coincidence.
The 1992 stock, for all its faults, seemed to handle the cold weather quite well (apart from the first day of snow). A bit of drizzle on the other hand and the ATO has a meltdown!
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Post by jamesb on Mar 3, 2018 22:19:14 GMT
I was wondering which LU rolling stock (if any) is best adapted to run in freezing / icy / snowy conditions.
The 1992ts seems to have brushes which can be mechanically lowered onto the current rails to brush away snow / ice, a feature which I haven't observed on the 1995/6 stock.
On the Jubilee line, I saw a few trains with blue lights (? deicer units).
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Post by jamesb on Feb 19, 2018 22:35:10 GMT
I feel sorry for the poor passenger service agent in this situation - alone, initially, responsible for a train full of hysterical passengers, a smoking train and an unstaffed platform. The situation could have been a bit more troublesome had it occurred in a tunnel.
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Post by jamesb on Feb 19, 2018 20:26:14 GMT
I saw an Epping train on the eastbound at Woodford this lunchtime (train 32) with a whole carriage set of doors that weren't opening. The carriage was empty and after a short delay and intervention of platform staff, the train continued to Epping, although the doors on the car in question never opened.
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