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Post by roman80 on Jan 5, 2024 14:35:13 GMT
Having been subject to this delay this morning, I can only say I am glad the decision maker in question is not an air traffic controller. Effectively this branch will have no good service for over seven days. Surely someone making this decision should have some knowledge of a railway's basic function to move it's customers.
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Post by roman80 on Dec 16, 2023 6:43:27 GMT
What is the policy re arm rests on the 92 stock? I happened to move to London in early 1994 and the Central was my local line then. I recall these sets were introduced with arm rests, but then they were removed a couple of years later. Meanwhile 96 stock and subsequent stock like S have them. What was the reason for removing them on the 92 stock and not putting them back at the refurb when other lines appear to consistently have them?
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Post by roman80 on Dec 7, 2023 11:30:13 GMT
There are no further go live dates planned at the moment but testing is planned as follows (again with the caveat that none of this is guaranteed to happen): SMA10 (Barons Court to Stamford Brook) - 9th/10th December, 16th/17th March 24 SMA12 (Fulham Broadway to East Putney) - 9th/10th December, 16th/17th March 24 SMA13 (Moor Park to Amersham/Chesham/Watford) - 23rd/24th March 24 That's all there is planned at the moment - hopefully that gives an idea of how things are likely to progress. The caveat was spot on, no mention of District line works in the email just sent by TFL to customers for this weekend. Is there any SMA12 testing on the horizon?
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Post by roman80 on Sept 27, 2023 18:39:26 GMT
As Parsons Green is my local station, I welcome the fact we now see more Parsons Green terminators at times of disruption. However, the 'tipping out'process is very slow, with each carriage usually checked and closed in turn by the driver or station staff. This blocks following trains back quite a way, often to West Brompton almost. I'd say four minutes is the average time from the cases I've seen that the terminating train is stationary if in the evening peak. Depending on where it's parking, can block up and down lines also. Parsons Green is not a wide platform either, and I often find it's easier to walk through the terminating train than on the platform to exit the station if in the front carriages. Hence, I can see the logic of using the wider platforms and extra staff of a major station like Earls Court, or even Fulham Broadway with a wider platform due to football crowds.
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Post by roman80 on Jun 8, 2023 13:39:08 GMT
The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA), which approves and oversees merger and acquisition deals touching the UK has released a statement today re Hitachi and Thales merging some aspects of their business. The statement speaks to reduced competition. I've added the first few paragraphs of their statement below. Full link here: www.gov.uk/government/news/merger-could-mean-network-rail-and-tfl-lose-out-on-digital-signalling-options[Moderators, I have never started a new thread before and the link on the tutorial page 'creating a post' has a link to 'creating a thread' site which ends at a 'site cannot be reached' page. Please can you place this post where you deem best as at best tangentially related to the SSR Resignalling topic] An investigation by the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has provisionally concluded that Hitachi’s €1.7 billion proposed acquisition of the Thales’ Ground Transportation (GTS) business could lead to a substantial lessening of competition in the supply of digital mainline and urban signalling rail systems. Signalling systems are a core part of railway infrastructure, helping to maintain passenger safety by controlling the movement of trains and maximising capacity on railway networks. Hitachi Rail Ltd (Hitachi) and Thales SA’s Ground Transportation business (Thales) are two of the leading global suppliers of signalling systems for mainline and urban railway networks (alongside Siemens and Alstom). Network Rail, the primary customer for mainline signalling systems in Great Britain (GB), is planning to upgrade much of the country’s rail signalling system over the next decade, deploying new digital technologies. Transport for London (TfL), which oversees London Underground, the largest urban rail system in the country, is also expected to begin replacing the signalling systems on two of London’s main underground lines over a similar period. Historically, a very small number of suppliers have dominated the provision of both mainline and urban rail signalling systems in the UK.
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Post by roman80 on May 20, 2023 5:25:26 GMT
What was the reason for replacing them? Canary Wharf has also seen a replacement in the last two weeks. The new ones are much brighter but display incorrect information: there are two on the westbound platform and the one further from the main gate line drops the first train as if it doesn't exist so train 1 on it is train 2 on the other one.
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Post by roman80 on May 8, 2023 21:36:06 GMT
I'm certainly one who thinks announcements about delays somewhat stretch the truth, such as minor delays on the jubilee which leave ten minute gaps between trains at Canary Wharf, London Bridge and Waterloo in the evening peak, but even after 30 years of commuting I was surprised last week to hear on S stock that there were 'minor delays on the Central line due to a derailment'. It's great that the announcements are accurate but I did find that one a bit worrying until I got home and could research what had happened.
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Post by roman80 on Apr 14, 2023 14:39:37 GMT
At current estimates, when will the fleet be back to full size post repairs?
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Post by roman80 on Mar 26, 2023 10:41:26 GMT
Is there an update on when phone service will be activated on the Elizabeth Line?
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Post by roman80 on Mar 17, 2023 12:57:14 GMT
Prompted by the remarks on doors and dwell time at Earls Court in the adjacent posts: The long Earls Court dwell times are more apparent, and more likely to occur, post SMA5 despite improved run times in the last working timetable release. Is there any plan to tighten these further? Very common to see trains advertised as two or more minutes away from departure on the boards suddenly approach and dock at the platform.
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Post by roman80 on Mar 14, 2023 19:37:48 GMT
Service is clearly worse in the short term. Ten minutes gaps multiple times between 515pm and 615pm westbound in the past week. Canary Wharf is having to employ crowd control daily. At which point is tfl held to account for still saying minor delays? Tonight at 530pm at Canary Wharf there was an eleven minute gap and the westbound queue to board was up against the eastbound platform doors. Lying about the delays being minor is not acceptable on safety grounds alone. Well past the point a temporary timetable was introduced to minimise peak hour issues.
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Post by roman80 on Feb 25, 2023 15:44:35 GMT
Is there a protocol for which train runs are cancelled given the lack of stock? Is it time for a special timetable? Very common to see westbound gaps of seven and eight minutes between 530pm and 615pm from Canary Wharf of a weekday evening. Yesterday an eight minute gap followed by seven minutes was alleviated by it being a Friday and not earlier in the week. This causes issues at London Bridge and Waterloo also given the time of day.
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Post by roman80 on Jan 27, 2023 0:00:19 GMT
Was there any prognosis as to the cause for the outage across the line? Not yet. I expect there will be a lot of poring over log files tomorrow. This is, of course, the risk with a highly centralised infrastructure.
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Post by roman80 on Jan 23, 2023 22:00:28 GMT
Has a root cause been identified yet? Extraordinary to see a whole line go down like this.
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Post by roman80 on Dec 6, 2022 21:37:35 GMT
Does the Abbey Wood frequency improve from 10tph in the May timetable? Ran 12tph when it was the only stage open but now 10tph.
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Post by roman80 on Nov 12, 2022 17:43:14 GMT
Passengers see daily that the information given is not matched by reality. We can discuss what the motivation is, but the information is not useful or accurate. For example, Wednesday November 9 at 530 or 540pm, tfl advertised good service on the jubilee line. Yet, westbound from Canary Wharf at what is absolutely the busiest time at that station there was a nine minute gap, and it took three trains after that one to clear the backlog.
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Post by roman80 on Nov 4, 2022 7:29:18 GMT
The clocks I mentioned are at the far ends of the platform, only visible if less than a carriage length away due to the low ceiling and recessed walls, and poor lighting. I'd guess they were installed back in the day for departing drivers to keep to time? Of little passenger benefit given the location.
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Post by roman80 on Nov 3, 2022 18:53:57 GMT
The clocks at both ends of the eastbound platform at Gloucester Road on the SSR have both been exactly one minute slow to the second since at least 2000 when it became my local station. They do however adjust perfectly for daylight saving each clock change.
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Post by roman80 on Nov 2, 2022 18:37:25 GMT
Once resignalled to East Putney, should the eastbound boards at Putney Bridge and Parsons Green become more accurate, able to pick up information from East Putney onwards?
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Post by roman80 on Sept 18, 2022 10:02:09 GMT
[Moderators, perhaps this post may be better served in a thread called 'Parsons Green and the S7s' which has a layout of the area but the thread is dormant since 2014, or SSR resignalling?]
Despite passing through Parsons Green daily, I'd never realised S7s cannot start service from Parsons Green station when heading east if coming from 21 siding or 22 siding. Last Thursday morning, due to a signal failure in the morning (Sept 15), TFL was reporting 'no service between Parsons Green and Wimbledon (at about 7:10am onwards), and severe delays between Parsons Green and Edgware Road.' This is common when the area between East Putney and Wimbledon has issues, and usually trains terminate at Parsons Green from the east, run into 23 or 24 siding to turn, and head back east by collecting passengers at Parsons Green. This is a very common occurrence and has been used at least half a dozen times this year at least.
I arrived at Parsons Green at 7:22am Thursday and the platform was very busy. No staff were visible but barriers were not left open. Between 7:22am and 7:50am four trains arrived from the east and were all cleared out on the Wimbledon bound platform. All were done by the driver, no platform staff, so took a while. Two went into sidings 21 and 22. Two eventually actually went on to Wimbledon as I assume things improved down the line. Both trains coming out of sidings 22 and 21 were set up for Edgware Road. But, both came out of the sidings and did not stop at Parsons Green. By that time, there were well over a thousand people on the platform. I happened to notice the trains rejoin the main line too far down the eastbound platform to start from Parsons Green. I think about two carriages would be off the platform at the Fulham Broadway end if this was attempted.
But, why would TFL advertise a service from Parsons Green when there wasn't one? Who would make the decision to run the terminators into Sidings 22 and 21, and not 23 and 24 as has been done in previous disruptions? There was no eastbound traffic from Putney Bridge during the whole period so no blocking issues.
Anecdotally, since SMA5 went live, I've seen more trains terminate and start at Parsons Green than in the past decade (including Putney Bridge terminators in that). Will this issue with entering traffic from sidings 21 and 22 be solved with the planned yard changes and 'SMA12 lite'?
At 750am I left and got a bus. Hundreds, including school kids travelling alone, were still walking to the station given TFL was still saying there was a service from Parsons Green.
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Post by roman80 on May 27, 2022 12:00:55 GMT
It really annoys me that the third line on train arrival displays at stations like Westminster on the district are often taken up with a slowly scrolling 'no smoking' message when one needs to assess whether to board the next train and change later or can see one to their destination in the next few minutes. If this needs to be done for some reason, why just single out smoking?
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Post by roman80 on May 24, 2022 18:09:37 GMT
Anyone else notice there is no WiFi or phone signal on the line, despite it being mentioned as being built with this capability? Just based on one trip, 541pm ex Canary Wharf to Paddington, but surprising.
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Post by roman80 on Apr 6, 2022 19:22:45 GMT
Having travelled at least four weekdays a week during 2020 and 2021 on the jubilee between Westminster or Green Park and Canary Wharf, i can say the sound levels between London Bridge and Canary Wharf seemed to rise after last December, particularly between Canada Water and Canary Wharf. Similar to an earlier post, I’ve also changed my headwear. Have gone from in-ear automatic noise cancelling (anc) ones to over ear anc headphones.
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Post by roman80 on Apr 5, 2022 14:27:29 GMT
Thanks for the kind response above. Will we ever be able to see the live status of trains at Eaat Putney on CityMapper or will it always be broken? Can I add Putney Bridge to that. Not only is the destination usually inaccurate, ghost trains sometimes appear that aren't even on the boards. This morning, train 124 turned up at 720am with the only trains on the boards showing five and seven minutes away.
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Post by roman80 on Mar 23, 2022 21:47:24 GMT
Is a working timetable change anticipated once SMA5 is bedded in to take into account the faster journey times potentially available in zone 1?
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Post by roman80 on Mar 17, 2022 19:22:55 GMT
Is SMA5 go live still planned for March 26/27?
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Post by roman80 on Feb 4, 2022 17:45:20 GMT
*TRANSPORT FOR LONDON FUNDING TALKS EXTENDED TO FEB. 18 just posted on Reuters and Bloomberg News.
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Post by roman80 on Jan 13, 2022 21:38:39 GMT
SMA5 has closures for testing pencilled in for the 8th and 9th January 2022. Indeed it has, I've been reviewing documents for it this week. Any major obstacles or challenges uncovered during this latest testing?
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Post by roman80 on Oct 20, 2021 17:06:42 GMT
Thank you for the detail Colin. The part on shutting down and restarting the cab is very interesting and explains everything.
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Post by roman80 on Oct 20, 2021 10:58:33 GMT
Will the new system be told when a driver change occurs at Earls Court? I was on train 124 which had a driver change this morning there, which prompted my question. If the system is trying to recover after delays, for example, it may want to send on its way a train that’s changing driver. As a passenger, I don’t know how encoded these are into timetables and how variable they are day to day, hence the question. I’m not aware of seeing any driver changes away from the terminals on the other automated lines I use regularly.
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