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Post by Tom on Oct 2, 2020 18:48:12 GMT
[I don't see why this is the "last chance saloon", if responsibility for transport in London is taken away from TfL then it becomes the responsibility of the DfT, the Secretary of State for Transport and ultimately the Prime Minister. Much easier for the government to hand over the money and let the Mayor take the blame when things go wrong! Indeed, and there are historical parallels with a Conservative government stripping a powerful Labour local authority of their transport responsibilities to weaken them - Thatcher did it to Ken Livingstone's GLC in 1984. This might well be a last-chance saloon for TfL in its current guise, however, depending on what will there is within the Government to 'punish' the mayor.
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Post by Tom on Sept 27, 2020 15:40:36 GMT
I’ll start with perhaps between Parsons Green and Putney Bridge It's not there - too much open space and the wrong type of buildings. I don't think it's on LU - possibly somewhere on Docklands though.
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Post by Tom on Sept 27, 2020 12:56:38 GMT
While there are undoubtable flaws, one of the biggest will have been to see this as a civil engineering project, rather than a systems project. The tunnelling was completed on time and on schedule, it's the rest of it that's gone a bit pear shaped. Absolutely, and this is what people keep forgetting: Building tunnels is the easy bit. Comparisons to the CSLR are all well and good, but the signalling (including the trainborne elements) on Crossrail is more complicated than anything currently found on LU, let alone the CSLR.
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Post by Tom on Sept 23, 2020 9:18:55 GMT
Andy had the dubious honour of having to wake me up with a phone call a few times when I was the on-call signalling manager. Always too chirpy at 3am! I’ve just noticed that Alexis, one of the CSAs featured for the uniform fashion show, is seen working at Kings Cross mainline for East Coast Trains. It might be a coincidence, but I was always had doubts as to how authentic some of the staff featured in the Uniform fashion show were. At least one of the smiling CSAs featured in it was a former CSA who was by then working as an Assistant Project Manager.
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Post by Tom on Sept 18, 2020 22:55:03 GMT
I have to say one of the things that surprised me is the, for example, "Ah, the specified fire proofing is no longer up to code, so we need to replace whats already been done" - is it normal in railway projects to re-write the specification requirements before something goes in to service and do the job twice? Seems to set yourself up for a never-ending build project if so... Yes, it's not unheard of. It often happens when something is specified but the product supplied is found not to meet the specification in practice. For example, London Underground specified a new type of signalling equipment room wire in the 1980s. A supplier developed it, it passed the required tests, and it was used in several resignalling projects in the late 1980s. It was then discovered that the insulation on the wires had a tendency to fail in certain circumstances. The new equipment room at Queen's Park had to be completely rewired before it was commissioned, and and at least five other rooms which were already commissioned when the problem was discovered had to be subsequently rewired.
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Post by Tom on Sept 18, 2020 22:44:14 GMT
I'm fairly sure that the all-night service on New Year's Eve only started in the mid-2000s; it was initially only intended to be a one-off for 1999.
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Post by Tom on Sept 17, 2020 23:22:58 GMT
I've seen photos (in the last day as it happens) of 47808 with inspection saloon DB999506 at Harrow on the Hill. Could this have been the trip? Would you recall if this was on the Met. mains or locals ? The photo I saw was it leaving Harrow Platform 1, so NB Main.
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Post by Tom on Sept 13, 2020 0:44:11 GMT
Looks rather like Sudbury Town to me.
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Post by Tom on Sept 10, 2020 12:29:04 GMT
I've seen photos (in the last day as it happens) of 47808 with inspection saloon DB999506 at Harrow on the Hill. Could this have been the trip?
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Post by Tom on Sept 9, 2020 18:28:16 GMT
On a bit of a tangent but what is happening with RMT Regardless of how well-known it may be, the RMT leaders you mention are entitled to privacy as to why they are not currently at work. Would you like your medical history posted on the internet? Let's keep to the subject at hand and not use this for airing any inter-union rivalries, it's bad enough in the workplace.
Future instances where members of one union make negative comments about another may be considered in breach of Rule 3 in a similar manner to expressing political opinion.For the record, Mr Hedley came from Signals, not P/Way - I know a number of people who were involved in his training.
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Post by Tom on Sept 9, 2020 18:07:12 GMT
From my understanding, whilst we see sepapearte line/mode Twitter accounts, it all comes from a centralised engagement interface called Clarabridge operated by the same individuals. Clarabridge also offers a tweetbot and automated response facility from memory. I'm still not convinced that all the names you see on the responses from TfL's social media accounts are from real people!
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Post by Tom on Sept 8, 2020 15:35:22 GMT
The last ten posts in this thread have been removed as they were either in breach of Rule 3a (Political Opinions) or otherwise off topic. Please stick to the topic - Coronavirus Implications For London's Transport, and refrain from expressing political opinions.
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Post by Tom on Sept 6, 2020 19:07:03 GMT
Back on Topic please...
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Post by Tom on Sept 6, 2020 19:05:08 GMT
I am fairly sure that the A40 at Hillingdon is three lanes each way. It is indeed, and there are no traffic lights on it until you pass Park Royal.
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Post by Tom on Aug 30, 2020 23:20:33 GMT
Apologies, my error in copying the link when I reformatted it. It now works correctly.
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Post by Tom on Aug 30, 2020 21:19:02 GMT
Reminds me a bit of the Kapelle der Versöhnung in Berlin.
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Post by Tom on Aug 30, 2020 21:09:19 GMT
The requirement is for ballot papers to sent to members who the union's records show are working in the affected grade(s) at the affected location(s). This is why the unions send out periodic reminders to check your membership information is up to date, because if there is a discrepancy and you get a ballot paper in error the employer can use it to get the vote nullified in court.
The situation gets more complicated when there are people (like me) who have a contract saying their normal work location is x, but because of the cost centre or organisational structure they are in, they are considered working for an organisation based at y for HR purposes.
And now back to the core subject please...
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Post by Tom on Aug 26, 2020 10:43:23 GMT
Studies elsewhere (Paris, Tokyo et al) have come to the conclusion that the chance of being infected on public transport is considerably lower than if you were to go to (for example) a bar or club. Personally I'd say thirty kids in a classroom together for an hour at a time have a much greater chance of spreading infection, but as brigham states, children have already lost out on half of the last academic year and shouldn't lose out on even more. On that note, back to the transport implications of Covid-19.
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Post by Tom on Aug 23, 2020 20:55:07 GMT
I think that is a definite as platform heights are being changed and the tube stock will not be compatible. Are you sure about changing platform heights to suit the Class 484s? I would have thought it would be far cheaper to achieve any boarding height change by lowering the trackbed formation/ballast depth - rather than messing with the platforms with all the attendant impacts on attached buildings and access ramps. I might well be wrong, but I do seem to remember there was a step down into a Class 483, at least at Sandown!
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Post by Tom on Aug 23, 2020 20:42:56 GMT
I don't think the electricians were on peanuts when Crossrail and Spurs were competing for their services. Indeed, but it's always interesting how certain elements of goverment always complain about public sector projects costing more than the original estimate as a result of 'market forces' affecting a group of people with a particular skill set. The aforementioned elements of Government are usually strong believers in the role of the private sector and champions of the free market. interestingly, in my own experience it isn't so much the skilled staff who try and spin a job out; it's usually the project management, particularly when you get a group of consultant project managers in who have built a reputation as being problem solvers. The problem (no pun intended) is that they tend to try and find (or create) more problems for them to solve to make themselves look good and ensure future work. When the car mechanic at KwikFit told me my tyres needed replacing I questioned it and they confirmed that the tyres weren't illegal. I decided to wait for the MOT advisory which never came. The car did, however, fail on brakes, which was somewhat ironic as the reason I'd taken it to KwikFit was for their offer of a free brake check. I would never trust KwikFit again.
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Post by Tom on Aug 19, 2020 14:24:26 GMT
Both Stamford Brook and Putney Bridge have been mooted as potential boundary locations, but they are both currently excluded from the plans.
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Post by Tom on Aug 15, 2020 21:13:51 GMT
Exactly.
Lest we forget, every time that a certain political group in the London Assembly raises the potential value of nominee passes (and equates them to an annual all-zone travelcard), TfL always responds that they are cost-neutral.
Providing nominees with free travel does not require any additional services to be operated and removing them would bring in a maximum revenue of around £7.32m - if, and only if, all of the following conditions were true: 1. Every member of staff (28k) has a nominee 2. If the nominee passes were to be withdrawn, they would all buy Z1-9 travelcards to compensate 3. 100% of travelcard revenue was to go to TfL.
As none of these conditions are true then the potential increase in revenue is always going to be smaller.
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Post by Tom on Aug 12, 2020 8:36:11 GMT
Ilford Open Day was in 1989 - my father has photos of some the stock on display there too. (I was too young to hold a camera the right way around at the time, but i was there!)
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Post by Tom on Aug 9, 2020 11:57:16 GMT
There's even a Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Society - I've been next to them at a few exhibitions.
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Post by Tom on Aug 6, 2020 10:07:24 GMT
I'm certainly not convinced about the 'S' standing for suburban, as they're anything but a suburban train. I note the origin of the reference comes from TfL Information Governance but I would question the correctness of that, and suggest that it stood for 'Sub Surface'. t697 what's your opinion?
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Post by Tom on Aug 6, 2020 9:58:47 GMT
And the background is South Harrow Sidings.
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Post by Tom on Aug 5, 2020 22:25:17 GMT
I believe it was both power supply and provision of Low loss composite conductor rail, plus track circuit immunisation and other signalling enabling works to accommodate S stock.
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Post by Tom on Aug 5, 2020 22:05:04 GMT
Glad you liked them Steve. You should have a PM from me.
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Post by Tom on Aug 4, 2020 21:46:18 GMT
It was the law, it may still be, that the mechanical locking system had to be close to the points they were responsible for. In ancient days the mechanical locking bars were below the signal box/cabin; but then signal boxes were every few miles where a set of points were. That was more in the days of mechanically operated points, and it was related to the length of the rodding.
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Post by Tom on Aug 4, 2020 21:43:11 GMT
I've taken a few over the years. Here's Baker Street (Bakerloo and Jubilee Lines): and here's Baker Street (Metropolitan line): If you want any more, feel free to drop me a PM.
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