Metropolitan Line to Cockfosters!!!

You would think so, but there has been two incidents recently of D Stock taking the wrong stick at Hanger Lane, instead of the usual 'sightseeing' trip to South Harrow, causing little delay, both times the job has been shut down for almost an hour doing a WDM... apparently the Picc are not happy any more with us going to S Harrow, they would rather there branch be shut down for an hour whilst a WDM is carried out... of course they don't really give a hoot about the Rayner's Branch anyway

I wish I couldn't imagine that

Indeed. For this type of incident, the DMT would probably be looking at no more than "The Piccadilly Line Service Manager informs me that the train could not run to South Harrow because ... " It's then for others to decide if they went to take things further, or not.

Of course there's nothing to stop the DMT adding a few lines to the IRF "In the opinion of the investigating DMT ... ", but it's not really their remit.

Would it not make sense for copies of these forms to be carried in driving cabs? After all, you can't make a WDM without a train.
I don't know how long these forms are, but you should need a maximum of two to be carried (one to be used and one spare in case of mistakes) at any one time so the storage requirement shouldn't be onerous. And if for any reason a form wasn't on the train when it should be, then you've lost nothing compared with the scenario outlined by happybunny above.

If the WDM is being done the traditional way, with a Person In Charge appointed, then the form is a must. No WDM form = No WDM. Or at least that's what *should* happen.

Nowadays, WDMs can be authorised by secure radio (where the procedure states there's no Person In Charge and no form), and this has caused things to become slightly blurred. However, my understanding is that if points need to be manually secured, the secure radio method cannot be used, therefore a form is a necessity.

That report by the RAIB states in paragraph 81 that

"ED173 is mounted to the left hand side of westbound tracks. Upon arrival at the signal
the batteries in the Station Supervisor - Days’ lamp failed. He was left with no means
of communication and standing in the dark. The only illumination was provided by the
lights of the train. The nearest rail was the positive conductor rail charged at 630 volts.
Fortunately he managed to return to the train without mishap and advised the Train
Operator what had happened."

Surely this is incorrect? The nominal voltage in the +ve rail is +420v mostly?

Actually further to this, the report states in para. 118 that "From time to time, Duty Station Managers are called upon to cover duties in areas other
than their own. When special train moves such as a WDM are required, the lack of local
knowledge is a serious limitation on their ability to manage the situation. To undertake
those duties properly the knowledge gap needs to be supplemented, eg either by the use of
information from the control room, or from documented guidance available at a station."; surely the most obvious method is some form of prior first hand experience of the area?

It must be 100 years since the junction was put in at Rayners Lane. Sufficient time, you would think, for a procedure, should a train be in sent the wrong direction, to have been worked out and documented, rather than having to devise something on the spot.

I'm having a bit of difficulty with this one. So there was a procedure all in place which said "Continue to South Harrow" when the train involved (of the only type which has been capable of being misrouted here for the last 45 years) was out of gauge .....

If you notice my colleagues response, you will note he began that possibility with the term "Option 1." Every incident has numerous options and ways in which things can be brought to a successful conclusion. This is all dependant on the individual incident and the detailed circumstances surrounding the event.

With regard to your point about the junction being there for 100 years, that is irrelevant. If it was, then we could also suggest that as the junction has been there so long, how come a train accepted the wrong route at all, but that would also be ridiculous. Everyone is human, and a combination of human errors came together to produce this once in a while scenario.

If you attempted to write a procedure for every single eventuality, not only would you still be writing them for the next 100 years or so, but you will still no doubt have missed one. For example, did this train stop in exactly the same position as the last one to make the same error (whenever that may have been.) Therefore, we have laid down procedures which have to be adapted and used for each eventuality, and in order that they are adapted correctly and safely, extra time may be taken to avoid any error.

What should be perfectly clear to everyone though is the fact that, once it happened, there was never any risk of injury to anybody, and the incident was brought to a very safe conclusion, without damage to either assets or people. If that kind of outcome takes a few minutes more to achieve, then so be it.

May I ask if there is any suggestion that D Stock, and even C Stock for that matter will be allowed to a limit of shunt west of Boston Manor as part of the appraisal?

Maybe this procedure needs to be briefed to staff, as I have said before, as many many T/Op's don't know that you can carry out WDM via Connect Radio.... I am not saying if it is right , or wrong, I am just saying it as it is !

Not to mention a fair amount of discussion and separate publicity. Even this site publicised it - and although it's not an official source of information (or is it ) it is strange that other subjects brought up on here quickly enter the mess-room / office discussion. Surely word of the procedure would have got around, and at least one person could have queried it with a manager?

The Met drivers that I have used the procedure with (2 so far) have never questioned whether they could carry it out through me via the radio.