TBTC Testing

Any TBTC this weekend?

Possible TBTC action next weekend Stratford to West Hampstead or Willesden I think, although too early to tell if this will happen or if its rumour mill again. Saying that, recent gossip has been pretty well spot on!

Probably something to do with Neasden, at a guess.

On the DLR, the Seltrac safety distance (i.e distance that a train can close in to the train in front or points set against it) is 50m. I would doubt that the Jubilee Line implementation of Seltrac would have a shorter safety distance.

That would be restricted manual, with no safeguards other than speed, rather than protected manual.

Since TfL bought them out not all that long ago...

I can't see it staying that way for long, like Metronet.

There could be more TBTC action this weekend I understand with a 'normal' service running, so all trains in TBTC Stratford to Dollis Hill and then Trip-cock to Stanmore.

If TBTC is running you will see Blue aspects at Dollis on the southbound starter, and at Baker Street on the southbound starter. The only other Blues are on the depot exits at Stratford I believe. The other giveaway is all the old signals are bagged up. Haven't seen a picture anywhere though.

TBTC was clearly in public use today, presumably between Dollis Hill and Stratford. And "severe delays" ... first a "faulty train" at Green Park, then another at London Bridge ... The entire southbound service was stopped for at least 15 minutes around 15:00m then again later, passengers advised to use other routes.

I hope useful lessons are being learned from this debacle; the system seems nowhere near fit for purpose. But on the plus side, the power is clearly there – noticeably higher speeds, particularly from West Hampstead to Kilburn, must have hit nearly 60.

We're about to go along for the evening, at lunchtime there was a "broken down train" at Westminster which had split things into two sections, this afternoon is described above, and as I look now there is a "faulty train" at Canary Wharf. I would go by DLR were that not all closed at Canning Town this weekend.

Presumably sticking the blame on the poor old trains is the new signal engineers way of diverting attention from what they have done that doesn't work. Aren't those of you who work on the line wondering when you will have the first day with normality?

The system on the DLR is meant to be the same/similar to the one being tested on the Jubilee right? Presumably, any problems which affected the DLR before had been rectified or lessons from its implementations had been taken on board.

What kind of differences are there on the Jubilee line which has made this system appear to cause so many difficulties?

Just speculating, but I presume if the Northern line is to be upgraded to something similar, the experience of deploying the system on the Jubilee will mean it will be a much more trouble-free transition, because some implementation issues will have been identified and rectified. Yes?

Caught up with the TBTC signal at Dolis Hill today, but it took ages for the system to verify the train, needing an engineer at the front of the train, quite a few 'I dunno's' from inside, opening and closing the doors and resetting the on-board whatever it is.

Anyway, blue aspects below:



And magnified slightly:

Well, in the end we chickened out and just took the Jubilee Line from Canning Town just to Stratford, then Central Line into the West End, and walked the last bit. Do anything more than the minimum amount of the Jubilee with the New Signals Comedy Stageshow in full spate? Now I may be silly, but I'm not THAT silly.

We were put off at the start by looking at the TfL website, and seeing the "Live Departure Boards" were showing nothing for any of our stations. I think the trains might have been running, just another bit of the technology that doesn't work. Likewise on the way home the sign for the next train at Stratford directed us to platform 13, with a train closed up and leaving empty to the depot, so we had to walk back and start again. Presumably all this information works from the signals. Hello team, it's not just getting the train signals working that is part of the project.

Dreadful long intervals between trains, 10 minutes or more seemed to be the norm. Not surprising when you see the bulk of the fleet all parked in the depot at Stratford. When are we going to even attempt to run at the normal intervals? And when are we going to practice rush hour intervals, clearing people away from Waterloo in the morning or Canary Wharf in the evening?

On our return journey, when our train arrived at Stratford a huge crowd got out, it must have been an age since the previous one, it was like 5.30 on a weekday.

Some polite little notices were displayed from the management, apologising (well, sort-of) for the long intervals between trains (although not for all the breakdowns) and saying it will all be much better soon. Yeah yeah yeah, where have we heard that one before. Do you know, I actually have some sympathy for the Manager Jubilee Line, he really has been dealt the short straw by those above him at 55 Broadway. I am sure the original perpetrators of this fiasco have long since left the scene and it is just a case of picking up the pieces. I wonder if he will get an OBE for Services to an Inept Top Management.

Someone wrote above the trains this weekend were faster than before. Well, maybe in the tunnels, but not on our bit - really slow entry to Canning Town, and the same going into Stratford, from way before the station, in fact even from before the penultimate Stratford Market station on the new DLR line being built alongside. And the delayed opening of the doors at stations, several seconds between stopping and the doors opening, is still there as has always been the case with the new signals.

I see that this morning, Sunday, all the western end of the line is out of service yet again because of yet another "broken down train at Dollis Hill". In fact since I started writing a "signal failure at Willesden Green" has also popped up as well.

Another weekend of failure. I still reckon it won't be finished by the 2012 Olympics.