District lack of stock AGAIN?

Well that's not minor delays then!

So the trains were being outstabled in places where the fitters couldn't get to them, or was there a lack of fitters?

It is a little more than the exams being out of date I'm afraid. I cannot give too much detail at present (I am sure it will be publicised eventually anyway) but let me just say a minor defect has been identified. This means much of the stock has to be withdrawn to check that the defect is not common to all stock. The overtime ban will obviously affect how quickly the checks will be done.

It has been running on the Press Association wire for over an hour now, so I would expect wider coverage bit.ly/99iemb

12 trains, cracks on brackets; the first take doesn't say which bracket, or whether it comes with a hinge

well, they've got the picture right now.
Re Bob Crow's comment - 1920's infrastructure? really...? Wonder what he thinks about the bits of the Liverpool and Manchester that are still in daily use...

It's the shoe beam bracket.
A whopping 18 trains were cancelled this morning due to No OK stock.

First, if Admin thinks this comment is in the wrong place, please accept my apologies and move it

I think there is a lesson to be learnt from the consequence of shortworking the Wimblewares to High Street. This of course means the heavy use of our old friend (not), Platform 4 at High Street.

I wonder if it is really worth running trains into this platform in passenger service in both directions, especially at busy times. It's only a personal opinion (and of course I am only a customer passenger, not a railway professional) but I suspect that passenger flows would be better managed if trains ran into P4 out of service from Earl's Court. Passengers from there and stations beyond would be advised to make the cross-platform interchange available at Gloucester Road.

While this would add five minutes or so to their journey, I submit that's a price worth paying to avoid what could be a nasty incident at High St. Highway engineers tend to make heavily used narrow streets one-way, so presumably the logic holds good for narrow station platforms ;D

Looks to be in the right place to me

If drivers are doing their job properly, and I do appreciate its an if, they should make a PA advising those heading for platform 2 that they can walk past the front of the train and around platform 3 rather than use the stairs. Of course that also relies on the customers listening to such a PA and taking the advice on board - in my experience not many do.

Tipping trains out at Earls Court could cause more problems than it solves as even with station staff assistance, it's a sure bet those doing the tipping out will be bogged down with questions. That will delay the tipping out process and thus all other trains coming off the Wimbledon branch. That could then have a knock on effect with all ex Ealing & Richmond trains forced to use platform 1 only. If the Olympia's are running, they would add to the pressure through platform 1.

All you'd need is a delay on a crew changeover and that's Earls Court brought to a standstill.

It's a bit of a catch 22 this one....

EDIT: as for the bracket issue, nice to know us drivers rank low enough to not be included in the loop eh!!

Really can't accept there is a significant issue at this platform!

It may be narrow but has two exits which is more than many platforms. If a busy train arrives there (which is exceptionally rare) then you just have to queue to get out, simples! That will still be substantially quicker than waiting for a following train at Earl's Court or going to Gloucester Road (!!!) especially if you happen to want to exit the system at High Street.

There is no risk of persons falling on the track, there is a fence one side and a train the other!! You have to wait on the train until you can get on the platform, it's not like the train is going to dash off until the driver can change ends.

Even at the busiest of times we are not talking about a throughput of perople to space that is comparable to some of the busier tube stations. Say Holborn westbound Central Line am peak, where queueing to get out of the platform is the norm and then shuffling up the steps and along the passageway (merging with the exit route from the eastbound) normal and slow .... and still safe and never a problem, just an anoyance! (but less annoying than waiting for another train, diverting, or getting off somewhere other than where you want to be)!
(and being legally trained I'd be quite happy to argue it in court!)

(Incidentally, after waiting two mins at an automatic red signal the driver may proceed past it, ostensibly to keep the service moving and thus, indirecly "ease congestion". Indeed it used to be a requirement to do so after 1 min I believe!!)

Ouch!!

Why are the shoe beam brackets coming apart? The bogies are quite new(ish) aren't they?

Hold on, isn't Cannon Street closed at weekends?

Aspect, I was not thinking so much of someone falling on the track (although that might happen if there was a sudden push and someone was off balance at the platform edge by the end of a coach) as a stampede on the staircase itself in which someone might fall and be trampled upon.

I agree that we are talking about rare situations but almost all accidents take place in rare situations. Let me try to put it another way: if access to Platform 4 was by an escalator (or "round the end") I doubt you or Colin would be on here saying "if only it was a fixed stair".

As for your legal training, "worse things happen elsewhere" is not a defence to an allegation of lack of care or anything else.

Accidents are usually the result of a series of mistakes or coincidental happenings but that's not to say that mitigation against the most unlikely of events is appropriate, in the world we live "costs v benefit" plays a part and LUL does reduce levels of risk, by way of risk analysis in all functions to "as low as reasonably practicable" .

My view is that High Street platform 4 does not represent a risk and stampedes UP stairways in my experience just don't happen I'd cite Holborn as reasonable evidence in support of that view. Again I just can't see stampedes down the stairs at HSK4 happening either, it's just too remote and there isn't that much demand.

I was not by any means suggesting "worse things happen elsewhere" as a defence to an occurrence, but as a reasonable indicator of the likleyhood of an occurrence.

Anyone can alledge anything they like, but the basis of a successful claim would at least have to begin with a "lack of REASONABLE care" that word being important ..as well, of course, as the other minimum requirements.

Really, though all i was saying was HSK4 needs to be put in perspective. Perhaps compare to Upton Park on a match day (one exit per platform), annoying as it is, worst that happens is a train trys to deposit more people onto a platform than it can hold, well the train will be held until all have alighted that train and there is space for another train to start depositing more, this is adequate to mitigate any risk. At HSK4 this happens by default, because the train won't move for ages and until the driver changes ends. Thus whilst I do not wish to dispute HSK4 is busy (in those very limited circumstances) as you say, I just think your solutions are disproportionate to the risk, which self mitigates by location. I'm not saying you shouldn't have raised it if you considered it a worthy discussion of course.

Their narrowness. I think somewhere on this board is a comment that they do not meet H&S standards and have an exemption certificate.

My comments were prompted by my experience during last Wednesday's evening rush hour when I changed at HSK having left Edgware Road on the 17:29 inner rail Circle which had been standing in Platform 2 at ER for at least 15 minutes when I boarded it (and there were probably 50 people on it already) - in other words one if not two of the previous inner rail Circles had been cancelled. Clearly (together with the shortworking of the Wimblewares) this was a pretty exceptional situation, but I think we can all agree that that's when accidents happen.

I was surprised by the carefulness of the descending throng on the stairs (and by the foolhardiness of the lass trying to ascend them through the middle of us) - the sense of relief of people once they were on the waiting train was palpable. It wouldn't even have needed anyone to do anything silly to have caused a major problem - a broken stiletto heel would have been quite enough. Descending a staircase while being pushed, however gently or unintentionally, from behind is not a pleasant experience.

There is indeed a strap which is designed to prevent the shoe beam completely detaching if the bracket fails.