Reduced service on the MET Line from Monday 11 April 2022

The issue only affects the S8's on the Metropolitan line.

S7's on the Circle, District and Hammersmith & City lines are not affected.

I guess we would all like to know just what the "issue with some wheel sets of S8 stock trains" is, and why it "does not affect S7 stock trains". How many trains have been stopped? Presumably, it is not possible to borrow some S7 trains to fill the gaps, negating an advantage of a standardised fleet. Just what will the special service provide, based "on timetables operated during the pandemic"?

There is quite a laundry list of difficulties trying to operate S7 trains in service on the Met route. Probably none insuperable but the totality is offputting. We'll see whether they can recover the situation without needing that.

The email from TfL lists a 12tph frequency, but doesn’t mention whether there will be more trains during the peaks or if that is it.
So the metline could be dropping from the usual 24tph between Harrow to Baker St during the morning peak, to just 12tph from tomorrow.

I misread the original comment, I thought they were sending S7s from the other lines to the Met while the S8s were being worked on

Alzheimer's strikes again...

roverlei you seem to be confused about the the purpose of this forum.

It's not run by TfL and it's not the place to vent your frustrations at them.

This forum is run by enthusiasts for enthusiasts.

I had pondered (elsewhere on the interweb) if this was linked to a programme lift as I saw 21015/16 at Hillingdon on some very fresh wheels and bogies. I have been advised that such a programme has now begun.

As to the practicalities, train 730 this morning isn’t horribly crowded out. I think as a chunk of people are either on annual this week, or otherwise WFH, a worse time for this to happen could have come about. I do note that this is supposed to be on for the next 6 weeks (per the info board at Hillingdon). I dare say that as this progresses, things could get… interesting.

I wouldn't bet on it, the management have been running a "special operation" on the Met Line for months with complete disregard to the timetable or proper customer information about their intentions, with various excuses and fake news leaked from time to time. This just means that they have come up with a concrete excuse that they're now going to publish and formalises what has been close to normal for a while.

I’d be very interested to see your source for this, plus any concrete evidence. I doubt you will be able to provide it, though.

Having been privy to some of the internal wranglings about customer information you’re far from alone in feeling the current situation should be better advised. There’s a lot of people who aren’t particularly happy with the communications, not least front-line staff.

An innocent suggestion!! But assuming they are qualified to drive 1973TS, a. how would you draft in any currently surplus Met drivers from their various signing-in points to take over Piccadilly duties at Rayners Lane and b. given that the typical Rayners Lane to Uxbridge and back to Rayners Lane trip takes around 40 minutes, where are you going to find the extra rolling stock neccesary to fill in the gaps left by the Rayners Lane terminators? So we need four extra sets I think, TTNs and new roster plans for both Met and Picc. Should be able to do that by tea-time.

Customer information-wise, I see that the TfL Status Update page does now refer to a Special Service (not "Reduced" of course!) and gives the service interval on the various branches. They still can't resist muddying the waters with a mention of Delays, which to me at least primarily means more slowly or stopping unwontedly rather than running less often; delays on the M25 doesn't mean fewer vehicles!

Not necessarily.

The issue is reported (see upthread) as due to wheelsets recently on the Neasden depot wheel lathe.

If - and I see no evidence either way nor do I imply any - the issue lies with the lathe itself, that may take longer to resolve.

For example, if it is simply incorrect lathe settings have been used during turning, this might be resolvable by another turning. But, if the lathe itself is somehow faulty, and out of action, that will take a while to sort. They are very special purpose machines.

Or, another possibilty is the turning that has been done so far may not allow another turning to fix it and the wheelset is scrap, and on hand stock levels of new wheesets probably do not match the quantity of out of service units.

Sure, there are other wheel lathes at Upminster and Ealing Common, but then it is down to getting wheelsets or complete S8 to those depots. I've visited all three lathes, AFAIK there is no restriction on S7 or S8 at any location's lathe, although, obviously, there are operational issues with getting S8 to\from EalingCommon and Upminster.

OTH one possibility is that a "stop" or whatever the right term is has been placed on all units that visited neasden within a certain time frame, and these need to be assessed; some might be able to run after inspection. Which brings them back quickly.

Without more detailed info, hard to predict right now, we are just guessing.

I appreciate and understand the problems a lack of stock causes, it's just very frustrating not having details of the 'Special Service' when planning travel in the peaks. Journey Planner tomorrow lists the normal number of trains in the peak with a Special Service Note We are running a special service on the Met Line until further notice, please check before you travel. Presumably there is a Working Timetable but it's not in the public domain, this must be as frustrating for staff as customers.