Day Off?

No. They are Circle and Hammersmith Train Operators (they also work the H&C) and will therefore be operating a special timetable today.

They will be assisting with customer enquiries and advising of alternative routes. I would also imagine that booking offices and ticketing facilities will still be available as usual. If there were a replacement bus service (which in this case there isn't!) they would be advising customers of this too.

Not unusual at all. A similar closure has been occuring on numerous weekends over the past couple of years.

Replacement buses for this closure are not run due to the fact that:
a) Most stations involved are interchange stations with the alternative underground routes, or are close in walking terms to such stations
b) To run additional buses serving all the intermediate stations would be impractical.

Whilst most weekend engineering work can be inconvenient to passengers (and staff don't forget - we don't live on the job although it can feel like it) it's the best way to get large chunks of our system renewed.

I wouldn't say it makes for either a good or bad day for anyone. Just maybe more of an interesting challenge.

In terms of affecting staff, it is a major headache.

As citysig says, the staff have to travel to work too - and if your station or normal route of travel has no train service, just getting to & from work puts you 'on the back foot' before you even start.

Once at work, we have to make extra announcements to ensure our customers know what's happening - most just don't plan ahead or bother to read the posters, etc. Tourists can be particularly hard work, especially if their English isn't that good.

It's also worth noting that the H&C ran far too many trains. All the drivers and DMT's i spoke too commented on it. Hammersmith had all platforms full most of the time and I found myself stick to stick from Shepherds Bush most of the time. They ran more trains than a) they needed and b) they could cope with. While I understand the "business needs" of the company to make up the mileage by running almost empty trains - something to do with funding and "capacity" but in the meantime you just have sparsely populated trains blocking back left right and centre. There were probably at least 2x more trains running on Sunday on the Hammer branch than we run in the peak Mon-Fri (when us and the punters wouldnt mind a few extra trains). It was ridiculous, needless and annoying.

With the above in mind, it still beat doing circles! ;D

A good question - but easily answered!

The station concerned, assuming the staff are 'on the ball', will implement "station control".

This can range from doing simple PA's, closing off access to platforms, filtering customers through certain passageways to non stopping trains. It all depends on the station layout, time of day / day of the week, special event, etc.

Every station on the LUL network has a congestion control plan - yep, even the likes of Chesham will have one - and this details what should happen at that given location.

They should contact the Service Controller to request trains to non-stop. Sometimes this might not be possible (not enough time) so they may have station staff on the platform to tell the operator to continue. In both cases eith Line Control or Station staff should inform the station in the advance and to the rear and the customers at the earliest opportunity.