Suspended

It is due to a Train Radio problem, we had a Thales engineer in our room, who left asking for directions to the Vic Line control centre.

This was just after I said were we the only line they mostly visited!

Tal-Ess

Which could not have happened at a worse time with the Arsenal football game finishing, and with non stopping of all Piccadilly Line trains at Kings Cross due to CTRL works.

I'd imagine its gonna be travelling on the Piccadilly Line this evening.

It's pronounced TA-LESS....

So I take it then that the new rules about full suspension when train radio is lost are now "hard and fast"?

It seems to me that double-manning trains is no longer acceptable...

Yes that is partly true , we will run empty but NOT in the tunnel without either a handheld radio or a second man in the cab .
the reason for this being , if a driver should become incapacitated for any reason , the controller has no way of knowing as there is no radio alarm ..

on some lines in the past , management have tried various ways of keeping the service running by bending the rules to suit themselves ,

i cant speak for the drivers on other lines . but on the picc . if the radio goes down . we do not move from the station we are at until we have obtained the appropriate protection

Last year when the train radio went kaput . i was at leic sq on the west . havin been there for around 20 mins .eventually along came a station supervisor telling me to tip out and run empty as the trains were backed up behind me . he said he didnt have a spare handheld or a spare memeber of staff to accompany me and said that i would be monitored from the control room at ect ....
i informed him that if that was the case i wouldnt be going anywhere , i then tipped the train out , and screwed it down . when the supervisor asked me what i was doing i told him that until he gets me either a handheld or a second man . the train would be staying where it was and that if he wanted me i would be upstairs in the mess room having a cup of tea and a sandwich ...
he then got on the auto phone to goodness knows who !! , amazingly 5 mins later . a member of staff appeared out of nowhere !!!!!.. we put the cattle back on the train and continued westbound

the rules governing train radio failures are there in black and white and the procedures that are to be followed are there for a reason , the powers to be will always try and change them to suit themselves and their precious service . NOT when im on duty they wont !!!!

The procedures for train radio failure were changed / clarified in response to 7/7. We can only carry on running in service if a suitable replacement is made available (ie, Airwave or handheld).

That said, drivers can refuse to remain in service on the basis that nobody has been given training in the use of the Airwave handsets (these are digital and are provided, i'm led to believe, by the BTP).

If no replacement is available, we run out of service with hand signallers on every platform. No hand signaller = no train movement. Every hand signaller must have a means of contact with the line controller at all times.

The 'second man' cannot in any way replace a train radio - he is there soley to take 'appropriate action'* in the event that a driver should become incapacitated. As stated, when the train radio is lost, the opo alarm is also lost - so lines that use the opo alarm have this added problem to contend with.



*= I say 'appropriate action' in the sense that the 'second man' may be station staff etc and so not qualified to do anything other than seek help.