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Post by rheostar on Jan 23, 2014 22:49:35 GMT
Have they shown any concrete evidence on how they are going to fix it? (I had to...) I don't think anything's set in stone yet.
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Post by rheostar on Jan 23, 2014 20:00:07 GMT
They're nothing new.
Have a look at this at around 3:40 into the film...
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Post by rheostar on Jan 23, 2014 17:15:21 GMT
That's not good! Looking at those pictures they'll be lucky to have it cleared by Monday morning.
'Damage caused by flooding' is an understatement!
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Post by rheostar on Jan 23, 2014 16:16:28 GMT
If I had to put money on it, the Thales system would be my bet.
It's now proven technology.
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Post by rheostar on Jan 15, 2014 1:07:36 GMT
First of all, hello everyone! This is my first post on the forum.
Going back to a question asked earlier regarding non safety critical shifts. I have been on a late shift in the past (1500 - 2300) and then had to go in for my annual training at 0900 the following day. I know colleagues who've had the same, even within the last week. When I asked my DSM if this was allowed, the response was that because the training was a non safety critical task, the 12 hour rule did not apply.
Otherwise, have to agree with all other posts who say it's 12 hours book off to book on minimum. If you happen to finish late, you return 12 hours later with no loss of pay. The minimum rest period is 12 hours between duties. It's irrelevant if it's a duty on the station or a non safetly critical training course. Get your DSM to check the Framework Agreement for Station Staffing, Schedule 3, page 7
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Post by rheostar on Jan 14, 2014 8:38:26 GMT
Despite being told I am wrong, we work to the Professional Train operators Agreement and the associated Framework Agreement at Upminster - this sets out the duty and driving time parameters as agreed between the Unions and London Underground. If I book off late and have less than 12 hours until I next book on, I would be expected to book on again exactly 12 hours after I last booked off with no financial penalty to myself (ie, I would still be paid as if I'd booked on at the originally planned time). If the same scenario occurred at the end of the second duty, the same thing would apply - book on 12 hours later with no financial penalty. It goes without saying though that duties are not scheduled so tightly that such a scenario would occur several days on the trot. Others can quote whatever they like but that is how drivers and managers work at Upminster train crew depot. That is also how it works at Acton Town (District) and Earls Court train crew depots. I know it does because I have worked at both of those depots. Funnily enough, the same way of working also applied at Earls Court station and all stations on it's group - again I know that for a fact because I have worked there. This is spot on. The 12 hour rest period starts when a person books off from duty. If they book off late, then they'd be expected to report for duty exactly 12 later, regardless of what time they should start the following day. It's been that way for operational staff since the mid 80's.
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Post by rheostar on Jan 14, 2014 8:26:14 GMT
The lifts at Covent Garden have taken a real pounding over the past few years. Hard to believe that a few years ago, it was one of the quietest stations on the line and, to my knowledge, was closed on Sundays. You're correct, we never used to stop there on Sundays. Back in the early 80's there was talk of Covent Garden closing altogether. How times have changed!
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Post by rheostar on Jan 7, 2014 22:14:47 GMT
Contact your DSM and say that you'd like to spend a day with a T/Op.
Alternatively, speak to a DTSM at your line's T/Op depot and say that you're interested in becoming a T/Op and you'd like to find out what they do. They can find a Instructor Operator to take you with them. However, knowing what coverage is like, you'll probably have to do this on your rest day.
For manually driven trains, you'll have to speak to a DTSM on the Piccadilly, District and Bakerloo lines.
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Post by rheostar on Jan 1, 2014 22:22:18 GMT
I saw those mats on the platforms, but they didn't seem to make any difference to the noise.
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Post by rheostar on Jan 1, 2014 19:25:15 GMT
how did they deal with the noise injunctions for the area? Used rubber kango hammers. :-)
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Post by rheostar on Jan 1, 2014 10:00:19 GMT
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Post by rheostar on Dec 31, 2013 18:27:53 GMT
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Post by rheostar on Dec 31, 2013 8:52:59 GMT
The high winds had caused some of the roofing panels to come loose over platforms 7 and 8. A structual engineer attended who deemed the roof to be unsafe, so whilst it was windy the Piccadilly line was suspended to Ealing Broadway. Once the wind died down, we resumed from 13:30 hrs.
There certainly wasn't a signal or points failure.
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Post by rheostar on Dec 9, 2013 9:38:50 GMT
More like Sudbury Town and Sudbury Hill. ;-) Ah yes lol that's a given. Though coming into Park Royal on the West the other day was a bit dicey Many years ago when I was a road trainer, I had a trainee put three cars through Sudbury Hill on the east. I was not impressed!!
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Post by rheostar on Dec 8, 2013 13:15:20 GMT
I've had a few shockers the last few days and they seem to be getting worse. Think a lot of drivers are just dropping the handle when they're on the Uxbridge branch... More like Sudbury Town and Sudbury Hill. ;-)
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Post by rheostar on Nov 29, 2013 5:58:45 GMT
I am fairly sure that "doubling back" from finishing nights at 07.00 Monday and then back at 15.00 same day, ended around the same time, but maybe others may correct me on this. . . Fortunately, I never had to 'double back' as a T/Op, but I did as a manager up to about 1994 I think it was. Finishing a night shift at 06:00 on a Monday morning then back in for the 14:00 late shift was a killer. My older colleagues thought it was a good idea as they didn't finish nights on their rest day. Personally, it still makes me shudder 20 odd years later!! I used to like the split shifts as it paid well (60 hours) and I didn't live too far from my depot so going home for the bit in the middle was rather nice.
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Post by rheostar on Nov 25, 2013 16:58:34 GMT
Do you think that the whole of TfL, not just busses, could go cashless? I'm sure the LU ticket machines will take cash for the for seeable future. Saying that, earlier this afternoon I went into our local one stop council office to buy some rubbish bags. They only cost £3.70, so I whipped out a fiver to pay for them. However, the woman behind the screen said they didn't take cash, it was card only. It seems the move towards a cashless society is marching on, certainly for larger organisations.
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Post by rheostar on Nov 24, 2013 10:03:43 GMT
Reorganisation is nothing new, after all there are no guards. When driver only came in on the District, the drivers where allowed to do anything so that the applecart was not upset. Unfortunately, I'm old enough to remember before OPO came in. The unions were saying it was never, ever going to happen and would fight it at all costs. At one point, they even turned down the company's offer of giving motormen half of the guards money. In the end, the unions settled for 50p extra an hour for motormen plus an OPO allowance for everyone else in the line of promotion. As 'everyone else' wasn't working OPO, us motormen were quite aggrieved at that! The arguments the unions are putting up now are just the same from 30+ years ago. LU will eventually get it's way, as it always has.
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Post by rheostar on Nov 23, 2013 20:29:01 GMT
I can't see TfL, reducing the salary for existing staff..... We'll anyone whose worked for tfl for any length of time could definitely see wages being cut something like this has been expected for a long time and it would seem likely that once the stations are reorganised then it'll probably be the trains next then service control this is likely to be just the start I'd be surprised if our salaries are cut, although I can't see us getting the above inflation pay rises that we've had for the past few years.
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Post by rheostar on Nov 23, 2013 7:38:02 GMT
Mind you, other metros in the world manage to get by without ticket offices.
Last year I was in Singapore and managed to buy tickets from the machines without too many problems. There were no ticket offices, but they did have staff by the machines helping customers. That sounds very familiar to what LU are proposing.
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Post by rheostar on Nov 22, 2013 16:09:49 GMT
Can you post a link re the announcement on phasing out of Oyster Cards please as I can't find one Part of our staff update pack refers mentions the royalty cost LU has to pay for using Oyster. It's cheaper to move to contactless bank cards.
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Post by rheostar on Nov 21, 2013 18:09:36 GMT
If anything, there's going to be a need for additional drivers and station staff for the all night service. There's certainly a need for it as witnessed by the large number of people using the night busses.
It's wrong to compare what's being proposed with NYE running.
On NYE, we have to run a night service without employing additional staff, hence the poor start up the following day. The 1 January is also a public holiday. However, regular all night running can only be achieved with additional staff so that the service level on Saturday/Sunday mornings are realistic to meet the customer demand. We'd still have to run the current level of service from early morning.
Most maintenance work on the track is usually done mid week. The weekends are left for major projects, such as there's been recently on the Piccadilly line.
I'd have thought that the fleet's the major weakness, although the major overhauls are done mid week. It'll take some serious rejigging of planned maintenance.
There's been talk of the booking offices closing for most of the past ten years, so today's news isn't really much of a shock. With the advent of contactless payment via debit card or smartphone (debit card trials start in December) there'll be even less demand to buy paper tickets. I think the long term aim is to get rid of Oyster cards completely.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 11, 2013 22:06:56 GMT
At least we're being asked what our uniform should look like.
In the past, it's been 'this is it, get on with it'.
The worst uniform we've had in recent years was the one back in the '80s with the detachable arms. That was absolute rubbish!
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Post by rheostar on Oct 8, 2013 15:52:15 GMT
If this consultation results in a decision have all-day stopping at Turnham Green, what are the chances that it would begin before the new signalling eliminates block lengths as a concern? I know that the upgrade is several years out, but a part of me suspects that they're trying to sort out TG's future before drawing up a lot of plans, since part-time stopping may add some complexity to the ATO. It's highly unlikely that the Piccadilly line would be stopping at TG prior to any upgrades. LU won't commit umpteen million pounds to resignal the TG area with fixed block now, only for it to be replaced in the not too distant future. It'd be a waste of money that could be spend more usefully elsewhere. Once the District finish their upgrade in a couple of years, TG will probably be getting a three minute service with the S7s.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 6, 2013 23:04:59 GMT
Rheostar - unfortunately you need to be signed in to see that pic(c)! . Mmm...I thought I'd made it visible to all.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 6, 2013 22:57:23 GMT
Actually, compared to Turnham Green, Hyde Park's quite busy.
However, it's the signalling sections that make the difference as opposed to the stations. The signalling sections at Turnham Green are set up for high speed running so are comparatively long. Piccadilly line trains currently run at a maximum line speed of 45 mph, but the sections between Hammersmith and Acton Town are actually set up for faster running; we used to do 55 mph. On the westbound, the outer home signal for Turnham Green, A630a, is half way between TG and Stamford Brook, with the inner home, A630b, half way between the outer and the platform. This gives us a comparatively low density of trains able to run through the area. With the current signalling set up and a train timetabled every 2.5 minutes during the peak periods, were we to stop at Turnham Green trains would be blocking back to Earl's Court in a relatively short period. To alleviate this, we’d have to cancel trains thus giving a poorer service to the rest of the line.
The eastbound’s signalled similar to the westbound.
In contrast, somewhere such as Hyde Park Corner has signals arranged for regular stopping. It has the normal arrangement of multi home signals and corresponding shorter signalling sections, allowing a greater density of trains in the area.
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Post by rheostar on Oct 6, 2013 9:03:35 GMT
Been there, done that, have the picture... linkIt's definitely happening, I was reading the Christmas arrangements last week.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 28, 2013 16:55:59 GMT
Out of interest, what time have you been told the train will be at Acton Town? The LT Museum website says 12:35 Acton Town platform 1.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 28, 2013 6:31:30 GMT
It's on the LU Intranet too!
Pair break Tube marathon record 24 September 2013
Eight minutes shaved off finish time thanks to good service
The record for visiting all 270 London Underground stations in the quickest-possible time has been broken by eight minutes.
Geoff Marshall and Anthony Smith completed their epic journey in 16 hours, 20 minutes and 27 seconds.
It is the second time Mr Marshall has held the record, after a total of 25 attempts.
Guinness World Records confirmed that the pair had beaten the previous record of 16 hours, 29 minutes and 13 seconds, held by Andy James and Steve Wilson from May 2011.
The pair, who finished at Heathrow Terminal 5 Tube station, said they beat their previous times thanks to a good service on the Tube network that day.
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Post by rheostar on Sept 27, 2013 14:03:05 GMT
The LT Museum are giving guided tours of Aldwych station later this year. www.ltmuseum.co.uk/whats-on/events/events-calendar#aldwychAldwych Underground Station Tours
Dates: 7 November - 1 December 2013
Deep below the streets of London lie the disused platforms and tunnels the disused Aldwych Underground Station. Usually closed to the public, London Transport Museum has arranged public tours to take place in November 2013.
Aldwych is one of London’s mysterious places, holding secrets and memories of London’s forgotten life and work underground. It opened to the public in 1907 was never heavily used as originally intended and closed nearly 100 years later in 1994.The station has had a varied history; it provided shelter to Londoners during the Blitz and has been used for film shoots including Patriot Game, Mr Selfridge and Atonement.
The tours start on 7 November and will involve groups of up to 40 people being escorted by volunteer tour guides into the ticket hall and then down to the platforms and inter-connecting walkways – including some that have very rarely been seen by the public.
Tickets £25 adult (£20 concession) basket Book Online
Tickets must be booked in advance by booking online or calling 020 7565 7298. All tickets include a free entry to London Transport Museum to be used within one month of the stated Aldwych station tour date.
Important access information
Access to the platform is by staircase only and there is no working lift in operation. 160 stairs connect the ticket hall level to the platform level - there is no step-free access. Visitors should wear sturdy shoes. Guests wearing open toe sandals, shoes or high-heels will be refused entry due to a health and safety requirements.
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