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tim..... · October 10th 14, 07:07 PM posted to uk.transport.london

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 10 Oct 2014 09:49:41 GMT, d wrote:

Well if they managed to produce stock that could run on all 3 lines in the
1950s I'm pretty sure they can manage it in the 21st century.

And that stock was accessible as were the platforms? All I am saying
is that a generic design will inevitably be compromised. No one has
said how many seats these trains will have, where the luggage space is
for the airport passengers on the Picc Line etc. Even more boring -
will the seats have any padding in them and will there be some
recognition that not everyone is as thin as a stick insect?

The concept of the air for the air cooling, not air conditioning,
being drawn from underneath the trains risks all sorts of issues.
Where is most heat created on a tube train? Yep from the motors and
other equipment hung under the train. I'm not saying it is impossible
to sort out but we cannot have a repeat on the tube of what has
happened with the NB4L. This nonsense of revealing snazzy "designs"
before you know if someone can deliver a working, reliable and
effectively engineered train is so reminiscent of the NB4L that it
worries me. There we have a bus that is fatally compromised - we
simply can't have a repeat with tube trains that will be in service
for up to 50 years.

The other major issue which is not really being talked about is level
access to this new stock given the vast differences in stepping
heights and stepping distances at so many stations on the Central,
Picc and Bakerloo. There are quite serious ramifications for the
services Queens Park and north. What service no longer runs given the
differences between tube stock and main line stock given there's no
space to double the length of every platform to have different
profiles. I'm not saying this is beyond resolution but it is going to
involve a lot of work and potentially a lot of disruption.

The migration from staffed trains to unmanned automatic operation is
not easy. Installing platform edge doors at every platform on those
lines? That's going to be fun given the age of so many platforms and
I can't see them being able to take the weight of the equipment
without reconstruction. It's also going to be fun if they're
installed at open air stations - how do they work when there is inches
of snow on platforms?

I can't speak for anywhere else, but the open air stations in Copenhagen
don't have platform doors

and it's colder than here in the winter

tim