Whenever there is a signal failure, etc. anywhere on the District line it
always seems to affect the Wimbledon branch more than any other.

Today there were several Ealing Broadway trains and an Olympia train from
Earls Court (all nearly empty) while a platform full of people waited for a
Wimbledon train. When it eventually did arrive it was there for a while
because it was "over an hour late" and the driver had to have a "frank
discussion on the platform" over whether it was going to Wimbledon. It's a
good thing it did because despite being 2015 it was as full as the morning
peak services into the city are and lots of passngers sounded annoyed

My questions a
1. Why did the only audiable announcment say "because of an earlier
incident" instead of a reason and why did the LU chap on the platform with
the white wand not do any announcments?
2. Why couldn't the empty Ealing Broadway train which was immediately
behind another Ealing bdy train have been made into a Wimbledon one?
3. Why were there no C stock trains around in either direction
4. Why is it always the Wimbledon branch that is most affected?
and finally 4. When will the tubes ETA service be expanded to the District
line

I thought that since a lot of drivers post here it's better to ask this way
than via customer services who "can only appologise" and hope "with the
onset of PPP" everything will be sorted out

--
Chris

Chris wrote:
My questions a
1. Why did the only audiable announcment say "because of an earlier
incident" instead of a reason and why did the LU chap on the platform
with
the white wand not do any announcments?

You have my sympathies, Chris. Today was a complete cock-up for the
entire District Line, and you're right, the Wimbledon branch always
seems to suffer more than Ealing or Richmond!
To try and answer your questions, the announcements at Earl's Court are
now generally made using the pre-recorded voice system they've just had
installed. Not sure why it was saying an 'incident' rather than
'signal failure/emergency engineering work', I have no idea.
As for the SA with the baton, I can't answer for him!

2. Why couldn't the empty Ealing Broadway train which was
immediately
behind another Ealing bdy train have been made into a Wimbledon one?

If there was a train running empty, it would have been defective in
some way, and on its way to the depot at Ealing Common. I've never
known a train be permitted to run empty just because of late running
etc.

3. Why were there no C stock trains around in either direction

The C stocks were around, but because of the delays through the City,
everything was being queued up waiting to get into Earl's Court because
of train crews being in the wrong places etc. I would guess that the C
stocks must have been stuck up towards Edgware Road.

4. Why is it always the Wimbledon branch that is most affected?

Usually when there's a problem, the Wimbledon branch still gets a
reasonable service. The main problem with that branch is the large
amount of failures which actually occur on it! The section between
East Putney and Wimbledon is signalled and controlled by Network Rail,
and there is a long standing problem down there with signals 'bobbing'
with the slightest shower of rain! Hopefully this will be addressed
before too long.

and finally 4. When will the tubes ETA service be expanded to the
District
line

That's the million pound question! I wouldn't hold your breath...

I thought that since a lot of drivers post here it's better to ask
this way
than via customer services who "can only appologise" and hope "with
the
onset of PPP" everything will be sorted out

Good old Customer Services! All I can say is that we drivers can't
control where we go! If the Line Controller tells us to divert to
Ealing or Richmond, there's nothing we can do about it! The controller
should be monitoring each of the branches to make sure that there's a
fair service to each. It really depends on which controller is working
at the time, and whether he's been given orders from the Duty
Operations Manager.
Ealing Broadway also suffered a bit, as I noticed 4 consecutive
Richmond services passing through Earl's Court at around 2100ish.

Hopefully that's answered your questions. I know it's frustrating (LU
staff have to use the District Line to commute as well!) but until we
get a huge investment in the line and replace the old 'technology' with
something a bit more reliable, these delays will, sadly, continue.

DistrictDriver wrote:
Chris wrote:
The section between
East Putney and Wimbledon is signalled and controlled by Network
Rail,
and there is a long standing problem down there with signals
'bobbing'
with the slightest shower of rain! Hopefully this will be addressed
before too long.

Can you explain what bobbing is.

Kevin

wrote:

Can you explain what bobbing is.

Kevin

"Bobbing" is when the signal rapidly changes from aspect to aspect
without warning or reason. For example, in the case of East Putney to
Wimbledon, three-aspect NR signals are used. If these signals started
bobbing, at one moment they might be green, then yellow, then red, then
back to green, or any frightening (to a driver) combination thereof.

Naturally this is a major problem because a signal could bob despite an
occupied track in front of the train; thus, if it goes to green and the
driver passes it in the correct way at speed, CRUNCH.

Bobbing is where the signal changes from red to green and back again or vice
versa. Its caused by something causing the track circuit to be made, like
water lying on the track, imitating a train. So signalers dont know whats in
the area, the train stops raise up and everything stops. Then once its been
found the area is empty and its a fault, drivers can go past the signal but
at reduced speeds etc....a little more detail but i wont bore you. This
causes a backlog and the cycle of delay starts.......


wrote in message
oups.com...

DistrictDriver wrote:
Chris wrote:
The section between
East Putney and Wimbledon is signalled and controlled by Network
Rail,
and there is a long standing problem down there with signals
'bobbing'
with the slightest shower of rain! Hopefully this will be addressed
before too long.

Can you explain what bobbing is.

Kevin

"TheOneKEA" wrote in message
ps.com...

"Bobbing" is when the signal rapidly changes
from aspect to aspect without warning or reason.

Naturally this is a major problem because a signal
could bob despite an occupied track in front of the
train; thus, if it goes to green and the driver passes
it in the correct way at speed, CRUNCH.

I doubt that, because it would violate the concept of "failsafe".

--
John Rowland - Spamtrapped
Transport Plans for the London Area, updated 2001
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Acro...69/tpftla.html
A man's vehicle is a symbol of his manhood.
That's why my vehicle's the Piccadilly Line -
It's the size of a county and it comes every two and a half minutes

John Rowland wrote:
"TheOneKEA" wrote in message
ps.com...

"Bobbing" is when the signal rapidly changes
from aspect to aspect without warning or reason.

Naturally this is a major problem because a signal
could bob despite an occupied track in front of the
train; thus, if it goes to green and the driver passes
it in the correct way at speed, CRUNCH.

I doubt that, because it would violate the concept of "failsafe".


Maybe, maybe not. If the signals are bobbing at all then you have a
problem; under the right circumstances, a soaking wet relay cabinet
would probably produce a wrong-side failure. Knowing very little about
signal design I can't say how likely it is to happen.

"Bobbing" is when the signal rapidly changes from aspect to aspect
without warning or reason. ...

Over here they call that "cascading".
--
Mark Brader "He added a 3-point lead" is pronounced
Toronto differently in Snooker than in Typography...
-- Liam Quin

I doubt that, because it would violate the concept of "failsafe".

Even failsafe systems have a small but finite chance of not failing
safe (ask Airbus!).
However I'm not an electrical/electronics engineer so I could be
talking ******** but I'd
imagine if you've got some seriously old and knackered equipment along
with some
dodgy weather then shorts could occur , critical components in the
failsafe system
could fail etc.

Any engineers reading this who could clarify?

B2003

Boltar wrote:
I doubt that, because it would violate the concept of "failsafe".

Even failsafe systems have a small but finite chance of not failing
safe (ask Airbus!).
However I'm not an electrical/electronics engineer so I could be
talking ******** but I'd
imagine if you've got some seriously old and knackered equipment along
with some
dodgy weather then shorts could occur , critical components in the
failsafe system
could fail etc.

Any engineers reading this who could clarify?


I'm not an engineer, but it has been known for externalities to enter the
system and cause a foul up.