On 22 Sep 2006 10:54:57 -0700, "
wrote:


As for the trains, I agree with a previous poster: what's the point in
fitting C.C.T.V. cameras (if that's what's happened) to these trains,
and given that they were relatively new, "overhaul" seems premature to
say the least.

Marc.

I think the overhaul was more about "behind the scenes" or
"undercarriage" stuff. These five units having been isolated on the
W&C had apparently become very different to the supposedly identical
1992 stock on the Central Line - e.g. I don't think the motor mods
that had to be done to the whole Central Line fleet when they started
dropping off had ever been done to the W&C stock; and a whole series
of similar in-cab and underfloor alterations that had been done to the
Central stock meant that the drivers could no longer drive each
others' trains. So to enable possible driver rotations in future
(because driving the W&C is boring as hell so they want to look at
just spending a few months at a time on it), and to keep costs down by
applying the same fixes and spares to both sets in future, they had to
do a lot of "catching up" work on the W&C stock.

Also this project originally was just a track/signalling replacement
project that was going to mean a couple of years of medium length
disruptions. Metronet put the idea to TfL that if they could close the
line for the whole summer, they could do the job quicker and cheaper
(they split the expected saving half and half with TfL if I remember
rightly) and in to the bargain Metronet said they would do the
platform works and lift the trains out for the overhaul now (they
would have had to come out in the next five years or so for a heavy
overhaul anyway).

So it should have been a win-win-win situation for Metronet, TfL, and
the passengers too, but unfortunately Metronet seem to have done only
a 90% job as usual.

Peter Frimberley wrote:

I think the overhaul was more about "behind the scenes" or
"undercarriage" stuff. These five units having been isolated on the
W&C had apparently become very different to the supposedly identical
1992 stock on the Central Line - e.g. I don't think the motor mods
that had to be done to the whole Central Line fleet when they started
dropping off had ever been done to the W&C stock

I don't think that last bit is correct..... the W&C was shut for a while
when the Central Line was shut. Since it was a safety mod you would expect
it to be done on all 92 stock at the same time (even though the ATO largely
caused the problem by putting more stress on the brackets than a human
driver would).

On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 22:50:28 +0100, Peter Frimberley wrote:

I think the overhaul was more about "behind the scenes" or
"undercarriage" stuff. These five units having been isolated on the
W&C had apparently become very different to the supposedly identical
1992 stock on the Central Line - e.g. I don't think the motor mods
that had to be done to the whole Central Line fleet when they started
dropping off had ever been done to the W&C stock; and a whole series
of similar in-cab and underfloor alterations that had been done to the
Central stock meant that the drivers could no longer drive each
others' trains. So to enable possible driver rotations in future
(because driving the W&C is boring as hell so they want to look at
just spending a few months at a time on it), and to keep costs down by
applying the same fixes and spares to both sets in future, they had to
do a lot of "catching up" work on the W&C stock.

Why didn't they go all the way and install ATO?

The W&C has been worked off the main Leytonstone depot drivers' rota
for years.

Also the 1992TS on the W&C was "grounded" along with the main fleet
following the Chancery Lane derailment and similarly returned to
service after suitable modifications.

Although I believe the accessibility "humps" are probably a trial
pending installation on the rest of the system, surely the stairs
leading from the arrival platform at Waterloo means that disabled
travel is only possible in the northbound (officially "eastbound")
direction? i.e. you can go from Waterloo to Bank in a wheelchair but
never get back!

Also wouldn't it have been better the raise the height of all of the
platforms (or lower the track) to allow level access throughout? No
doubt the disability lobby will soon be claiming discrimination on the
grounds that they can only access one set of doors per train.

wrote:
Also wouldn't it have been better the raise the height of all of the
platforms (or lower the track) to allow level access throughout? No

Thats something I never understood about the tube. Why are the
platforms
all lower that the floors? On curved platforms its understandable since
the train might need to overhang them , but whats the excuse on
straight platforms? Its not just disabled people it would be useful
for,
even like myself when trying to wrestle a large suitcase onto the
train at heathrow it would be nice if I could just wheel it on rather
than having to physically lift it up.

B2003

Peter Frimberley wrote:

So it should have been a win-win-win situation for Metronet, TfL, and
the passengers too, but unfortunately Metronet seem to have done only
a 90% job as usual.

Used it yesterday to have a look, and while Bank station and the trains
were looking very slick, Waterloo is still a dump; they haven't removed
the old NSE red panelling in places, and the stairway (wouldn't it have
been a good time for some accessibility work - or is there a lift
already and I haven't seen it?) looked unfinished with metal panels on
one side and the old wall on the other.

Neil