Happy New Year to one and all on utl.

And thanks to TfL and the public transport workers of London who
enabled the masses (including me) to travel across the capital to get
to and from the NYE revelry. All the bus drivers and Tube staff I came
across were all in good spirits which was great and added to the
bonhomie of the occasion.

I saw a lot of people were off to the fireworks on the Thames, and this
was positively encouraged. It's quite a sea change from the days of
yore when the official advice from the police was that people shouldn't
come to central London on NYE. Despite the lack of any official
entertainment people nevertheless came in their droves to pack into
Trafalgar Square and the surrounds.

I think the attitude changed after the very popular Millenium
celebrations. Ken Livingstone, elected in 2000, wanted to do something
similar for NYE 2001, but I remember it was all called off pretty late
in the day (in November or December IIRC) which was a dissapointment.
There was then at least one year (maybe more) where there was a big
fireworks display on the Thames but people were nonetheless advised not
to come! This bizarre situation was because the Mayor wanted television
pictures of the London skyline light up with fireworks to appear around
the world, to help with the Olympic bid, in part at least.

It's only been in the past few years that coming into central London to
welcome in the New Year and watch the fireworks has turned from being
discouraged to been encouraged, which I think is great. I'm not quite
sure when that started being the case - the NYE of 2004 perhaps?

I think the very useful through the night Underground service is pretty
new occurance as well - can anyone provide any further information as
to what the situation was in years gone by? I think it used to run
later, but not all night. The TfL funded late night National Rail
services are definitely a new innovation, starting last year I think.

It's all, IMO, a welcome change from the old negative official attitude
that abounded during NYE in London. Good stuff. I'll finish this
incoherent rambling now, as I think I hear the hair of the dog
calling...

Have a splendid 2007.

In message . com,
Mizter T writes
Happy New Year to one and all on utl.

And thanks to TfL and the public transport workers of London who
enabled the masses (including me) to travel across the capital to get
to and from the NYE revelry. All the bus drivers and Tube staff I came
across were all in good spirits which was great and added to the
bonhomie of the occasion.

blush Ahh, thank you.

I think the very useful through the night Underground service is pretty
new occurance as well - can anyone provide any further information as
to what the situation was in years gone by? I think it used to run
later, but not all night. The TfL funded late night National Rail
services are definitely a new innovation, starting last year I think.

I've worked through the night, just missing the one, on NYE every year
since we started doing it. It was first done for the millennium, and
it's been done every year since.

Next year I shall have a year off as I'll be on annual leave, and I've
been *told* that I swap my leave at pain of death! So we will be out
enjoying ourselves!

It's all, IMO, a welcome change from the old negative official attitude
that abounded during NYE in London. Good stuff. I'll finish this
incoherent rambling now, as I think I hear the hair of the dog
calling...

Some of us are only just starting our New year celebrations.

Happy New Year!
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

On Mon, 1 Jan 2007, Mizter T wrote:

And thanks to TfL and the public transport workers of London who
enabled the masses (including me) to travel across the capital to get
to and from the NYE revelry.

I'll drink to that!

We had a new year's eve party at our place, so didn't have to do any
travelling, but on our guests' behalves, thanks again, TfL operatives -
another solid job!

I think the very useful through the night Underground service is pretty
new occurance as well - can anyone provide any further information as to
what the situation was in years gone by? I think it used to run later,
but not all night.

Wasn't it only until 0400ish last night?

While we're sort of on the subject, why do tube lines normally close at
night? Maintenance of some sort, AIUI, but what, exactly? What is it that
requires a six-hour closure of every line every night?

tom

--
We don't contact anybody or seek anybody's permission for what we do. Even
if it's impersonating postal employees. -- Birdstuff

On Mon, 1 Jan 2007 19:21:34 +0000, Tom Anderson
wrote:

While we're sort of on the subject, why do tube lines normally close at
night? Maintenance of some sort, AIUI, but what, exactly? What is it that
requires a six-hour closure of every line every night?

Firstly a correction - there is less than 5 hours a night between power
off and power on the following morning on weekdays. There is a little
more time Sat Night to Sunday morning.

A fair amount of small scale engineering work gets done every night to
the track. Track wears out or bolts come lose - they all need to be
replaced / tightened etc.

Track areas are cleaned to prevent a build up of litter that can cause
fires or get caught in equipment thus causing track fires or signal
failures or damage to trains.

There is also a lot of inspection work to make sure that rails are safe
(checking for broken rails), signals are working and that work sites on
or near the track are clean and tidy.

In addition works are done in stations to upgrade them, install new
equipment, convert rooms to other uses, cleaning of escalators to remove
dirt, dust, fluff and oil / grease build ups and cleaning of the
stations themselves. Some assets cannot be repaired during the day if
they are too close to the track or too high - lights, cameras, speakers,
signs etc.

The trains also need to be washed and cleaned and have minor repairs
done to them. Bigger repair jobs will be done on the trains during
daytime when they will be out of service and their slot taken by a spare
train.

People always quote New York as having 24 hour tubes but the builders of
that system had the foresight to build 3 or 4 tracks and crossovers /
junctions on almost all routes which provides a lot of flexibility for
maintenance purposes. The all night service pattern changes regularly in
NYC and that is to match the engineering works against the tracks that
can be used.

When LU's system gets to a modern state with better quality assets and
much better predictive maintenance techniques it may be possible to
reduce engineering hours but for now there is still a hell of lot of
stuff that has to be done to keep the railway safe and working. I dread
to think what would happen to reliability if these checks and
maintenance works were not done.
--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!

Mizter T wrote:
Happy New Year to one and all on utl.

And thanks to TfL and the public transport workers of London who
enabled the masses (including me) to travel across the capital to get
to and from the NYE revelry. All the bus drivers and Tube staff I came
across were all in good spirits which was great and added to the
bonhomie of the occasion.

I saw a lot of people were off to the fireworks on the Thames, and this
was positively encouraged. It's quite a sea change from the days of
yore when the official advice from the police was that people shouldn't
come to central London on NYE. Despite the lack of any official
entertainment people nevertheless came in their droves to pack into
Trafalgar Square and the surrounds.
(snip)

Ditto all that. I enjoyed watching the fireworks from my preferred spot
near Vauxhall - not too busy, but a good view and a good atmosphere all
round, and having the Tube open made getting back a breeze.

I shall look forward to hearing how some of my office-based colleagues
got on - they "volunteered" to give info through the night at the bus
turnaround points.

Happy 2007 to all! I look forward to my second week of leave...

--
Dave Arquati
www.alwaystouchout.com - Transport projects in London

On Mon, 1 Jan 2007 19:21:34 +0000, Tom Anderson
wrote:

While we're sort of on the subject, why do tube lines normally close at
night? Maintenance of some sort, AIUI, but what, exactly? What is it that
requires a six-hour closure of every line every night?

They need the night time closures in order to break just enough
District Line track to completely wreck Monday morning services of
course!

"Dave Arquati" wrote in message
...
Mizter T wrote:
Happy New Year to one and all on utl.

As somebody who watched the London Fireworks from the other side of the
Irish Sea I can add to the good wishes to the TfL "Platform" staff .

Without doubt London was THE most spectacular Fireworks Display I have ever
seen.
TV can never do justice to the sensation of being in close proximity to BIG
pyrotechnic events and NYE`s was just that !

The NYE events underline just what PUBLIC TRANSPORT is all about.....Not
simply to provide good balance sheets for First Group,Arriva,Veolia or
whatever but to allow people to make full use of the City and what it has to
offer.

Kenneth L gets a fair share of (deserved) bad press but I would challenge
anybody to find a Civic Leader ANYWHERE in Europe who has pushed the
envelope of Public Transport in such a short time.

Crikey,if any of the Bow Bellers want to sample what it COULD have been like
then take a trip over to Dublin where you can sample a City which has so
many inflated ego`s in charge that it risks self destruction in traffic
terms.

Am I incorrect in thinking that Dublin and London have LORD`s Mayor whilst
most other City`s have simply MAYOR`s.......I await a response ?

Alek Smart. wrote:

Am I incorrect in thinking that Dublin and London have LORD`s Mayor
whilst most other City`s have simply MAYOR`s.......I await a
response ?

There are more than 20 Lords Mayor in England and Wales, including two
in the capital, of the City of Westminster and the City of London. Ken
Livingstone is "Mayor of London", not a Lord Mayor.

In Ireland, in addition to Dublin, Cork also has a Lord Mayor.

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

Mizter T wrote:
It's all, IMO, a welcome change from the old negative official attitude
that abounded during NYE in London.

Indeed. I was at a party in Islington, got to Angel station at about
1.30am, only had to wait 2 minutes for the southbound tube; everything
seemed to be working fine. Only two flies in the ointment:

1. All the trains towards south east London from London Bridge left in
two very short periods - from approx xx08 to xx20, and then xx38 to
xx50. I just made the xx50, but I was just wondering why South Eastern
didn't space them out a bit better.

2. Why were passengers not allowed to board at Waterloo East station?
It's more than large enough, with exits at both ends, to handle fairly
large crowds, I'd have thought.

Patrick

In article , Steve Fitzgerald
] writes

Some of us are only just starting our New year celebrations.

Happy New Year!

I second that, and add my thanks to LU staff on the night.

I and my friends, together with their 13 and 8 year old kids, went to
Victoria Embankment and watched the amazing firework display, though the
long wait eventually tired out the 8-year-old and she was taken home
around 10.30. We'd narrowly avoided the earlier heavy showers, so it was
good that they held off for our entire stay at the riverside.

Later, the walk to Victoria helped get the circulation going again and
after a 20 minute or so wait outside the tube station while access was
controlled to prevent overcrowding, and a squeeze to get to the
platform, we were sitting on a train to Earls Court. As we disembarked
here our Wimbledon service rolled in. Home before 2am, which I thought
was very good in the circumstances.
--
congokid
Eating out in London? Read my tips...
http://congokid.com