[AnthonyDunn]

@ Charles-P – 29/04/2014 10:33 GMT

+1

[travelworld2]

Any chance of changing the heading of this? The tube strike hasn’t been suspended and I don’t want to give people false hope…

[GrahamSmith]

Headline changed.

[MartynSinclair]

Now on the Northern Line heading to Charing X… No idea where the closed stations will be…..

[Charles-P]

Strike described here on Swiss TV as “a yearly tradition in London”. The news coverage talked about “old fashioned Communist trade unions” who ” have been holding these strikes as a regular occurrence for many years”. Most Londoners it seems have a “resigned British acceptance” to the strike.

[MartynSinclair]

Update – train terminated at Golders Green as the driver needed his lunch… and they had the gaul to announce this……

Good news though, just announced the next train will stop at Charing X.

[Charles-P]

As the unions continue to live in the past London Underground moves forward.

Press Release:
London Underground (LU) today confirmed that, following a detailed pre-qualification process, Thales will be invited to tender for the contract to transform capacity and reliability on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines (Sub-Surface railway).

The delivery of the contract would see the signalling replaced and modernised – improving the journeys of millions of people who use the lines, which comprise 40 per cent of the Underground network, each day.

LU issued an OJEU at the beginning of this year asking for expressions of interest from the industry for a signalling system that can be implemented on to the Sub-Surface Railway.

Thales, who have been installing the signalling on the Northern line, presented LU with a signalling solution that would meet the intricate operational requirements of the oldest and most complex parts of the Tube network.

The next stage of the process is to work together with Thales to secure a firm commitment with a competitive cost, delivering value for money, and with a realistic and reliable commissioning programme.

New signalling will allow more trains to be run more frequently and more reliably.

Combined with the 191 walk-through air conditioned S-Stock trains that now serve the Metropolitan, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines and are being introduced on the District line too.

This project will increase capacity on the Circle and Hammersmith & City lines by 65 per cent, the District line by 24 per cent and the Metropolitan line by 27 per cent.

This will ease crowding and allow the network to cope with rapidly rising demand.

It is anticipated that a new contract will be awarded this summer.

Mike Brown MVO, Managing Director of London Underground said: “This is an important step in ensuring that the delivery of this vital upgrade remains on course.The signalling system on these lines is some of the oldest in use anywhere in the world, with some of it dating back to the 1930s. The modernisation work will mean more frequent, more reliable and less crowded journeys for our customers and will help us meet rapidly growing customer demand. At the same time, it is vital that modernisation is delivered cost effectively for our passengers and taxpayers. We will only enter in to a contract if I am absolutely certain that Londoners are getting value for money and if I have absolute confidence in the delivery schedule.”

[JonathanM8]

Travelling around the tube today has maybe given us a forestaste of what it will be like without ticket offices…..lots of staff out in front of the plate glass rather than behind it, doing a great job of helping out passengers and showing great customer service (unlike the RMT whose last thought is the needs of the passenger)

[BRin1406]

Just spent a very pleasant 4 days exploring Paris using the Metro. All with automated ticketing machines. It works very efficiently so I cannot see what the problem is.

[MartynSinclair]

Made it to Charing X is relatively quick time due to the closures.

At Chalk Farm, driver announced the train would be stopping so a changeover from manual to automatic driving could be made (stn was closed). Why is it automatic for only part of the journey??

Coming out at Charing X, I thanked the guy on the gate for working so I could make my journey and he commented he had been draughted in from Engineering… we then spent a few minutes talking about automation.
He confirmed that the Victoria line was already 100% automatic and drivers are still being used for SHOW only.

Now off to my meeting…..

[Charles-P]

‘BRin1406’ – there are no problems with this type of automation. This is about the decline of union power and union income. Bob Crow himself even admitted this in his speech to the Durham Miners Gala when he said he would do “anything possible” to ensure the RMT did not go the way of the NUM. As an aside people might be interested to know a London Tube driver’s average yearly earning is about 50,000 plus free travel for them and their families and 34 days paid holiday.

[BRin1406]

Charles, I understand that, however the big play by RMT on radio 4 this morning was about safety. With regard to RMT It is about time the tail stopped wagging the dog.

[Charles-P]

“Safety” is really the only card they have left to play which is why they hate talking about the DLR which has an impeccable safety record. Safety is a complete red herring and the RMT knows it but they are hoping by constant repetition they will convince commuters they are working in their interests as well. Curiously they do not like it when it is bought up that the last four major accidents on the underground were all the fault of human error and would not have happened if the system had been fully automated.

[SergeantMajor]

Colleagues say it’s busy out there today, but it hasn’t negatively impacted business.

Boris bikes, flexible working and the adaptability of Londoners seem to negate the business impact these days.

Striking rarely achieves the outcomes Unions hope for these days.

Plenty of info on how to beat the strike here:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tube-dlr-overground/status/

[BigDog.]

@SergeantMajor – 17/04/2014 15:01 GMT
….No they won’t… (Strike)
….Certain to be abandoned or at least reduced….

Unfortunately SM regardless of your back peddling, yet again you called it totally incorrectly. Best stick to advising on BA sales.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-27197241

…Commuters travelling in London are experiencing “severe disruption” as Tube workers strike.
Transport for London said 50% of services were running compared to about 40% during the last walkout….

They are hastening their own demise methinks

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/technology/willardfoxton2/100013391/tube-strike-sack-the-drivers-and-roll-out-the-robots/

[Author]

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