Walthamstow - Track Fault

[Silent]

^ it seems like a frequent problem on the line. When I use it the trains seem very reliable but delays usually seem caused by point failures.

 

[xtmw]

I haven't looked at the reason yet; so someone else may be able to comment further...

The weather is particularly warm right now, hence why there are alot of faulty trains/points failures etc as they are more susceptible to fail during extreme weather. In particular points which aren't used that often are prone to fail even more. I heavily suspect the heat played a role in the suspension.

Note the Victoria runs an extremely intense service every 90 seconds...

Not been a good week for the Victoria line!!

 

[Dstock7080]

Victoria Line not having much luck! A points failure at Walthamstow today, causing suspension Seven Sisters to Walthamstow earlier and severe delays now. I assume this is entirely unrelated to the earlier track fault and just two failures coming in quick succession?

entirely unrelated to the cracked nose crossing, moveable point failure, reducing capacity to one platform 13.55-16.25

 

[_toommm_]

And now a points failure at Brixton. Hopefully this one is an easy fix.

 

[Dstock7080]

And now a points failure at Brixton. Hopefully this one is an easy fix.

14.25 5165points failed to reverse for a departing train.
Down to one platform operation.
several attempts to clear at 16.25 resolved with no intervention from technical staff.

 

[gfa]

Any one know how long till the new Brixton issue is fixed - its been almost a week now and makes the Victoria Line horrendous at rush hour.

I'm away Fri-Mon so hoping its sorted by Tuesday when I return!

 

[Dstock7080]

Aiming for resolution night of 3 October.

 

[Silent]

Aiming for resolution night of 3 October.

Makes me thankful I don’t take the tube to work again. I think it’s stressful because you are in less control of delays and stuff and it’s crowded at rush hour.

 

[leonie13]

During rush hour, the line (which currently has a 17kph speed restriction into/out of Brixton) can only handle approx 24 trains on the line. It normally would have 40!

Any more than 24, and the trains just queue up on approach to the termini, leading to overcrowded trains sitting in hot tunnels for longer than is comfortable.

 

[Mcq]

When might the 17kph speed restriction be fixed/removed?

 

[leonie13]

As @Dstock7080 mentions, overnight from 3rd October. It's my understanding the whole crossing needs to be replaced. It's possible the service will be part suspended Victoria-Brixton early Saturday evening to allow a maximum amount of time to do the work into Sunday morning.

 

[Mcq]

Many thanks - it's inevitable of course that when you impact a crossing like that all day every day it's going to wear out.
I'm always impressed how quickly a new junction, tube or railway can be conjured up.

 

[henryb]

As @Dstock7080 mentions, overnight from 3rd October. It's my understanding the whole crossing needs to be replaced. It's possible the service will be part suspended Victoria-Brixton early Saturday evening to allow a maximum amount of time to do the work into Sunday morning.

How would part suspending it work if they need the crossing to turn around?

 

[Jimini]

How would part suspending it work if they need the crossing to turn around?

They can reverse at Victoria.

 

[henryb]

It’s been published line closed 1930 Saturday 3rd until 1000 Sunday 4th between Victoria and Brixton.

 

[Dstock7080]

Services were curtailed south of Victoria at 20.15 yesterday.
It seems the works were successful with full service resuming 09.35 this morning

 

[henryb]

It appears that the works may not have been too successful as a track fault as reoccurred this morning during rush hour, all trains curtailed at Victoria. Driver said track fault but TfL systems say signal failure.

 

[Silent]

It appears that the works may not have been too successful as a track fault as reoccurred this morning during rush hour, all trains curtailed at Victoria. Driver said track fault but TfL systems say signal failure.

They really need to work on making the track points more reliable for such a frequent service. In fact maybe it should be a bit less frequent but that probably means upgrading more stations to be better at dealing with crowd flow.

 

[Class15]

This is happening way, way too frequently.

 

[bluegoblin7]

This is what happens when funding is cut and an organisation has to continue to make recurring, year on year savings. This is the reality of 'managed decline', which hasn't gone away.

 

[Benjwri]

They really need to work on making the track points more reliable for such a frequent service. In fact maybe it should be a bit less frequent but that probably means upgrading more stations to be better at dealing with crowd flow.

All well and good except the trains are also full. People don't want to be stuck in an eternal queue. A direct result of budget cuts and a failure of successive governments to fund upgrades to the network and further capacity. Had Crossrail 2 not been shelved we would have a huge capacity relief beginning to be on the horizon.

 

[Silent]

All well and good except the trains are also full. People don't want to be stuck in an eternal queue. A direct result of budget cuts and a failure of successive governments to fund upgrades to the network and further capacity. Had Crossrail 2 not been shelved we would have a huge capacity relief beginning to be on the horizon.

That’s why I said that that involves improving the platform or station flow and capacity. If Victoria line stations were built with the excess capacity the service might be able to get away with a bit of a lower frequency.

 

[Benjwri]

That’s why I said that that involves improving the platform or station flow and capacity. If Victoria line stations were built with the excess capacity the service might be able to get away with a bit of a lower frequency.

That’s where I’m disagreeing though. Even on a normal service station such as Vauxhall can have waits. It doesn’t matter whether a station can handle it when the wait itself is the problem. Lowering the frequency in a way that’s meaningful to maintenance will likely just result in waits that make the line unusable.

 

[GFE]

This is what happens when funding is cut and an organisation has to continue to make recurring, year on year savings. This is the reality of 'managed decline', which hasn't gone away.

"Managed decline" is a rather dramatic term, but there is indeed a budget squeeze due to both the reduced passenger income + the reduced taxpayer funding.
There is an ongoing management/business learning process as to what can be squeezed and consequences.

 

[Class15]

This is what happens when funding is cut and an organisation has to continue to make recurring, year on year savings. This is the reality of 'managed decline', which hasn't gone away.

I would have rather they maintained the Victoria line more than have the Silvertown tunnel, Superloop and West London Orbital.

 

[Dstock7080]

It appears that the works may not have been too successful as a track fault as reoccurred this morning during rush hour, all trains curtailed at Victoria. Driver said track fault but TfL systems say signal failure.

Signal failure caused by defective block joint, later thought to be defective insulation of temporary track clamp.
Southbound train stalled approaching Brixton for 25min.
service suspended 08.35-11.30

 

[Benjwri]

I would have rather they maintained the Victoria line more than have the Silvertown tunnel, Superloop and West London Orbital.

Of course the Silvertown Tunnel, similarly to many large infrastructure projects, is funded by borrowing against future revenue (in this case by a private company), and if you don’t built it there is no future revenue, and so that money to built it just doesn’t exist. You don’t just get it to use on other things.

Things like the West London Orbital and Superloop are partially funded by the mayor and developers, if you don’t do them TfL doesn’t just have all that money (although it would have the amount it contributes obviously). But even then that’s very subjective. Everyone wants the transport they use to be invested in, I’m sure there are people that barely, if ever, use the Victoria Line and frequently use the Superloop or would use the WLO.

Not to mention if TfL binned everything and only funded the Victoria Line it would suddenly have no money as almost everyone would have to drive, and hence not pay TfL. TfL’s funding situation isn’t as simple as ‘Oh X should have all the money’. It has a wide range of priorities and plenty of people that depend on it to get around, not just on the Victoria Line or even the Tube.

 

[GFE]

WRT the cracked rail on the crossing, will be interested what lessons learnt,:-
is it related/ recurrence of previous crack on the crossing?
Was there known track defect (eg voiding or rough ride) which caused the excess stress/crack.
Has the routine maintenance/overhaul been reduced?

WRT the Monday signalling (track circuit) failure. That would appear to be a consequence of sat nights work.

 

[NCT]

Fingers crossed seems to have settled down as of today.

 

[henryb]

This morning… no infrastructure issues but severe delays due to train cancellations