Spare Tube Parts being bought on Ebay

Too early (or late) for an April Fool



Geoff sent me a link today about a story in today's Standard saying that Tube bosses are having to buy spare parts for the Northern Line from ebay. Anyone travelling on the Northern Line this morning will know that it was generally cocked up due to problems with aging cab radio systems.



But ebay????? Sounds like a major cut back. If people now know the bits and bobs they were selling on ebay had the potential to mess up hundreds of thousands of commuters journeys they could have a field day. Forget internet hacking and viruses you could just sell spare parts of the tube at sky high prices.



A dot matrix indicator is currently going for about �180 and I assuming that it's the components that the Tube are after rather than the sign itself, otherwise we might be seeing - "Sale Now On" or "Half Price Bargains" rather than the usual "Ealing Bdwy - 13 mins"







Check out the full story here.

I heard a rumour ...

Just summating some information that came my way today, as I do like a good bit of gossip. I can't reveal my sources, (or rather my source wouldn't reveal their source) except to say that, as far as I know this all true ...



There is a distant plan that the District Line will not run to Ealing Broadway any more - services would be taken over by Piccadilly Line trains instead. The District Line would then run up to Rayners Lane instead, the aim being to segregate sub-surface and deep-level lines.



The Jubilee line could start a peak-hour service back to Charing Cross station again, until the whole of the Jubilee line is re-signalled, getting it to the spec that the JLE should have been built to in the first place, rather than done on the cheap as it was. There's also discussions currently taking place that westbound trains will not stop at London Bridge during the morning peak.



The Nothern Line was proved statistically to have run better when it operated as two seperate lines after the Camden Town derailment. It could be split permamently into two lines.



And with Chiltern trains wanting to run a 'Metro' style service to Amersham within a few years and having also offered to completely rebuild West Hampstead station to include Metropolitan, Jubilee and mainline platforms, stations north of Moor Park (except Watford) could end up being run by Chiltern instead. The Metropolitain line may drop its connection at Finchley Road in favour of West Hampstead. Only peak time Metropolitan serices would run south beyond Baker Street.



There, that's all I know.. take it or leave it at your own desire!

It's Christmas Time, there's no need to be afraid....

Unless you're on the Tube



When I was going through Waterloo station on Friday I noticed what I thought was the usual "Let's be careful out there" poster about watching how much you've been drinking when you travel on the tube. But they'd gone one step further and had said there were 29 drink related incidents at that station last Christmas.



I actually thought that was quite a low number, but after searching around on the net it appears to be the highest



"Waterloo tube station comes top of a "list of shame" for incidents involving drunk and abusive passengers at Christmas, with London Bridge not far behind."



Overall there were 406 drink related incidents last year and unfortunately one of them included a death. So if you see one of the posters saying how many drunken incidents were at your station, you'll know it was one of the worst, and extra police will be patrolling the station to keep an eye on drunken revellers.



Check out SE1 for more on the figures.







By the way, the above poster isn't me after a few drinks, it's a nice little effect to show what the escalators look like when you've had some bevvies.

Still here, still commuting

Just when you were thinking Annie had got shot of us and neither Geoff or Neil has put in an appearance for a while, I'd like to confirm that we ARE still here! In fact, I've been spotting loads of things all over the tube for the last two weeks, but just haven't been reporting on them - oops!



But here's my favourite from the last week - it's at Notting Hill Gate (again) where I seem to spend half my life waiting for Wimbledon bound trains these days.



It's an advert/poster at which you can point your mobile phone at (with the infrared turned on) and it'll send you a business card with the LU travel number in it! Is that cool or what? You see that little red blob in the poster? That's what sends out the IR business card. It worked on my Nokia - presume it will work with most other major phone manufacturers - try it, it's on the southbound platform at NHG, but I guess might also be at other stations around the system!









Also saw something quite scary coming up the District Line this morning - the train was 100% full, absolutely heaving - people unable to get on - that sort of thing, when at Fulham Broadway, some people wanted to get off, so a guy by the doors stepped back to let them off - and promptly stepped down the gap between the train and the platform! He yelled out, a nearby woman screamed, and a couple of other people rushed to his aid and pulled him back up again - it was quite a scary moment and felt the need to mention it.

Coughs and Sneezes

Keeping Healthy on the Tube



I have got the beginnings of a cold coming which isn't surprising it's really cold at the moment. When I was on the Piccadilly Line a couple of days ago I'm sure the heating wasn't on, it was freezing. But now my only days of really being in a cold ridden scrum with other sniffling, coughing and sneezing commuters is going home on the Drain (Waterloo & City Line).



Thereisnospoon however kindly sent me a link to a feature on the BBC about how bugs are spread on public transport.



"BBC News has learnt the Rail Safety Standards Board is investigating the impact of overcrowding on trains and the Tube, including how much passengers share bugs.



No scientific research has yet been done on this but experts in virology believe poor ventilation and a lack of space can make some forms of public transport a fertile breeding ground. However there is a strong argument this fear may be over-hyped."



No surprises really but interesting that the Standards Board is looking into it.



"The London Underground must be an absolute goldmine for viruses trying to find someone to spread to because it's so packed," says Dr Rosy McNaught, a consultant in communicable disease control for Sheffield.



"The closer people are packed together and poorer the ventilation, the more likely people close to you will get a face full of it when you sneeze."



Nice.



Luckily there is some hope though and the article gives some sneezing and coughing etiquette and also recommends "avoiding cramped spaces" when travelling (yeah right) and sound advice about washing your hands when you get to work or home.



Was also encouraging to read "The Health Protection Agency says there is no indication that passengers in London and the South East - where public transport is more crowded - suffer more respiratory illnesses than other parts of the UK."



Check out the full article here with comments from commuters at the bottom including my favourite: "I can't believe there really are people being paid good money to make a study of this nature. I am not a doctor or a scientist but I can see that any germ will spread among a load of people crammed into an unventilated bus or train."