Radio Deal helps Tube Emergency Response

A £115 million deal was announced yesterday with the Airwave Radio Network so that there will be be full radio coverage for emergency services at all 125 below ground Underground stations. It will piggyback with the existing Connect digital radio system on the Underground. This is in response to criticism that poor communication hampered rescue efforts after the July 2005 bombings on the Tube.

Investigators from the London Assembly in June last year said there was an over-reliance on the mobile phone network; that the Tube's radio system was "antiquated" and it was "unacceptable" that rescue teams could not communicate underground.


Evening Standard June 2006
"British Transport Police, which has responsibility for policing on the Tube network, currently have radios that work underground, but other emergency services, including the Metropolitan Police, do not have compatible systems and so need to borrow BTP equipment or be accompanied by a BTP officer when underground.

The Connect digital radio network is now live on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and East London lines, and will be rolled-out across the remainder of the Tube network throughout 2007."

Ken Livingstone said "The addition of the Airwave radio network to the new Connect digital radio system, currently being rolled out across the Tube network, is good news for London. It will bring added flexibility to the way that emergency services operate underground boosting the Metropolitan and City of London Police response to any incident on the Tube and providing extra reassurance to Londoners."

See Transport Briefing for the full report.

Not on the London Underground

Roundels not on the Tube

Nightclubs seem to be a popular venue for ripping off - sorry - borrowing the Tube Roundel for their logo. We have Piccadilly Circus in Toronto. Daman Albarn's club in Reyakjavik. A back street club in Napier, New Zealand.

Now we can add Brisbane, Australia to the list:


Ben F said "I found myself in Brisbane, Australia recently, and walking past Edward Street in the heart of the city, I passed a nightclub sporting another ripoff of the LU roundel. I couldn't resist dobbing them in...".

Ben appeared not to venture inside, so I checked out the club's website and the underground motif continued underground


Keep them coming in and I'll blog and add to the Flickr set.

Sexiest Underground Voice

Zis train is for Olympia only

Yesterday I received the following email from Matt Jarvis

"Hi there, while travelling on the Olympia shuttle the other day I heard possibly the sexiest, most alluring voice ever on the Tube. A French female accent softly purred the destination before reminding us to "Mind ze doors". I noticed she was also very petite and to be frank; cute, as we passed her cab on the way to the exhibition.

The following day, she was back on the same run, so we were treated to her announcements again. Sadly, the PA was very poor on this train and I could not get a good enough recording on my phone. If she ever reads this, I would like to thank her for brightening up my day. Top Girl!

Just a thought, how about a competition to record the sexiest (Male or Female) announcement on the tube? It appears LUL have cracked down on the humorous varieties, so maybe this would be a good substitute?"

It's a thought! If anyone travels on that District Line to Olympia regularly perhaps you could record the French lady for us. Maybe she could be encouraged to make some of the announcements in French too just to add a bit of variety.

It's pretty hard to make recordings of unusual announcements, as they do tend to be one off, so you need to be fast or have someone in full flow. I still thank Nik Fox for the following recording of Richie Vennard with his whole raft of funny announcements on the Jubilee Line.

Let us know any lines where there are some good voices and perhaps we can do our own Tube Idol.

London Underground Fashion Victims

Fashion Victims on the Tube

It's Friday so it's time for the look at people on the Tube who've "taken a style and made it their own" to quote Louis Walsh out of X Factor. The TFV's are back.

Not Paris Hilton

I really hope that the Hilton bag was holding her "work shoes". Because fishnets and very sporty looking trainers don't do a lot for me.


I took this picture on the day we had snow in London and I wouldn't have thought that fishnets were ideal leg covering when it's freezing outside.

Nearer to Paris Hilton

Whereas this lady, snapped on the same day was a bit more equipped for the snow. In fact she could have been following a Paris Hilton in winter look


Furry Ugg style boots, check. Micro mini skirt, check. Glitterati belt, check. Baby Pink cropped parka, check. I think Paris would have been proud.

What's this sweety?

One of those occasions where you want to put on your high pitched Karen Walker (out of Will and Grace) voice, and waggle your finger in amazement.


It's not quite tartan. It's not quite MC Hammer pants (like these) They're not quite Twiggy Trousers (like these). They're erm... unusual to say the least.

That's it for now. The previous set of victims can be found here and the complete picture gallery can be seen on the following Flickr set.

Tunnel of Love

A Romantic night of Shafting


Ah February only two weeks to the 14th. If you're looking for an unusual Valentine's night a two stop journey on the Tube at Wapping might not be what you had in mind.

However on Valentine's Day, The Brunel Museum is organising guided journeys of the Thames Tunnel, by Tube, for lovers. By kind permission of a pandering London Underground, couples may see the smooth Doric columns, the deep recesses, the pilasters and porticos of the tunnelling Frenchman, Marc Brunel, Isambard's Dad. Here, before the trains came, were sixty shops with garters, silk handkerchiefs and lovers' tokens in the World's First Underwater Shopping Arcade. Here also at the Thames Tunnel Fancy Fair were novelty acts, sword swallowers and female acrobats, and dark places where lovers might talk until morning.

According to Robert Hulse curator of the Musuem and tour leader of this innuendo ridden trip "This is the ride of a lifetime for the Tunneller in your Life. The entertainers have long since gone, but tonight lovers alight from the train to stand, fingers entwined, gazes locked, and open mouthed at the foot of Frenchman Brunel's Wapping Shaft."

The Love Train leaves Rotherhithe at 7pm, 8pm, 9pm. This is the last
Underground Valentine Tour until 2011 because the East London Line closes in December 2007 for engineering works for the extension. Tickets cost £7 each or £10 a pair. For more details and to book online visit the Brunel Engine House Museum.