Any chance you could expand on why the systems on these lines are not user friendly say compared to the Central and Victoria lines?
Where does one start!
For a start, the impression one gets is it's designed by a bunch of software computer programmers, rather than railway engineers. Secondly London Underground has had to fit round it, rather than the other way round. Nonetheless it's reasonably reliable when it works, but ...
... the architecture is very centralized, so when things fail you can lose large areas. In the worst case the entire line can go down. On the Central Line (and I think the Vic, although I'm not 100% on their local procedures) the driver can continue in Restricted Manual, on their own authority if necessary, unless or until they reach a semi-automatic area - which you'll only find in places where there are points.
On the Jubilee and Northern Lines the train can only work in Restricted Manual under the signaller's specific authority.
To work a train in RM across points, the signaller has to:
1) Identify what the move will be, and ensure there will be no conflicting moves.
2) Ask the train to select RM and await further instructions, then stop that call.
2) Cancel the Auto Manual Route Reservation which the system will automatically generate when it detects a train has gone into RM.
3) Generate a new Manual Route Reservation plus a Route Secure Reservations for any points.
4) VCC Technician confirms (although I believe this requirement has been dropped *providing* the train operator can see an indication conforming points are set).
5) Instruct train to proceed in RM to agreed limit of move.
6) Once completed, the signaller has to cancel all of this, then re-assign the train to the timetable.
7) If the train encounters an "RM Hold" board or station platform in the interim, the driver has to be further authorized, although it doesn't normally require all the mouse work to be re-done.
Bear in mind if you get a loop failure or an intersig failure *every* train through the affected area will have to be authorized in this way over a considerable distance, one can see it is an enormous workload for the signaller, plus the process is so time-consuming that you can barely run any trains through the section. Under conventional signalling, a signal failure on plain track could be run through relatively simply with minimal direct workload for the signaller.
As regards manual driving, any Jubilee or Northern line driver will tell you that the system's full-speed Protected Manual driving mode is a highly unpleasant experience, for various reasons. Having said that, the ATO is so rubbish that - despite the PM being non-user-friendly - it's still possible for a human to better the ATO's running timings. Meanwhile, the system struggles to cope with certain gradient profiles or any sign of poor adhesion, so platforms that used to be entered at 35 or 40 mph are now entered at around 22 mph. Don't you just love progress?!