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'The Tube' (TV program)

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jopsuk

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There's very few terrorist organisations would seek to attack an empty railway station. The current primary terrorist threat, from the likes of Al Queda, generally targets large scale loss of life wherever possible, with a martydom element. There's a far higher chance of a station being attacked when it when it is packed full of people.

Even an IRA style "abandoned bomb" is unlikely when the station is deserted.
 
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Mojo

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I saw a few modern signs at Down Street, whys that?
The station is used as an access point for both the emergency services, as well as maintenance, and these signs assist with navigation.

An example photo from my station tour in 2010:

http://a8.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hpho...0332793690595_715660594_15879495_386390_n.jpg

That's what I was thinking <D. I think it'd be quite interesting if they did one on London Buses (or elsewhere in the country) although idk how logistically challenging it'd be.
There was a TV series on the BBC in 2005 called 'Big Red Bus' which followed drivers (both current and trainees), plus others in control and so on.
 

CC 72100

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There was a TV series on the BBC in 2005 called 'Big Red Bus' which followed drivers (both current and trainees), plus others in control and so on.

Yep - 6 x 30 minute episodes. Good little series too. Think I may watch last nights episode on iplayer this evening with nothing much else on.
 

dslo

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I was suprised to see the woman driver on the Bakerloo line had to walk down the tunnel to get to her train? DO they keep them in the tunnels overnight instead of in a depot?
 

Tommy3000

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That was a good series. Seeing an abandoned station on video (instead of the usual photos with flash set to maximum) was great.

I was suprised to see the woman driver on the Bakerloo line had to walk down the tunnel to get to her train? DO they keep them in the tunnels overnight instead of in a depot?
I imagine that was the Elephant & Castle end of the line, where trains are stabled in tunnels beyond the station. I think this is standard practice on lines that have a depot at one end of the line (which may be all of them) as it's by far the easiest way to have a train in position for the first service.
 

CC 72100

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I imagine that was the Elephant & Castle end of the line, where trains are stabled in tunnels beyond the station. I think this is standard practice on lines that have a depot at one end of the line (which may be all of them) as it's by far the easiest way to have a train in position for the first service.

Yes, it was Elephant & Castle, your hunch was correct ;)
 

Clip

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I was at St Pancras when I heard it - any idea what was going on?

If you were thre in the morning then it waas probably the fire alarm test. Im sure it was always tuesday.
 

Clip

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It was quite late at night when I heard it - around 9pm maybe? Never worked out what it was about.

Call point activated maliciously probably.. or just a fault... All depends where he was asked to go to.
 

NY Yankee

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I just watched the 5th episode. It was very interesting. One obvious question is, why are the carriages so small? If the carriages were bigger, more people could fit. In NYC, some of the cars (carriages) are 3 meters wide. Speaking of NYC, I thought the overcrowding on the Lexington Avenue and Queens Boulevard lines was bad. The crowding in the Underground is ridiculous. I think that too many people are living in the UK. I don't blame them-it's a wonderful country.

The Jubilee line is the newest line, correct? If that's the case, then why is it always delayed due to signal failure?

I saw a lot of sick passengers in this episode. Most of them fainted due to the overcrowding and not eating breakfast. The same thing happens on the Lexington Avenue line.

Tube employees have a lot of patience. Even when things go wrong, they can handle pressure. The same can't be said for MTA (NYC subway) employees.

The Dockland Light Rail was mentioned. It's not a part of the Tube system. Is it as busy as the other Tube lines. Couldn't they have built another Tube line instead of building the DLR?

I'm going to watch the 6th episode tomorrow. I'm too tired right now (it's 12:21 AM in NYC).
 

Mike C

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Only the deep level tube lines have small carriages due to the small tunnel bores which are much farther underground than those in NYC. Despite being smaller in profile they have the same 1435mm track gauge as mainline UK and US trains. The shallower "cut n cover" or sub surface lines are much the same size as NYC subway trains and mainline UK trains. The deep level lines are: Northern, Central, Victoria, Bakerloo, Piccadilly, Jubilee and Waterloo and city. The others (Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith & City and District) are larger trains in terms of loading gauge but not necessarily length. Central line trains are 8 cars long but the "larger" circle line trains are only 6 cars long. The DLR is in a class of its own. Somewhere between the smaller and larger trains it is formed of 2 car units in multiples of 2 or 3, so up to 6 cars. They have no driver in the traditional sense but are self guided with occasional assistance from a human operator.

I don't think the Jubilee (or "Jubbly" line as many locals call it in reference to Only Fools & Horses) has any more signalling issues than any other line really. It may just be the perception from the program coverage. If there is LUL staff here they may be able to correct. me on that.
 
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trentside

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The Jubilee line is the newest line, correct? If that's the case, then why is it always delayed due to signal failure?

The line was always intended to be automatically operated from when the Jubilee Line Extension from Green Park to Stratford opened in 1999. The system proposed at the time wasn't considered viable, and it wasn't until a couple of years ago that an ATO system was installed. This system has had some teething trouble, but does seem to be settling down now.
 

lewisf

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One obvious question is, why are the carriages so small?

Quite simply, because the tunnels are small. It's all they could manage when the deep level network was being built in the 1890s to 1910s.

How would you fit a bigger train in this tunnel?

220px-Why_London_Underground_is_nicknamed_The_Tube.jpg
 

Wyvern

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Are the bores on the Waterloo and City Line smaller?

It just seemed that way to me, though the trains were the old Class 487s
 

Wyvern

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THanks. Must have been the internal decor of the 487s. As I remember them (in the 1950s) they were more luxurious than the other lines.
 

Peter Mugridge

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NY Yankee, if you think the London Underground rolling stock is small, have a look at the Glasgow version... one has to stoop a bit to get in the carriages...
 

A60K

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No, there's a big difference between Glasgow Underground and the Jubilee line! If you haven't been to Glasgow trust us.
 

NY Yankee

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I just watched the 6th and last episode. They should really run the Tube 24/7. London is full of pubs and clubs. There were a lot of people who missed the "last train." They had to take a bus instead. Trains in NYC run 24/7. I understand that they perform maintenance at night, but they can simply focus on a different line each night instead of shutting down the whole system.

I enjoyed this series. Will they have it on DVD?
 

Metadyneman

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Ref, the Jubilee line being the newest, it should also be borne in mind that whilst parts of the jubilee line may be the newest, there are also parts of it that are much older. The Jubilee line took over the Stanmore branch of the Bakerloo line when it first opened and it's mileage was more "old" line than new when it first opened.
 

Nym

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I just watched the 6th and last episode. They should really run the Tube 24/7. London is full of pubs and clubs. There were a lot of people who missed the "last train." They had to take a bus instead. Trains in NYC run 24/7. I understand that they perform maintenance at night, but they can simply focus on a different line each night instead of shutting down the whole system.

I enjoyed this series. Will they have it on DVD?

They could but the length of time for each closure would be longer, and to be honest there aren't actually that many passengers between 12:30am and 5:30am (The usual closing time). And with the age of the system and the neglect over the last 40 or so years it is in need of a lot of newnewal work, and a lot of the system is falling appart in places and needs replacement, this can only be done when the system is closed.

Also, if you had one or two lines closed each night, you'd get people saying, "Why you closed my line? Don't you know I have to get home tonight?" or "I didn't know! You have to pay for me a taxi!" no matter how much you publicise it.

London doesn't know how well it has it anyway, 24hr bus routes pretty much shaddow every single tube line and are the best run in the country, if Londoners started trying to commute around Manchester, Birmingham, Leeds, Newcastle or Liverpool and expected transport to still be running at Midnight or 2am, then they'd be in for a long wait until the first train or bus at 6am the next morning...
 

jon0844

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Having seen the people getting violent with tube staff (last episode), who didn't let them in on account of their being no more trains (!), I agree that rotating line shutdowns wouldn't work.

The system at the moment is to have trains later on Friday and Saturday nights, with later starting the next morning. That seems to work.

Perhaps we could try, one day when all the major work is done, to have trains run through the night at weekends - that might be possible. However, I am not sure how it works in NYC but we have a pretty awesome night bus network and every line is 'shadowed' by a night bus so it's not hard to get home. We also have plenty of cabs until the early hours.
 

Clip

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You start late though then you are killing the people who reply on it to get to work in the mornings.

Any more bright ideas?
 

142094

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New York Subway does run a 24/7 service, although in the late night/early morning the frequencies are reduced (but still a decent service). It also helps that most stations have four tracks for each service, so you can effectively shut down say the local or express tracks and re-route them, without having to close the whole line down. Brilliant.
 

jopsuk

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Quite- only the Met and the Pic/District joint section have four-track sections, and not all their stations have platforms on all tracks. It's a pity the Circle wasn't built as a fully-four track system (ideally with non-flat junctions, though that might be asking too much)- under normal operation the circle (as a proper loop) could operate as high-frequency local service with the District, Met and H&C operating as skip or limited stop expresses.
 

142094

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The skip-stop aspect is also great for increasing the frequencies at certain stations. Would be very hard to do on LU when even they say the optimum service is to have a train in every station at the same time.
 

SS4

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Is there enough room under London to double track or to have an overnight "core" if you will, even if it only extends to zone 2? Academic of course since there's no money for it really.
How much would it cost in terms of staffing and utilities to run 24 hour? Evidently you need traction current on as well as fully operational stations with the amount of staff that would entail in addition to drivers and the multitude of tasks needed to keep it running safely. What time do drivers clock off? It's apparent they need to drive to the depot and stable the stock and I could see it taking at least an hour to do so.

They said before that the tube has too many trains for the tunnels and consequently that would appear to rule out (semi-)fast services since they'd just back up except on the outer reaches where frequency is low.
 
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