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Cancelled trains

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Samuel88

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I'm seeing more and more cancelled services recently on the Underground. Just now there's over a 20 minute wait for a Met train, Jubilee line services are constantly cancelled on the weekend and last week I had to wait nearly 30 minutes for a Central line service from Ruislip Gardens. What is going on?
 
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bramling

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I'm seeing more and more cancelled services recently on the Underground. Just now there's over a 20 minute wait for a Met train, Jubilee line services are constantly cancelled on the weekend and last week I had to wait nearly 30 minutes for a Central line service from Ruislip Gardens. What is going on?

Fares freeze starting to bite?
 

Mojo

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I personally don't think it's anything to do with that; parts of many lines, particularly those with branches, don't run as often as people think they do, so one train being cancelled, for a defect or non-availability of Train Operator, and the next train running 5 Minutes late can result in some gaps exceeding 20 Minutes, depending on when the customer arrived.
 

bramling

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I personally don't think it's anything to do with that; parts of many lines, particularly those with branches, don't run as often as people think they do, so one train being cancelled, for a defect or non-availability of Train Operator, and the next train running 5 Minutes late can result in some gaps exceeding 20 Minutes, depending on when the customer arrived.

There’s a *lot* of cancellations for no driver available, especially at weekends. Indeed if there’s a lumpy service at weekends for no apparent reason then this is almost certainly likely to be the reason.

Now perhaps some of this can be put down to attendance and possibly poor management, however when it’s happening on a constant basis and some lines are having well into double-figure numbers of cancellations in a day, one can’t escape the conclusion that resourcing is inadequate.

Something within Sadiq Khan’s remit for him to be “furious” about! ;)
 
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Samuel88

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I personally don't think it's anything to do with that; parts of many lines, particularly those with branches, don't run as often as people think they do, so one train being cancelled, for a defect or non-availability of Train Operator, and the next train running 5 Minutes late can result in some gaps exceeding 20 Minutes, depending on when the customer arrived.
There’s a *lot* of cancellations for no driver available, especially at weekends. Indeed if there’s a lumpy service at weekends for no apparent reason then this is almost certainly likely to be the reason.

Now perhaps some of this can be put down to attendance and possibly poor management, however when it’s happening on a constant basis and some lines are having well into double-figure numbers of cancellations in a day, one can’t escape the conclusion that resourcing is inadequate.

Something within Sadiq Khan’s remit for him to be “furious” about! ;)
And just now there's severe delays on the H&C line due to 'the unavailability of train operaters'.
 

bluegoblin7

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One of the biggest causes for the ongoing driver shortages, especially at weekends, remains Night Tube. This took up a huge amount of driver training resource and effectively paused full time training for over eighteen months. As those drivers then go full time (often head of those who applied before but are stuck on training waiting lists because of Night Tube) they then not only have to potentially retrain those full time drivers (if they are changing lines) but also replacement Night Tube drivers.

It is settling down now with a healthy mix of full and part time drivers in training, but it will be a while before everything settles. On the sub-surface lines in particular another large culprit for the shortages is the additional training required for 4LM. This is now less of an issue on the C&H, but will be relevant on both the Met and the District as the rollout of SMA (Signalling Migration Area) 1&2 get ever closer.
 

Mag_seven

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and last week I had to wait nearly 30 minutes for a Central line service from Ruislip Gardens. What is going on?

I alighted from an eastbound Central line service at Hanger Lane this morning and was surprised to see the next eastbound was shown as being in 18 mins!
 

Mojo

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And a good service was being broadcast to those there?
Dependent on the time of day, that could just be one train running a couple of minutes late, not even one cancelled, as during parts of the day there are already in excess of a 10 Minute gap on the West Ruislip branch. Even with one cancelled, that would still not qualify for delays to be announced in line with the Service Status Criteria (https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/service_status_criteria_for_all).
 

Tetchytyke

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I alighted from an eastbound Central line service at Hanger Lane this morning and was surprised to see the next eastbound was shown as being in 18 mins!

Depends when you were travelling, even during the weekday daytime there are 9-11 minute gaps in service on the West Ruislip branch, so one missing or a few minutes late and you're looking at a 15-20 minute wait.

Late and early, especially on a Sunday, and there's only 4-5tph out that way so, again, one missing and you're looking at a 30 minute wait. It's the same on the outer reaches of the Bakerloo.
 
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