Last Friday - why was the Charing Cross branch down too?

[AlbertBeale]

I needed the Northern Line last week, on the afternoon of the London Bridge attack. The City branch was - understandably - non-stopping at London Bridge. But the whole of the Charing Cross branch was closed at the same time (hence making the crush on the other route pretty bad), and I could find no explanation for that closure.

Was it in any way related to the London Bridge incident? (In which case, why shut that branch?) Or just a coincidence, but without any announcement of why?

 

[bluegoblin7]

Coincidence. Points failure at Charing Cross and CCTV issues at Leicester Square.

It was certainly being announced as a signal failure when I travelled through the area in the evening.

 

[AlbertBeale]

Coincidence. Points failure at Charing Cross and CCTV issues at Leicester Square.

It was certainly being announced as a signal failure when I travelled through the area in the evening.

Ah - thanks! I heard no announcements, and saw no explanations on displays, when I travelled in the afternoon. And station staff seemed not to know - so I wondered.

Re points at Charing Cross - I've noticed the crossover just north of the station there, but I've never come across it being used in normal service. I presume nothing reverses there except when there's a problem to recover from. (In which case, can points fail if there's no attempt to use them? If there was a problem with them that caused the line to have to close, is it because there was a reversal there, and something went wrong?)

 

[bramling]

Ah - thanks! I heard no announcements, and saw no explanations on displays, when I travelled in the afternoon. And station staff seemed not to know - so I wondered.

Re points at Charing Cross - I've noticed the crossover just north of the station there, but I've never come across it being used in normal service. I presume nothing reverses there except when there's a problem to recover from. (In which case, can points fail if there's no attempt to use them? If there was a problem with them that caused the line to have to close, is it because there was a reversal there, and something went wrong?)

Not a signal failure but a points failure, one end of the crossover had lost detection. The suspension at the time of the London Bridge incident was to allow staff time to go down and carry out a proper investigation, as up to that point the failure had cleared of its own accord but the actual cause hadn’t been traced - hence a desire to go down and attempt to get things properly sorted in time for the evening peak.

Whilst points can and do fail after being used, in this instance that wasn’t the case. I forget the exact reason but I think it was a case of a wire working loose or something along those lines.

Nothing is booked to reverse at Charing Cross, however it’s used fairly regularly during disruption.