Elizabeth Line - total loss of signalling 26/11

[Acton1991]

It's been a terrible week for the Elizabeth line, and those of us living in the western section have definitely felt it this week! It's very difficult to feel like it's a total success when there is such a lack of reliability.

 

[Horizon22]

Could TfL take the operation in house, or is it obliged to put it out to tender?

I think they could (not sure on the legalities) but have chosen not to. GTS takes over from May 2025 for at least 7 years:

GTS Rail Operations Limited announced as new operator for the Elizabeth line

GTS Rail Operations Limited announced as new operator for the Elizabeth line

tfl.gov.uk

It's been a terrible week for the Elizabeth line, and those of us living in the western section have definitely felt it this week! It's very difficult to feel like it's a total success when there is such a lack of reliability.

Indeed. A whole host of problems on all routes which included a tree on the line at Brentwood and a failed GA train as a result (Friday), complete tunnel ventilation failure in the Central section (Saturday), a points failure at Stratford (Sunday), a bag on the OLE near Acton in the PM peak (Monday), a power tripping and suicidal passenger (Tuesday), a signalling fault at Whitechapel / Stepney Green and a trespasser at Reading (Wednesday).

Not to mention the aforementioned loss of a driver RDW/overtime agreement and resultant shortages making recovery much harder on top of additional cancellations.

It never rains but it pours...

 

[Thirteen]

TBH it's complete fantasy to expect a railway to run perfectly 100% of the time. This narrative that the Elizabeth Line is a failure needs to jog on.

 

[itfcfan]

TBH it's complete fantasy to expect a railway to run perfectly 100% of the time. This narrative that the Elizabeth Line is a failure needs to jog on.

It's definitely not a failure -its transformative for lots of East-West journeys around London.

But its more a complex system than the self-contained tube lines around it. Its not uncommon for a problem to occur on one of the 3 parts of the system (GWML, GEML or Crossrail core) and then for that problem to bleed over to the other parts of the system. The mix of services on the GWML in particular (freight included) must be hard to manage against a metro/inner-suburban passenger service running more intensively since Crossrail started. Possibly recovery procedures will improve the longer the line is up and running?

I've been tracking Crossrail reliability as a personal project since the core service started. The past week was a tough one: https://zhibek.github.io/crossrail-ppm/

If I get time, I plan to setup a similar tracker for Thameslink reliability. Running both Crossrail and Thameslink must involve similar challenges - albeit Thameslink has had quite a bit longer to bed in.

 

[Purple Train]

It's been a terrible week for the Elizabeth line, and those of us living in the western section have definitely felt it this week! It's very difficult to feel like it's a total success when there is such a lack of reliability.

I'd disagree with that - it isn't always exactly punctual, but it is reliable; I can generally rely on it getting me where I need to go at the time at which I need to do it, and, while I have been more fortunate than some who makes the same commute, Monday and Tuesday are the only days upon which I've given up on the train and found alternative means of travel. The problem as far as I'm concerned is that, when it does go wrong, those of us out in the sticks are generally left by TfL to fend for ourselves, as they don't seem to acknowledge the existence of anything not operated by them.

 

[Cowley]

We’re starting to get into the realms of this becoming a service disruption thread at this point, so I think that’ll do us for now.

Thanks everyone