Is Central Line the only line to have emergency train stop button on platforms

[Silent]

I used the line today. I don’t use it usually but I noticed the emergency stop buttons on every platform the train stopped at. On the Met Line after I didn’t see the buttons. But maybe it’s in the Vic Line although I think since I use it to rush to work and it’s always crowded I wouldn’t notice the button.

Also the Liverpool Street platform destination board was mostly orange leds but some misplaced green led’s. Pointless question but why was central line the only line to use orange and green leds on the dot matrix boards.

 

[Mojo]

The Victoria line has emergency plungers too. They were installed on the Jubilee line and you will still see them on platforms, but they were not commissioned and remain out of use.

Also the Liverpool Street platform destination board was mostly orange leds but some misplaced green led’s. Pointless question but why was central line the only line to use orange and green leds on the dot matrix boards.

I would imagine this is just 1990s design. At most locations on the line the dot matrix indicators have been replaced with a more modern type that just has orange LEDs plus also doesn’t have that way of displaying letters that really creeps me out.

 

[Silent]

The Victoria line has emergency plungers too. They were installed on the Jubilee line and you will still see them on platforms, but they were not commissioned and remain out of use.

Yeah I was suspecting. I need to look out for them on those lines. Maybe it was easier to notice because I was on the quieter, outer sections of the Central.

 

[TFN]

Not tube, but the Elizabeth Line has stop plungers at Custom House and Abbey Wood.

 

[MaidaVale]

The plungers on the Central and Victoria lines aren't technically "Emergency Stop" per se, but "Codebreakers" which essentially cut all ATO data to the train and will (eventually) bring them to a stop. They aren't linked to any sort of emergency braking or traction current arrangements.

The boards were installed in the mid/late 90s as part of the Central Line's then new signalling system. The data shown on the dot matrix is directly linked to the signalling (as they are on most lines) rather than from any sort of API that might be used for apps or third-party departure info. In addition, the DMI boards actually act in the place of platform repeater signals that you get on other lines. These are referenced when station staff are doing SATS (essentially dispatch duties during peak hours). I would assume this is why they're yet to be widely replaced in any significant capacity.

 

[boiledbeans2]

[...] In addition, the DMI boards actually act in the place of platform repeater signals that you get on other lines. These are referenced when station staff are doing SATS (essentially dispatch duties during peak hours). I would assume this is why they're yet to be widely replaced in any significant capacity.

How do they act as repeaters? When the signal clears, does the DMI display a "Train ready to depart" or similar? I believe Liverpool Street is the only station in the Central London area with the orange and green DMIs.

 

[Silent]

How do they act as repeaters? When the signal clears, does the DMI display a "Train ready to depart" or similar? I believe Liverpool Street is the only station in the Central London area with the orange and green DMIs.

Actually the Simi at Liverpool Street was orange but had a few green leds in places that were meant to also be orange. The eastbound platform. It probably was retrofitted with fully orange LEDs.

 

[Snow1964]

The Victoria line has emergency plungers too. They were installed on the Jubilee line and you will still see them on platforms, but they were not commissioned and remain out of use.

Victoria line has had them since new, not plungers, but small yellow buttons on blue that looked bit like a fire alarm.

Haven't used the Victoria line much since 1980s when I used it daily, so they might have been updated since.

 

[Dstock7080]

Some sub-surface Line platforms were also fitted with yellow boxed red buttons in the early-70s, as a pre-requisite for the impending OPO conversion.
They wouldn’t directly stop the train but would illuminate three equally spaced lights on the departure from platforms, initially a yellow light but later masked to become a yellow ‘X’.
Fitted from Hammersmith (H&C)-Barking, Circle Line and Earl’s Court-Putney Bridge.
Never commissioned for use but some remnants still survive, platform buttons painted over and a few track signals still in situ.

 

[Bletchleyite]

If we are talking of the passenger info displays, aren't these three colour, i.e. red and green, both on gives you orange, so if the red has failed you will see a green? Was a very common 90s thing to do.

 

[Mojo]

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned about the dot matrix indicators on the Central line is that they are DEPARTURE times and not ARRIVAL times as elsewhere on the network (obviously excluding locations at the end of the line and junctions like the TV screens at Baker Street on the Met line platforms).

This causes a bit of confusion at White City where you may see on the Westbound the indicator display

1 Terminates Here
2 West Ruislip

together with the automated announcement playing the announcement for a terminating train. Whereas in fact, the approaching train is actually going through to West Ruislip and the terminating train is the one behind. It comes up like this because it’s working out the time to arrival of the terminating train, but the time to departure of the through service.

If we are talking of the passenger info displays, aren't these three colour, i.e. red and green, both on gives you orange, so if the red has failed you will see a green? Was a very common 90s thing to do.

No, that isn’t what’s being talked about here. The displays from the Central line upgrade had the first two lines as train departures in orange (with line 2 switching between second and third trains) and the third line was in green which ordinarily displays “Central Line” but can also be used to display scrolling updates.

Victoria line has had them since new, not plungers, but small yellow buttons on blue that looked bit like a fire alarm.

Haven't used the Victoria line much since 1980s when I used it daily, so they might have been updated since.

Yes, the yellow buttons that were at the height of the station name on the enamel signage have long been removed.

 

[Alex Mihai]

Slightly off-topic, in the case of an on-track emergency where there are no emergency stop buttons (someone falls onto the track, large object/debris on the track), how does one (in this case a simple bystander, so by no means a tube employee) signal the driver of the oncoming tube train to warn of the danger? Would using the phone flashlight and waving it in a up-down motion in the direction of the train (so at the end of the platform that is closest to where the train is coming from) suffice?

 

[TheTallOne]

Slightly off-topic, in the case of an on-track emergency where there are no emergency stop buttons (someone falls onto the track, large object/debris on the track), how does one (in this case a simple bystander, so by no means a tube employee) signal the driver of the oncoming tube train to warn of the danger? Would using the phone flashlight and waving it in a up-down motion in the direction of the train (so at the end of the platform that is closest to where the train is coming from) suffice?

Hold both arms, still, above your head.

Waving them also acceptable, but again, above your head.

 

[MaidaVale]

How do they act as repeaters? When the signal clears, does the DMI display a "Train ready to depart" or similar? I believe Liverpool Street is the only station in the Central London area with the orange and green DMIs.

Essentially yes, The bottom (in most cases, Green) line of the DMI board flashes **STAND CLEAR OF THE DOORS** when the starting signal clears, which in turn shows the member of staff doing SATs duties that the starter is clear and the train is ready to depart.

On other lines, this is done through either a physical repeater signal, some sort of white beacon along the platform wall (Northern/Jubilee and maybe Vic?) or on the S-Stock, a white beacon next to the standard orange beacon that indicates that the doors are open.

 

[bakerstreet]

Edgware Road sub surface platform 2 has (did have?) red dot matrix for departures.

 

[torontoaddick]

The plungers on the Central and Victoria lines aren't technically "Emergency Stop" per se, but "Codebreakers" which essentially cut all ATO data to the train and will (eventually) bring them to a stop. They aren't linked to any sort of emergency braking or traction current arrangements.

I can't speak for the Victoria line, but all the Central line platform emergency stop plungers are directly wired into the local signalling interlocking, and when a plunger is activated it sets all the ATP codes for the relevant signalling blocks to zero MSS (Maximum Safe Speed) causing the on-board ATP controller to immediately emergency brake the train. They're not connected at all to the ATO data which is something that is uploaded to the on-board ATO controller when the train is stopped over the PAC loops in a station platform.

 

[trebor79]

One thing that hasn’t been mentioned about the dot matrix indicators on the Central line is that they are DEPARTURE times and not ARRIVAL times as elsewhere on the network (obviously excluding locations at the end of the line and junctions like the TV screens at Baker Street on the Met line platforms).

This causes a bit of confusion at White City where you may see on the Westbound the indicator display

1 Terminates Here
2 West Ruislip

together with the automated announcement playing the announcement for a terminating train. Whereas in fact, the approaching train is actually going through to West Ruislip and the terminating train is the one behind. It comes up like this because it’s working out the time to arrival of the terminating train, but the time to departure of the through service.

Don't follow. How can the time to arrival of the terminating train be longer than the time to departure of the through if the through is actually in front?

 

[bluegoblin7]

The through train may have a stand time that sees both services in adjacent platforms. It is often the case that Tube DMIs are indiscriminate of platforms until the trains arrive. I can think of plenty of examples of such on my part of the network.

 

[Mojo]

Don't follow. How can the time to arrival of the terminating train be longer than the time to departure of the through if the through is actually in front?

White City has a middle platform which is where trains usually terminate (they can also come into the platform and detrain then proceed into a siding at the west or east end of the station, but it is more normal for them to just go into the middle platform and lay over until it’s time to go back Eastbound).

So a through train comes in but isn’t due to depart for 2 minutes, but a terminating train is due to arrive 90 seconds behind, it displays train 1 as “Terminates here,” as its departure time after the arrival time of train 2. When it’s almost fully berthed the screens announce an “INFORMATION UPDATE” and it changes over, but only after the digital voice announcement has announced the approaching train as terminating.

 

[Daniel]

Hold both arms, still, above your head.

Waving them also acceptable, but again, above your head.

Steady arms above the head isn’t an emergency stop signal on LU, (rather ‘stop at me’)

Both arms waved above the head is an emergency stop signal though, as is any light or item of clothing waved across the body - (though ideally red)

 

[TheTallOne]

Steady arms above the head isn’t an emergency stop signal on LU, (rather ‘stop at me’)

Both arms waved above the head is an emergency stop signal though, as is any light or item of clothing waved across the body - (though ideally red)

I guess the website I found the above on was wrong then (it did explicitly say London underground).

 

[Silent]

Yep I just noticed the exact same button at Oxford Circus, Victoria Line.