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Met Line 2/10?

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westv

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Just before left office checked TFL status. Good service.
Arrived at Aldgate around 17:40 to be greeted by a "good service on all lines" announcement.
Next Met Line service 9 mins.
I know that 9 mins isn't it itself a long time but it is quite a long time on the tube.
Any particular reason for the delay?
 
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gazthomas

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At that time of day there should be a service every 2-5 mins, albeit 2 out of 3 going to Uxbridge
 

westv

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So I wonder why the delay. Cancelled services? Problem on the line that nobody wanted to mention??
 

AM9

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There is a limit to the number of Met line trains that can start from Aldgate. All Met line trains need to share tracks with Circle line trains and Hammersmith and City line trains as far as Baker Street junction. On this section of the line, intervals are between 2 and 4 minutes. Then at Baker Street, there are additional trains heading down the Met line towards Harrow on the Hill with varying stopping patterns with average times of 3-4 minutes between them. It isn't possible to get much more down those routes and still offer a reliable service.
 

bluegoblin7

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If there’s a train sat down at Finchley Road you’re very quickly going to run out of trains at Aldgate. It takes a while to repopulate the city, particularly in the peak with the complicated stepping back arrangements.
 

westv

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I fully understand why delays can happen. I just questioned the fact that a good service was reported with no contradiction given.
 

Mojo

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I fully understand why delays can happen. I just questioned the fact that a good service was reported with no contradiction given.
There were severe delays advertised from 17.34 Wembley Park to Aldgate. This was tweeted by the @metline twitter account 1 Min later, ironically this is when the train with problems started moving off!

There was an issue with a train at Baker St on the southbound.

The evening peak Met service is advertised as every 2-5 Min and in accordance with the service status matrix (which you can view here as it was released under FoI - https://www.whatdotheyknow.com/requ...aring Service Status.pdf?cookie_passthrough=1) delays will start to be advertised once the headways reach 3x normal.

The service status is a general picture of the service in that area and as trains were moving ahead of the incident train that is why it took some time to be implemented.
 

westv

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Twitter alerts are no good if you don't have Twitter access at the time. If Twitter can advise of delays at 17:34 why no mention of delays at Aldgate between 17:40 when I arrived and getting off the train at Finchley Road?
I don't want to seem to be having a go but TFL information can be woeful sometimes. Not usually but sometimes.
Last year I was at Westminster waiting for a northbound service. No service and not a single announcement. Thr onlý way we found out there were problems was when a fellow traveller pressed the information service button.
Again, sorry for the moan - I would rather it didn't come across like that.
 

bionic

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I fully understand why delays can happen. I just questioned the fact that a good service was reported with no contradiction given.

The "good service" thing has been a running joke for years now. Means nothing. It's all part of the LU dogma of announcements for announcements sake. The vast bulk of these announcements fall on deaf ears anyway.
 

Mojo

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Twitter alerts are no good if you don't have Twitter access at the time. If Twitter can advise of delays at 17:34 why no mention of delays at Aldgate between 17:40 when I arrived and getting off the train at Finchley Road?
I don't want to seem to be having a go but TFL information can be woeful sometimes. Not usually but sometimes.
Information about the delay would also have been on the electronic service update board at the station.
 

Mojo

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Well it wasn't.
It was, because the service status updates are sent out automatically; they don’t just go out on Twitter.

The only bit that is a manual process is the announcements at stations; it is up to staff to manually update these.
 

westv

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It was, because the service status updates are sent out automatically; they don’t just go out on Twitter.

The only bit that is a manual process is the announcements at stations; it is up to staff to manually update these.
Hmmm interesting. The main displays at the entrance to Aldgate platforms only ever indicate the minutes to the next departure. I've only ever seen service delay information hand written on a white board as you walk in.
 

londonboi198o5

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Hmmm interesting. The main displays at the entrance to Aldgate platforms only ever indicate the minutes to the next departure. I've only ever seen service delay information hand written on a white board as you walk in.
Mojo is referring to the electronic information board. The ones that show all the line and if they have a good service or delays.

The boards your referring to will not show if there are delays they are linked to the signalling system and show the count down to the times
 

westv

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Mojo is referring to the electronic information board. The ones that show all the line and if they have a good service or delays.

The boards your referring to will not show if there are delays they are linked to the signalling system and show the count down to the times
I've no idea where the boards you refer to are at Aldgate. I've think I've only ever seen that display on TFL's website and Hull Trains.
 

sprunt

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I've no idea where the boards you refer to are at Aldgate. I've think I've only ever seen that display on TFL's website and Hull Trains.

IIRC, the one at Aldgate is on the right as you enter the station. It isn't very well placed I don't think - it's not obvious when entering the station and easy to overlook as you seem to have done.
 

transmanche

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IIRC, the one at Aldgate is on the right as you enter the station. It isn't very well placed I don't think - it's not obvious when entering the station and easy to overlook as you seem to have done.
There isn't much room at Aldgate so, as you say, the 'rainbow board' isn't as obvious as it is at most stations. You can just about see it in this photo of the station, so it may help @westv (and others) when making future journeys.

aldgate.png
Source: Aldgate Tube Station by Dun.can on Flickr
 

axlrosen

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Mojo is referring to the electronic information board. The ones that show all the line and if they have a good service or delays.

The boards your referring to will not show if there are delays they are linked to the signalling system and show the count down to the times

It's a good point, though, that it would be nice if these on-platform displays would show a "severe delays" message in the crawl. Is that hard to do because they are not connected to the right systems?
 

bluegoblin7

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On the modernised lines (Central, Jubilee, Northern and Victoria, and now parts of the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines) this is possible, and indeed does happen. Older lines do not have the ability to display custom messages as they are driven directly by the signalling system. This will change as the upgrade works progress around the network.
 
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