The day part of the Northern Line started late

[Taxi Driver]

Hi, this is my first post on here and I have a specific question that I'm sure some one will be able to answer.

Does anyone remember several years ago when the London Underground system couldn't start one morning because one of the over-night maintenance guys had been taken ill during his shift, but hadn't been booked off properly?

When the maintenance shift ended there was no record to show that he had already left and so he was unaccounted for. This meant the power supply couldn't be switched on and it wasn't until around 8 or 9 am that his whereabouts was known. This obviously caused major commuter disruption as people were unable to travel on the underground.

Can anyone remember this and what year it was?

Many thanks from Taxi Driver.

 

[Daniel]

I don't know when/where this was, but it is something which can easily happen. If a protection master hasn't booked out with track access control, then traction current for that section cannot be livened. The track access controller will contact the relevent signaller to prevent trains accessing this section of the track. This is called Late Surrender Protection.

Therefore I would point out that someone not being booked off track would suspend the service over the section of line for which they had booked out. The entire underground would not be suspended.

 

[robby p]

Yes I remember this one, I was station staff at the time. If we're talking about the same incident it was on the south end of the northern line. I can't remember the date but I'm guessing 2007 possibly 2008 but unfortunately that's as specific as I can be.

 

[TheVicLine]

It happened recently on the Vic Line when a Protection Master was found sleeping inside a stabled train in the sidings... P45 in the post.

 

[DavyCrocket]

If I recall it was around the Tooting area. Forget what grade they were. Also recollect that the ERU and Operational staff conducted a track search. The missing person was located but they then needed to clear those looking!