Victoria line new stock

[MCR247]

09 stock

 

[Controller1]

The PEA's are causing a huge problem at the moment.
Multiple activation and the T/Op unable to reset them.

 

[09Driver]

The seats are smaller in length and width to allow more standing passengers.

Sensitive Edge a nightmare. The considerate people who force the door open jam the thing which causes an alarm in the cab, which has to be acknowledged, if there were a few 'Considerates' each one has to be acknowledged, then the driver can hopefully reset the door from the cab, if not, shutdown & long walk to try and reset it.

PEA's, have to go through all the ackowledging procedure in the cab then walkthrough to carriage, all PEA's illuminate, tiny lettering, have to find one flashing, resets by turning but v. hard to tell if reset as minimal gap on being pressed hence high tech red paint around PEA to indicate if reset properly, still v. hard to tell & remains flashing as if not reset. Check rest of carriage in case more, walk back to cab, open up, if lucky you successfully reset it, if more have been pressed since shutting down or you didn't get it reset more alarms repeat all above et al. The 67s are so much simpler & easier!

 

[jon0844]

I haven't been on the new S-Stock but when I saw this at Euston (the mock-up), I said to a lady that the alarms looked too easy to press - especially by inquisitive children (as against people just out to distrupt). They said they were aware and would redesign them, with covers to stop kids.

I must admit, on the Victoria Line trains it looks incredibly easy to activate the ones by the wheelchair bays, and I still can't understand why there's just one warning light by the doors to show doors closing (and on the inside only), no flashing of the floor lighting (and/or in a different colour) to warn people that they're closing and no actual lights/symbols to show the side the doors will open - instead of saying on the screens.

If the white lights switched to amber/red and flashed when the hustle alarm started, I am pretty sure a fair number of people would no longer chance it.

One thing I did see was two people, clearly tourists, that boarded when the hustle alarm started. One got on easily, the lady didn't - and put her bag in the door to stop them shutting. Now, I can only presume she expected the doors to operate like a lift and automatically re-open when sensing an obstruction - instead of grabbing the bag nicely. They don't (the driver had to open the doors and then she jumped on) but do they do this anywhere else in the world?

 

[trentside]

I travelled on a 2009 stock for a couple of stops on the Victoria Line yesterday. As normal, the line was very busy but I was impressed with how the '09 stock was able to swallow a platform full of passengers but still feel like there is a good amount of space. The acceleration and deceleration was also very smooth IMO - much better than the '67 stock and the Central Line '92 stock.

 

[MCR247]

I don't think the hustle alarm is loud enough, I was getting on and it had started but I couldn't hear it until I was onboard :?

 

[ukrob]

I don't think the hustle alarm is loud enough, I was getting on and it had started but I couldn't hear it until I was onboard :?

It isn't beyond the technology available in 2010 to have the hustle alarm played on the platform instead of from a tinny speaker on a train - probably only a few thousand pounds to develop.

 

[MCR247]

That wouldn't be a bad idea, considering often when the train arrive it is announced 'mind the gap' etc on the platform

 

[jon0844]

I'd love to know if my idea about the doorway lighting (at low-level) is used anywhere else - namely flashing red to warn that the doors are closing. For those that haven't used the new trains, they stay on (bright white LEDs) until the doors are locked. Given that people might be hard of hearing, or there's other noise around (like a group of tourists chatting away about which exit they need to go for), from the outside, you may quite innocently try to board.

I've seen lifts that have lights that change from green to red (in fact, it may be on the lifts at King's Cross for the underground) so I'm not claiming to have invented the idea myself.

We have a single light inside, which I presume is to warn deaf people who are looking the right way, and an alarm that is quite quiet, as mentioned.

And we know how bad it can be for people trying to board, and holding doors open, so you'd think that the people who ordered the new trains would be aware of the fact that solving this problem would seriously improve reliability - both in terms of keeping to the timetable and not having doors break!

 

[Daniel]

I have seen on lifts on LU, where the lift doors have lighting strips in the seals, normally lit green, but change to flashing red when about to/closing.

 

[A60K]

Quite a lot of continental metro services have flashing lights to warn of train doors closimg - Berlin is well known for a no-nonsense approach in this regard.

 

[MCR247]

The German S-Bahn has a flashing red light while a 3 tone sound comes on and the doors close. On the U-Bahn its a bit OTT though

 

[jon0844]

So why did we just get the white lights that stay on, welcoming everyone to continue trying to board when they're closing?

Was it because this is what some bright spark in the UK specified?

 

[Electrostar]

I've noticed that while the recorded announcements are very clear on board the new stock the moment the driver attempts to speak to passengers it's inaudible. Unfortunately the Victoria line is suffering lots of delays at the moment and it's even more frustrating when you can't hear what the driver is trying to tell you.

 

[Daniel]

Apparently that fault is being worked on, but nonetheless feel free to complain to customer services about it as it continues to highlight that it requires a fix rather than something which can just be ignored.

 

[Electrostar]

Firstly you think with all the technology on trains these days they would have worked out how to fit a good microphone and speaker, and secondly it's not helped by the noisy fans (?). Ironically with most of the delays to services being caused by problems with the new stock it's the one time you can't get information!

 

[A60K]

So why did we just get the white lights that stay on, welcoming everyone to continue trying to board when they're closing?

Was it because this is what some bright spark in the UK specified?

Most likely it hadn't been thought of and therefore that the spec just didn't say that the lights should do anything while the doors are closing. It would be the simplest of things to implement if it had been desired. And possibly, even now, it might be a trivial software change to make it happen.

Even better would have been that a set of red LEDs were included in the unit, so that it could have switched to red as soon as the door close button had been pressed.

 

[jon0844]

If trains have it elsewhere, couldn't Bombardier have offered it or suggested it? Who knows, maybe it was part of the train and someone said 'nah, we don't need that - and it will save 50p per trainset'!

Retrofitting shouldn't be too hard, but I bet it would be expensive. Not because adding some RED LEDs would actually BE expensive, or even changing some software, but because I bet any change would be expensive simply as it is the norm these days. I mean, no company is going to say 'hey, we can do that cheap - no problems' are they. No, they'll charge a fortune because they can.

 

[MCR247]

And the fact that a lot have entered service, and the 67s going for scrapping meaning they can't run a full service without 09s