Workers' Liberty

Imagine starting work for LUL, doing your training, and being told what group you are going to work on. Off you go, settle in to working on the group, perhaps move house into the area.

It seems that many of the Control Room staff at Neasden have been working despite their safety-critical licensing having expired.

The Victoria and Metropolitan lines will be closed on Boxing Day for engineering work. Management seem to think this means they can book all the drivers off on annual leave for the day.

Tubeworker warned earlier this year that Station Supervisors' jobs were under threat, as the new Rule Books stripped the grade of many of its responsibilities.

Connect is still causing chaos. The latest is that a DMT at Kings Cross called Victoria line control, but got through to the Met instead!

London Underground says it prides itself on being a "Customer Led" organisation but apparently radical plans to upgrade Metropolitan Line trains have not gone down well with the travelling public of Harrow. The reason for this outrage is the possibility of 30% of seating being reduced on the new trains.

Well it’s been nearly 4 months since the new rosters were imposed, ahem I mean implemented, on a grateful LUL workforce!

Question: When is a customer-led organisation not a Customer led organisation?

Answer: When that customer-led organisation is London Underground Ltd!

Following a SPAD at Harrow on the Hill reportedly due to Manual Electronic Logging in use in the signal cabin, MEL equipment was removed from Harrow and Whitechapel cabins. HMRI are apparently investigating - but as Tubeworker writes, MEL is being put back in, on test, with new modifications.

There is a proposal to qualify people (managers to work strike days, perhaps?) to work only limited moves at Harrow-on-the-Hill. Meaning: no point movements.

This has obvious safety implications for both staff and the public eg. a train arcing and fusing could not be put in Harrow siding; or in the event of a failure.

(Melman is a comic giraffe character in the kids' film, 'Madagascar'. The character is a very nice idea, but blunders and splutters, and is not really up to the tasks that face him. Unlike Manual Electronic Logging (MEL) in LUL signal cabins, which is, erm, not like that at all.)

The introduction of MEL (Manual Electronic Logging) to signal cabins is sputtering and stumbling its way forwards. In some cabins (especially the busier ones) using MEL is adding a significant extra work-load to the signal operator's job, as it is more time-consuming to use than paper sheets.

We need tripcock testers on the Chesham - Ricky branch of the Met. Recent events on the Northern line should remind us how important it is to check that the emergency braking system is tested frequently.

The introduction of MEL (Manual Electronic Logging) into some of the Met and District Line signal cabins is reportedly imminent. So we might be forgiven for wondering why the MEL team (extra staff seconded to work at Harrow-on-the-Hill cabin to assist with MEL), which had been kicking its heels since May, has just been disbanded. Good question.

As drivers and passengers will know, the platform lights at Northwood are not exactly bright. In fact, they are so dim that they are a menace.

Staff hoped that things would look brighter (sorry!) when LUL finally got round to carrying out a lux test. But unfortunately, the results had to be discounted because the testing equipment did not work properly. Not enough brightness in the management grades, perhaps?