Tubeworker's blog

Tubeworker: a platform
for rank-and-file workers, telling you what the bosses and bureaucrats won't.

Since the '80s, Tubeworker has been a printed bulletin distributed among London Underground workers. Download printed issues here.

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Tunnel Vision

- a Workers' Liberty pamphlet about London Underground's Public-Private Partnership and
the fight against it.

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Navigation

Victoria line


Silverlink transfer

Stations (and platforms) transferring from Silverlink to LUL in 2007, and LUL's attempts to use it as a pretext to sneak in various attacks on working conditions.


Mind The Automatic Doors, Please

LT Health & safety

The new 09 stock on the Victoria line is a fully automated train with fully automated door opening and closing.


Section 12 - Is It Or Isn't It?

Section 12

We all know that a station is either Section 12 or not. It can't be Section 12 in parts, not in other parts.


Boxing Clever?

Metropolitan line

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.


Congestion Crisis - But What Do Management Care?

Northern line

King's Cross station closed due to overcrowding in the middle of the evening rush hour on the night that Arsenal played Newcastle. Euston became packed with their traffic so had to close as well.


Staying Shut

Victoria line

From the start of the strike on Monday, LUL management accepted that they could not possibly run a safe service with all the engineering workers unavailable!


More Management Incompetence

Training

When a signal failed on the Victoria Line, the supervisor couldn't go down to secure the points because they weren't trained, leaving trains stuck in the tunnel for nearly an hour!

Management should not try to discipline this supervisor.


Day Off? No Chance!

Rights for Reserves

Reserve staff at Victoria are being refused days off, and changes of rest days, when they ask for them. There have been ridiculous stories of being refused days off for weddings in October!

After some staff complained that others were getting preferential treatment with days off, management have stepped in to ensure that everyone is being treated the same – refusing all requests!


Connect? Hello?

Connect

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!


Off The Premises

Asbestos

Victoria station needs asbestos removal, and management's plan is that the ticket office should be relocated to a Portakabin outside the mainline station upstairs for the duration of the works.


Points Failure

Metronet

Brixton crossover caused major problems on the Vic last week with a 10mph TSR imposed. So new points were shipped in from Spain and installed on Sunday. Just a few days later, the points failed, necessitating a Victoria-Brixton suspension during the day to replace the points motor!


Wrong Size Bolt

Metronet

Last week, there was a track failure at Seven Sisters at start of traffic, on the points coming out of the depot. The cause? Apparently in overnight maintenance, a bolt of the wrong size had been used and when the first train went over the track the block joint keeled over and failed. Result: major chaos on the Vic Line.


One Size Fits All?

Metronet

Union reps were surprised to stumble across a "new Victoria Line train" being tested on a recent visit to Derby. It's odd that it could get so far along the production process without our reps being consulted. You could almost suspect that Metronet and LUL are trying to sneak things past us.


Shameful

Victoria line

Victoria line engineering work duties for last weekend and the next two weekends were posted at very short notice and didn't meet agreed rostering. Union reps at Seven Sisters agreed to work duties provided that all drivers got a one-hour meal relief. Come the weekend shamefully managers didn't honour this agreement. So the next weekend's work may not go ahead.


Stuck in the Pipe Again

Central line

First, it was Victoria Line passengers trapped until 3am on the last Monday in May.

Then it was 500 trapped on the Central line for 80 minutes on a Thursday afternoon.

And for the hat-trick ... The very next day, 800 punters stuck in the pipe between Bank and Liverpool Street for more than two hours in the morning peak at 38C temperatures. They had to be given oxygen and water to counter heat exhaustion and dehydration.


Trapped in the tunnel

Victoria line

150 people were trapped in the pipe between Highbury and Finsbury Park on the last Monday night in May - and the last of them did not get out until 3am, more than two-and-a-half hours after their train came to a halt. Somehow, we don't think that's what the Mayor meant by late-night running. So what happened?


Staffing Cuts Close Stations

Bakerloo Line

It was very reassuring to read in On The Move that station closures due to staffing cuts are no longer a problem now that the new rosters have bedded in.

But this will come as a surprise to the staff and passengers at Wapping (13th May), Edgware Road Bakerloo (14th) and Victoria (15th), who had to close on successive days due to staff shortages.


Seven Sisters - No Assistance

Staffing Levels

Victoria Line drivers are finding themselves without help on Platform 4 at Seven Sisters. Since the stations shorter working week rosters were imposed, station staff are now unavailable to help.

This is having a knock-on effect on headway times, and management have already had to agree to the unions' demand that no driver be disciplined for delays resulting from this.


Danger at Victoria

Asbestos

At Victoria - London Underground's busiest station - Supervisors have been cut to the bone. Control room assistants are currently unlicensed and undergoing training.


Stand Well Clear of These Doors

LT Health & safety

It's another triumph for PPP and sub-contracting (not). This time, a Victoria Line train travelled with open doors between stations following modifications carried out by subbies.


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