Random Irritations

Heat makes mental expand ...

Basic physics really .

So temp speed restrictions are brought in to stop the rails moving and causing derailments and possible deaths.

Wonder how many SNCF and Eurostar services have been affected then in France this week?

When I lived in Australia for a year their train services weren't affected at all during the summer months. And their temperatures were far higher than ours!
 
Heat makes mental expand ...

Basic physics really .

So temp speed restrictions are brought in to stop the rails moving and causing derailments and possible deaths.

Calgary in Canada can suffer an 80 degree celcius temperature swing in a calendar year but it all runs smoothly. Basic engineering skills really.

But if we accept that TfL have to bring these in then it would be lovely if the journey planner actually reflected what was going on and stopped telling us to use services that don’t exist. Basic customer service really. :rolleyes:
 
Heat makes mental expand ...

Basic physics really .

So temp speed restrictions are brought in to stop the rails moving and causing derailments and possible deaths.


If the tracks are being altered that much in this heat then that’s poor engineering prob done on the cheap - there are multiple countries all over the world that have far more extreme temps than what we have in the UK and they seem to manage well , prob as poor as leaves on the line. And even when there is a genuine issue their comms and customer service is really poor
 
If the tracks are being altered that much in this heat then that’s poor engineering prob done on the cheap - there are multiple countries all over the world that have far more extreme temps than what we have in the UK and they seem to manage well , prob as poor as leaves on the line. And even when there is a genuine issue their comms and customer service is really poor

I fortunately work from home a fair bit now and only have to travel into London 2 or 3 times a week. Every time I do I find it so frustrating how poor our transport system is for the prices we have to pay for it.

Have had a fair few friends and relatives over from Australia over the last 2 years and they also commented how poor it was compared to theirs.
 
I fortunately work from home a fair bit now and only have to travel into London 2 or 3 times a week. Every time I do I find it so frustrating how poor our transport system is for the prices we have to pay for it.

Have had a fair few friends and relatives over from Australia over the last 2 years and they also commented how poor it was compared to theirs.

We deal with TFL for their IT and WiFi , nightmare a times

You can go to most of not all western countries and have a better train system
 
I fortunately work from home a fair bit now and only have to travel into London 2 or 3 times a week. Every time I do I find it so frustrating how poor our transport system is for the prices we have to pay for it.

Have had a fair few friends and relatives over from Australia over the last 2 years and they also commented how poor it was compared to theirs.

Perhaps you could persuade your mates, in government, to restore the subsidy to TfL... Cost of fares might go down then...
 
I couldn’t believe the amount of people out with their dogs this afternoon in that heat- it’s hitting 34 degrees - this was on the towns Facebook yet loads in the parks

868F8248-25C9-4224-B786-A776AD83B251.jpeg
 
Calgary in Canada can suffer an 80 degree celcius temperature swing in a calendar year but it all runs smoothly. Basic engineering skills really.

But if we accept that TfL have to bring these in then it would be lovely if the journey planner actually reflected what was going on and stopped telling us to use services that don’t exist. Basic customer service really. :rolleyes:

So something built by the Victorian’s and has been criminally under invested in for 50 odd years is to compare to services built to stand the heat and designed for this? Ok then.

Basic non understanding of the politics involved really 👌
 
I couldn’t believe the amount of people out with their dogs this afternoon in that heat- it’s hitting 34 degrees - this was on the towns Facebook yet loads in the parks

View attachment 27624
Heat like today is very common back in South Africa and our dogs coped just fine? :unsure:
 
If the tracks are being altered that much in this heat then that’s poor engineering prob done on the cheap - there are multiple countries all over the world that have far more extreme temps than what we have in the UK and they seem to manage well , prob as poor as leaves on the line. And even when there is a genuine issue their comms and customer service is really poor

Do you actually understand what leaves on the line means?

Slippery rail or low railhead adhesion is a condition of railways (railroads) where contamination of the railhead causes trains to experience less adhesion (grip). This can lead to wheelslip when the train is taking power, and wheelslide when the train is braking. The most common cause of contamination is fallen moist leaves that lie on and cling to the top surface of the rails of railway tracks. The condition results in significant reduction in friction between train wheels and rails, and in extreme cases can render the track temporarily unusable. In Britain, the situation is colloquially referred to as "leaves on the line".

Tfl sents the “RAT” (rail adhesion train) out during leaf fall season up the north end of the met to coat the rails to help

Also employes sequential signalling which breaks the track section in day 4 sections and if they aren’t hit in order it holds the signal at red as the train has “slipped”
 
Sounds like TfL needs to stop paying over inflated salaries and spend more money on improving the infrastructure :unsure:

The underground part of Tfl runs at a massive profit but all the profits are used to make “improvements” throughout Tfl

These improvements include

supporting the bus network which is run at a massive loss because buses are vital for people getting around

Funding crossrail which is leaking money left right and centre

You want to blame under investment in the other lines blame either crossrail for taking all the money that’s left or the tories for making the network the only public network in the world that doesn’t receive a government grant to run.
 
Do you actually understand what leaves on the line means?

Slippery rail or low railhead adhesion is a condition of railways (railroads) where contamination of the railhead causes trains to experience less adhesion (grip). This can lead to wheelslip when the train is taking power, and wheelslide when the train is braking. The most common cause of contamination is fallen moist leaves that lie on and cling to the top surface of the rails of railway tracks. The condition results in significant reduction in friction between train wheels and rails, and in extreme cases can render the track temporarily unusable. In Britain, the situation is colloquially referred to as "leaves on the line".

Tfl sents the “RAT” (rail adhesion train) out during leaf fall season up the north end of the met to coat the rails to help

Also employes sequential signalling which breaks the track section in day 4 sections and if they aren’t hit in order it holds the signal at red as the train has “slipped”

I read there is an easy fix to the problem but it’s not popular.... cut down all the trees 100Ms each side of the tracks. Obviously not acceptable so we have to live with it I suppose.
 
I read there is an easy fix to the problem but it’s not popular.... cut down all the trees 100Ms each side of the tracks. Obviously not acceptable so we have to live with it I suppose.

The victorians had “chain gangs” that used to go round and maintain the trees around the railway

We have groups out for vegetation control every day Monday to Friday

Mother Nature will always win

Some parts of the network are worse than the others depending when they were last upgraded but can’t fix all at once.. people moan when you do anyways
 
Last one before I sign off for the night.

Another reason the network is so poor and falling apart is because it was built 150 years ago. During the war the network kept running and in winning the war we rebuilt London etc but the tube couldn’t be invested in fully.

Other networks (lets use New York) are fantastic because their newer and built from scratch. Not old railways with bolt ons added.

For example the NY subway has 2 tunnels on some lines so when they want to take one down for a week for works then they just use the other tunnel. We can’t do that.

Nightube cost us dearly (thanks boris) Saturday night was hands down the best night to fix the tube. Long break before Sunday service start times so lots could be fixed and done

More failures now Monday mornings as night tube runs all night Friday and sat so first night down is Monday and causes over run of works or failures where they have tried to fix an issue and can’t etc etc.

None of this actually matters though because everyone else knows best 😂🙄
 
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