wrote:
On Thu, 24 Nov 2016 11:43:36 -0000 (UTC)
Recliner wrote:
Roland Perry wrote:
In message
-septe
mber.org, at 10:06:07 on Thu, 24 Nov 2016, Recliner
remarked:

Incidentally, although the Piccadilly line is largely above ground from
Baron's Court, it's largely on viaducts rather than cuttings, so it
shouldn't be affected very much by leaf fall.

And the branch to Uxbridge, and the part in North London?

Very little of the eastern end is not underground.

The Acton Town to Rayner's Lane section is on viaducts from Park Royal most
of the way to Sudbury Town, where it's at ground level. It's then in a
shallow cutting till after Sudbury Hill, after which it's back on viaducts
to Rayner's Lane. It's then a mixture, but I can't think of any deep
cuttings on the rest of the route to Uxbridge. Remember that all of these
lines were built by the Met and District lines, rather than Tube railway
companies, and they preferred to build on or above ground level in the then
largely rural areas.

Given the service level of the piccadilly line on the uxbridge branch when I
occasionally used it while working in ealing a few years back, I suspect most
leaves on the line have a fairly undisturbed quiet life.

Well, that's certainly true today -- this is what was tweeted this morning:
"Due to shortage of serviceable trains there will be no service between
Acton Town and Uxbridge."

And from the web site:
"Piccadilly Line: No service between Acton Town and Uxbridge due to a
shortage of trains. SEVERE DELAYS on the rest of the line. Customers
travelling to stations between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge should use
Metropolitan line services. London Underground tickets will be accepted on
Chiltern Railways, Great Western, Southern, London Overground, London
Midland and local bus services via any reasonable route."

That's a reduction of at least 40% of the service (depending on how much
the Heathrow branch service has been reduced). The train situation must be
dire if they can't even run a limited shuttle service between Acton Town
and Rayner's Lane.