Paul Corfield wrote:

On Sun, 23 Jul 2006 13:30:56 +0100, "James Salisbury"
wrote:

The tube seems to be takeing a battering with the bakerloo line closed and
various other closures. What is going on?

A complete guess on my part but I would imagine there has been a failure
either at a bulk supply point between the national electricity network
and the LU one or there is a cable related problem on the high voltage
network. It's hard to say whether that is national grid or LU side.

The stations and lines that are affected point to a bulk supply point
problem in North West London as has happened before.

There have been a lot of electricity network problems but that is hardly
new news given widespread concerns about the integrity of and investment
in our electricity network as a result of privatisation.

I'm sure I will know more tomorrow morning when I read the weekend
reports.
--
Paul C


I'd be most interested if you could tell us anything about how
Greenwich power station fits into the whole picture. I'm under the
impression it exists to provide an emergency electricity supply for the
LU network [1] - but is it just enough to power say emergency
tunnel/station lights, sump pumps and communications or could it
provide enough power for a line to operate normally?


An aside for anyone who might be interested - I wondered for a long
time why LU had a power station in Greenwich, which pre-Jubilee line
extension was nowhere near any of the Underground network, until I read
recently that it was originally constructed to generate electricity for
LCC's tramways [2].

The LCC Tramway operation was duly absorbed into the new London
Transport Passenger Board on it's formation in 1933, which is how this
power station in south-east London ended up supplying the Underground
network (not sure of exactly when the requisite connections were made
to the Underground network, possibly in the 1930's?). I'm unclear as to
whether LU still actually own the site, or whether ownership has now
passed to Seeboard Powerlink, who are responsible for running it.

The power station is an interesting bit of old industrial London -
though unless you're looking carefully you may well not realise it's
still in use. The pier that used to take coal to the power station is
disused as the fuel now burnt there is gas [3]. If you're in Greenwich
it's worth walking past - it's just beyond the Naval school, and
there's two pubs deserving of a visit in the vicinity, The Trafalgar
and the Cutty Sark Tavern (a name that's slightly confusing as it's not
in the immediate proximity of the tea clipper).


[1] Hansard - see under 'Seeboard Powerlink consortium'
http://www.publications.parliament.u...t/91207w08.htm

[2] Greenwich Industrial Historical Society
http://gihs.gold.ac.uk/gihs2.html#gps

[3] PortCities London
http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/...r-Station.html