Since I moved to London in the year 2001, I have lived in South London
(Norwood) and rather liked it. Ten years and a failed relationship
later I find myself in Cockfosters, at the far end of the Piccadilly
Line.

The shock at moving to North London (and not doing things by halves,
about as far "North London" as you can get, is that the M25 I can
hear?) and the cost of a Zone 1-5 Travelcard was tempered by a much
easier commute to work - Cockfosters to Green Park, on the Piccadilly
Line with the choice, yes choice! of changing at Finsbury Park to the
Victoria Line should I so desire.

But my god, three months on and I am cursing the Piccadilly line
almost daily.

It appears to me that a "Good Service" will invariably involve an
interminably slow journey between Cockfosters and Arnos Grove, an
extended pause at either Oakwood and/or Arnos Grove, or trains at
Arnos Grove that arrived after my one, departing first. Sometimes the
driver will tell you that the train that has just arrived will leave
first, but sometimes they don't. Minor Delays have seen me 15 minutes
or more late, and I dread to think what a severe delay is.

At Cockfosters, if you miss the announcement as to when the next train
is, you can stand around for about a minute or more waiting as the
electronic displays will only ever show the very next departure,
nothing more, or simply the text "Piccadilly Line". So you can arrive,
there's a train at each platform, with no information as to which one
is actually due to leave. And sometimes after a minute a train will
depart, with no announcement. It feels like London Underground's own
version of "Train Doors will be closed 30 seconds before departure",
but until 30 seconds before you should still know which platform to
aim for!

Then there's the actual announcements at Cockfosters, which really
grate on me.
"Piccadilly Line, the next train to Heathrow T123 and 5 will depart
from Platform 1". Hmmm. I am being a pedant, but I would have thought
that "Piccadilly Line, the next train from Platform 1 is to Heathrow
T123 and 5". God that is pedantic. But indulge me.

Some of the staff are lovely : notably at Cockfosters, Oakwood,
Southgate and Arnos Grove - but I have never really encountered a
"bad" member of staff. Although last week, someone asked a man in a
London Underground uniform if the train he was walking towards was the
next one to leave and he shrugged his shoulders. He walked up to the
drivers cab, got in, waited and indeed his train was the next to
leave. So I can either take from that that the drivers don't even know
when they are about to depart and only go by the signals, or he was
just unhelpful.

When the Piccadilly Line does work well, commuting is a joy, compared
to my old journey of BUS - TRAIN - BUS - WALK. I now have TUBE - WALK.
Which is great. But whenever I see "GOOD SERVICE", I honestly don't
know what to expect when I get to the station. That can't be right.

On 23/04/2010 20:14, Railist wrote:
Since I moved to London in the year 2001, I have lived in South London
(Norwood) and rather liked it. Ten years and a failed relationship
later I find myself in Cockfosters, at the far end of the Piccadilly
Line.

The shock at moving to North London (and not doing things by halves,
about as far "North London" as you can get, is that the M25 I can
hear?) and the cost of a Zone 1-5 Travelcard was tempered by a much
easier commute to work - Cockfosters to Green Park, on the Piccadilly
Line with the choice, yes choice! of changing at Finsbury Park to the
Victoria Line should I so desire.

But my god, three months on and I am cursing the Piccadilly line
almost daily.

It appears to me that a "Good Service" will invariably involve an
interminably slow journey between Cockfosters and Arnos Grove, an
extended pause at either Oakwood and/or Arnos Grove, or trains at
Arnos Grove that arrived after my one, departing first. Sometimes the
driver will tell you that the train that has just arrived will leave
first, but sometimes they don't. Minor Delays have seen me 15 minutes
or more late, and I dread to think what a severe delay is.

At Cockfosters, if you miss the announcement as to when the next train
is, you can stand around for about a minute or more waiting as the
electronic displays will only ever show the very next departure,
nothing more, or simply the text "Piccadilly Line". So you can arrive,
there's a train at each platform, with no information as to which one
is actually due to leave. And sometimes after a minute a train will
depart, with no announcement. It feels like London Underground's own
version of "Train Doors will be closed 30 seconds before departure",
but until 30 seconds before you should still know which platform to
aim for!

Then there's the actual announcements at Cockfosters, which really
grate on me.
"Piccadilly Line, the next train to Heathrow T123 and 5 will depart
from Platform 1". Hmmm. I am being a pedant, but I would have thought
that "Piccadilly Line, the next train from Platform 1 is to Heathrow
T123 and 5". God that is pedantic. But indulge me.

Some of the staff are lovely : notably at Cockfosters, Oakwood,
Southgate and Arnos Grove - but I have never really encountered a
"bad" member of staff. Although last week, someone asked a man in a
London Underground uniform if the train he was walking towards was the
next one to leave and he shrugged his shoulders. He walked up to the
drivers cab, got in, waited and indeed his train was the next to
leave. So I can either take from that that the drivers don't even know
when they are about to depart and only go by the signals, or he was
just unhelpful.

When the Piccadilly Line does work well, commuting is a joy, compared
to my old journey of BUS - TRAIN - BUS - WALK. I now have TUBE - WALK.
Which is great. But whenever I see "GOOD SERVICE", I honestly don't
know what to expect when I get to the station. That can't be right.

Anybody seen a picture or a drawing of the 2014 stock that's due to
replace the '73 stock?

On 23 Apr, 23:41, "
wrote:
On 23/04/2010 20:14, Railist wrote:





Since I moved to London in the year 2001, I have lived in South London
(Norwood) and rather liked it. Ten years and a failed relationship
later I find myself in Cockfosters, at the far end of the Piccadilly
Line.

The shock at moving to North London (and not doing things by halves,
about as far "North London" as you can get, is that the M25 I can
hear?) and the cost of a Zone 1-5 Travelcard was tempered by a much
easier commute to work - Cockfosters to Green Park, on the Piccadilly
Line with the choice, yes choice! of changing at Finsbury Park to the
Victoria Line should I so desire.

But my god, three months on and I am cursing the Piccadilly line
almost daily.

It appears to me that a "Good Service" will invariably involve an
interminably slow journey between Cockfosters and Arnos Grove, an
extended pause at either Oakwood and/or Arnos Grove, or trains at
Arnos Grove that arrived after my one, departing first. Sometimes the
driver will tell you that the train that has just arrived will leave
first, but sometimes they don't. Minor Delays have seen me 15 minutes
or more late, and I dread to think what a severe delay is.

At Cockfosters, if you miss the announcement as to when the next train
is, you can stand around for about a minute or more waiting as the
electronic displays will only ever show the very next departure,
nothing more, or simply the text "Piccadilly Line". So you can arrive,
there's a train at each platform, with no information as to which one
is actually due to leave. And sometimes after a minute a train will
depart, with no announcement. It feels like London Underground's own
version of "Train Doors will be closed 30 seconds before departure",
but until 30 seconds before you should still know which platform to
aim for!

Then there's the actual announcements at Cockfosters, which really
grate on me.
"Piccadilly Line, the next train to Heathrow T123 and 5 will depart
from Platform 1". Hmmm. I am being a pedant, but I would have thought
that "Piccadilly Line, the next train from Platform 1 is to Heathrow
T123 and 5". God that is pedantic. But indulge me.

Some of the staff are lovely : notably at Cockfosters, Oakwood,
Southgate and Arnos Grove - but I have never really encountered a
"bad" member of staff. Although last week, someone asked a man in a
London Underground uniform if the train he was walking towards was the
next one to leave and he shrugged his shoulders. He walked up to the
drivers cab, got in, waited and indeed his train was the next to
leave. So I can either take from that that the drivers don't even know
when they are about to depart and only go by the signals, or he was
just unhelpful.

When the Piccadilly Line does work well, commuting is a joy, compared
to my old journey of BUS - TRAIN - BUS - WALK. I now have TUBE - WALK.
Which is great. But whenever I see "GOOD SERVICE", I honestly don't
know what to expect when I get to the station. That can't be right.

Anybody seen a picture or a drawing of the 2014 stock that's due to
replace the '73 stock?- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Hmm; let me guess. Foot-thick walls, with spikes coming out of them,
six rock-hard seats per carriage?

In message , "
writes

When the Piccadilly Line does work well, commuting is a joy, compared
to my old journey of BUS - TRAIN - BUS - WALK. I now have TUBE - WALK.
Which is great. But whenever I see "GOOD SERVICE", I honestly don't
know what to expect when I get to the station. That can't be right.

Anybody seen a picture or a drawing of the 2014 stock that's due to
replace the '73 stock?

I'm not convinced that there ever will be 2014 stock. The latest I've
heard bandied around at work is 20 stock.

Assuming it does happen (either '14 or '20) the feeling is that it's
most likely to be an updated version of 96 stock.

Of course this could all be unfounded rubbish.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

Steve Fitzgerald ] wrote on 24 April 2010 01:14:04 ...
In , "
writes

When the Piccadilly Line does work well, commuting is a joy, compared
to my old journey of BUS - TRAIN - BUS - WALK. I now have TUBE - WALK.
Which is great. But whenever I see "GOOD SERVICE", I honestly don't
know what to expect when I get to the station. That can't be right.

Anybody seen a picture or a drawing of the 2014 stock that's due to
replace the '73 stock?

I'm not convinced that there ever will be 2014 stock. The latest I've
heard bandied around at work is 20 stock.

Assuming it does happen (either '14 or '20) the feeling is that it's
most likely to be an updated version of 96 stock.

Don't you mean an updated version of 95 stock (which I thought was an
updated version of 96 stock despite the name)?
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

In message , Richard J.
writes

I'm not convinced that there ever will be 2014 stock. The latest I've
heard bandied around at work is 20 stock.

Assuming it does happen (either '14 or '20) the feeling is that it's
most likely to be an updated version of 96 stock.

Don't you mean an updated version of 95 stock (which I thought was an
updated version of 96 stock despite the name)?

You would have thought so but Jubilee stock has been specifically
mentioned to me as the last few were built only a couple of years ago.
--
Steve Fitzgerald has now left the building.
You will find him in London's Docklands, E16, UK
(please use the reply to address for email)

In article , ] (Steve
Fitzgerald) wrote:

In message , Richard J.
writes

I'm not convinced that there ever will be 2014 stock. The latest
I've heard bandied around at work is 20 stock.

Assuming it does happen (either '14 or '20) the feeling is that it's
most likely to be an updated version of 96 stock.

Don't you mean an updated version of 95 stock (which I thought was an
updated version of 96 stock despite the name)?

You would have thought so but Jubilee stock has been specifically
mentioned to me as the last few were built only a couple of years ago.

Did the new build of 96 stock still have the obsolete GTO traction control
or did they update it to the now more or less universal IGBT type?

--
Colin Rosenstiel

"Paul Corfield" wrote in message

On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:38:57 +0100, "Richard J."
wrote:

Steve Fitzgerald ] wrote on 24 April 2010 01:14:04
...

Assuming it does happen (either '14 or '20) the feeling is that it's
most likely to be an updated version of 96 stock.

Don't you mean an updated version of 95 stock (which I thought was an
updated version of 96 stock despite the name)?

Not necessarily as I believe the traction packages differ. I have no
idea what is proposed by Alstom in respect of the Picc Line.

I know Bombardier has apparently excluded itself, but are there are any
other prospective bidders for this contract?

Paul Corfield wrote on 24 April 2010 11:48:34 ...
On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 11:38:57 +0100, "Richard J."
wrote:

Steve ] wrote on 24 April 2010 01:14:04 ...

Assuming it does happen (either '14 or '20) the feeling is that it's
most likely to be an updated version of 96 stock.

Don't you mean an updated version of 95 stock (which I thought was an
updated version of 96 stock despite the name)?

Not necessarily as I believe the traction packages differ.

Yes, that's one element of the updating that was done to the 96 to
produce the 95. 96 stock has the whiney 1991-designed GTO thyristor
control, whereas 95 stock has more modern IGBT control.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

On Sat, 24 Apr 2010 21:10:45 +0100
"Richard J." wrote:
control, whereas 95 stock has more modern IGBT control.

And accelerates like a slug on ice. Someone ****ed up somewhere.

B2003