On Wednesday morning, at aboutn 9.50a.m. there was some sort of
Victoria Line problem on the Northbound line into Victoria - according
to a station announcer a train was due to "come out of a siding"
(somewhere between Victoria and Pimlico?) to be the next Northbound
train but there was a signal problem, and the line became blocked.

So, for some reason the next Southbound train to arrive at Victoria was
terminated at Victoria, and all of us waiting on the Northbound
platform were directed onto that train. The train was evacuated of
angry Southbound passengers, the train sealed, carriage by carriage,
and then re-opened carriage by carriage for Northbound passengers to
board, all watched by furious Southbound passengers who then had to
wait on the platform. The driver changed ends and we all sat patiently
for a few minutes.

Then came an announcement that they could not get the signal to allow
that train to leave the Southbound platform in a Northerly direction. I
spoke to the driver, who confirmed that "I can't get the signal".

Then the train was evacuated for a second time, and both platforms then
became full of Northbound and Southbound passengers nicely mixed up!

A few minutes later came the announcement that "All Victoria Line
services are now suspended". There was then the inevitable mass exodus
of several hundred passengers angrily looking for other means of
transport at about 10.15a.m.

Two questions for those "in the know":

1. Was it inevitable that there would be difficulty in the Southbound
train trying to travel North out of the Southbound platform? For
example, maybe this was impossible because the next following
Southbound train was in block and therefore preventing any other train
from "reversing" into its block, even if only to use the cross-over to
the Northbound? If so, why did they even attempt to do so?

2. How on Earth could such a localised problem on a section South of
Victoria effectively paralyse the entire line in both directions?
Aren't there procedures in place to allow, for example (as presumably
was attempted here), turning trains at Victoria and then continuing a
Victoria - Walthamstow service, cutting out the Brixton section?

For all I know, the problem may have been rectified within minutes (it
certainly was by the time I arrived at Highbury an hour later, by bus),
but, never mind terrorist alerts, there seems a tendency to shut down
the entire line at the drop of a hat.

Marc.