On Tue, 13 Mar 2007 22:25:58 GMT, wrote:

Does anyone know the answer to the question mentioned in the above Subject.
In terms of London Underground lines and can include the DLR.

The answer depends entirely on how you define and measure reliability.
Is it the number of breakdowns, type of breakdowns, total delays, mean
distance between failures (for trains) or mean cycles between failures
(for things like signals)?

You'll get different answers depending on the measure.

In very broad "how does it feel to the customer" terms I'd say DLR was
way ahead of LU but it has the advantage of being relatively new and
having had sustained investment as well as regular and properly planned
maintenance.

On LU lines like the East London tend to do not too badly but then they
are short and have few trains and not a lot of track. The Waterloo and
City seems to be a lot better since the mini upgrade to the track and
trains.

District Line fleet used to be reliable but has got worse of late. The
District is also suffering from track and signalling problems far more
than it used to do.

Piccadilly Line overall is doing very well in terms of its contractual
performance and as a regular commuter I have few problems with it on my
section. The part in West London run by Metronet has a disproportionate
impact. Jubilee has been improving but keeps having wobbles with its
signals every 3 months or so. There are also some track issues on the
northern section but this is less than it used to be. Northern Line is
one of the worst lines but it is slowly improving. Whether this can be
sustained for months and months is the acid test - especially as the
upgrade programme steps up.

The Met, Circle and H&C seem to be taking a nose dive of late. Fleet
reliability has become a real issue and track and signalling issues on
the Met Line have become more and more frequent.

In BCV land the Central Line has settled down again but it has been
through an awful patch over the last 3 months or so. Victoria Line is
not too bad but it is beginning to show signs of strain as the
relationship between keeping the line running and upgrading it is
becoming more evident. The Bakerloo line used to be not too bad on the
LU section but awful on the Network rail part. However it, too, has been
having a torrid time with fleet, signal and track problems day after day
over the last 6 weeks or so.

My categorisation (from memory and without the benefit of numbers in
front of me)

Excellent - DLR
Good - W&C, ELL, Central, Piccadilly and Jubilee
Middling - District, H&C, Circle, Bakerloo, Victoria
Awful - Northern, Metropolitan

The Northern is slowly improving so might get to middling. Many of the
"middling" lines are getting worse so there's a real challenge to stop
them becoming awful.

Note also that my terms relate to UK expectations of reliability. Only
DLR gets anywhere near to the levels of reliability delivered in Japan,
Singapore and Hong Kong. Regrettably I cannot see LU getting to the
standard of Asian metros for many years to come as it is a real step
change up from where the Tube is now or may even be post upgrade - note
this is my own opinion and not a LU company view (just in case someone
important is reading this ;-) )

--
Paul C


Admits to working for London Underground!