150 people were trapped in the pipe between Highbury and Finsbury Park on the last Monday night in May - and the last of them did not get out until 3am, more than two-and-a-half hours after their train came to a halt. Somehow, we don't think that's what the Mayor meant by late-night running. So what happened?
There was a signal failure, and before Metronet managed to sort it, it went past the time for the juice to be turned off for the night. So recharging it - ensuring that no-one involved in booking it out would be in any danger - took a bit longer than it would otherwise have done. But that's no excuse for not even starting detrainment until 100 minutes after the initial problem!
Honestly, the reasons managers get paid big sums of dosh is to make decisions. So how come they find it so difficult to do so?!
This incident shows management failures by both Metronet and London Underground. But the situation was also made worse by the fragmentation of the system as introduced by the Public-Private Partnership. When the railway is operated by one company but maintained by another, then quick decisions do not happen quickly any more. Tubeworker can imagine the managers on both sides stressing about who might incur penalties. Would Metronet have to pay LUL for the signal failure? Would LUL have to pay Metronet for disrupting engineering work by recharging the juice?
Meanwhile, 150 people sweat it out in the pipe. Not good.
