Twice in recent weeks, there have been fires in the pipe a short distance from the platform. This must raise concerns about the practices of contractor companies and the frequency of track cleaning.
At Finsbury Park on Friday morning, a build-up of rubbish behind a grid about two metres into the Victoria line northbound tunnel caught fire, leading to a lengthy suspension and some scary photos on social media. This followed a similar incident at Westminster the previous weekend, this time centred on a build-up of dust around three metres past the stopping mark of the eastbound Jubilee line platform.
Contractors, always driven by the desire to cut costs, like to cut corners, and often give their workers impossible work schedules.
Luckily, no-one was hurt in either of these two incidents. Let them serve as a warning, and a call to bring maintenance and cleaning work in-house, properly funded and organised to ensure everyone's safety.
