Bakerloo line: off again, on again

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,
Bakerloo roundel

It's been a comical - some might say farcical - day on the Bakerloo, with a flurry of public announcements from the company, each overturning the last.

The company announced that the Bakerloo would finish at 19:00, due to "a shortage of control centre staff who are having to self-isolate". The more fundamental issue is LU's failure to maintain proper staffing levels in service control. There have been several vacancies on the Bakerloo for years, which the company has simply refused to fill. Staff needing to self-isolate was predictable in the context of surging Covid infections. Staffing levels should be robust enough to cope.

A few hours later it was reported that cover had been found, with enough staff agreeing to cover the shifts on OT.

The episode highlights how LU's insistence on cutting staffing levels to the bone in numerous departments will lead to crises. The solution can't be a desperate scramble to find takers for overtime; it must be to increase staffing levels.

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