Projects, refurbs and upgrades

LU staff are being told to contact IM (IT) services only in an "emergency". IM services are apparently too short staffed to deal with routine queries.

Hardly surprising! LU decided that iPads and apps were the answer to everything. Tubeworker wonders how many extra IT staff were hired to support all the new technology? Clearly not enough if we're having to beg for IT support.

The “Goldfish Bowl” facility used by drivers at Elephant and Castle is increasingly unfit for use.

There are vermin traps in every corner, dirt and mould up the walls, and a disgusting smell that seems to have seeped into the tiles.

Does LU think so little of workers’ dignity that it wants us to take our breaks in conditions like this?

Union reps are pushing for a full refurb. Basic dignity at work is non-negotiable.

Staff who use Tottenham Hale's station car park have been shocked and angered to find that it has closed - and that management have known about this for ages but told them with only a week's notice.

The excuse is that the space is needed for taxis due to the Tottenham Hale Upgrade Project. Apparently, the combined imaginations of all the planners, managers and contract bosses involved in the upgrade could not come up with any possible plan that would retain the 12 parking spaces for LUL staff.

Spare a thought for the staff, particularly cleaners, and passengers who had a nasty surprise at Oxford Circus late last month when a sewer pipe burst, leading to what might euphemistically be referred to as brown effluence leaking on the Argyll gate line and down towards the escalators.

A long-awaited refurb of the staff toilets was underway at the time. Tubeworker wonders whether the company LU hired to do the job might've botched it, leading to the... ahem... shitty situation.

Yet another argument for bringing maintenance work back in house.

A GLA report has revealed the rip-off which saw TfL £886m out of pocket after awarding contract to Bombardier which it could not fulfil.

Not only that, but the terms of the contract meant that when Bombardier jumped ship, TfL had to pay it for the money it had spent rather than the work it had done. And all this leaves the sub-surface upgrades delayed by years.

The money lost about 20 times the annual saving that Fit for the Future - Stations is due to achieve. Massive job cuts, ticket office closures, ... and all the money saved gets chucked down the drain.

The refurbished Shed 25 to 28 roads at Upminster depot are nearly ready, and awaiting sign off from union safety reps. However, local management want drivers to get familiarised (aka "hiked") with just briefing notes and a video.

Tubeworker hears that LU is storing shiny new District S Stock trains in a shed in Derbyshire because work to extend the depots for the new fleet has overrun. Ealing Common depot should have been ready within three years; but it’s been three years and the work is still only half finished Tubeworker wonders how much LU is spending to keep these expensive trains off the road!

At Harrow and Wealdstone recently, a huge piece of the ceiling in the ticket hall collapsed, along with one of the lamps. Luckily, this happened at 4am and nobody was hurt. Just a few weeks ago, a piece of the ceiling in the cleaners' mess room also collapsed. Again, fortunately, no-one was hurt.