Central line train shortages continue as update given in new report
The Central line has seen another difficult week with yet more train shortages leading to long service intervals.
Today we again see severe delays reported with TfL stating this is “due to a shortage of trains. Valid tickets will be accepted on London Buses, London Overground, Elizabeth line, Chiltern Railways and Great Western Railway services via any reasonable route”.
Motor problems
Central line trains are now 30 year olds and undergoing refurbishment though the vast majority remain to be upgraded.
A new report from Transport for London’s Commissioner offers insight into current problems:
“We are experiencing an abnormally high number of motor failures that has required us to take a high number of trains out of service.”
“Our engineers are urgently working to repair and overhaul the damaged motors, but this is a complex process undertaken by highly skilled, specialist technicians and the removal and refitting of every motor requires the 30-year-old train to be split into separate sections and the affected cars lifted.”
TfL state issues should improve soon:
“Alongside the repair work, we have put in place additional arrangements to increase our supply of spare motors; this will enable us to start to rebuild some resilience and improve services over the coming weeks, reducing the number of trains out-of service and meaning we can return trains to service more quickly.”
The problem however is not going away as “the motor failures are still occurring at a higher rate than we have seen before so some disruption to normal service levels is likely to continue. We are continuing to work urgently to identify further solutions.”
Fortunately the Elizabeth line duplicates some routes on the Central line and alleviates some crowding. Imagine if it hadn’t been built?
