Screeching rails close London Tube station
'Health and safety gone mad', thunders commuter
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The Central Line platforms at Bank Tube station were yesterday closed for 90 minutes during the rush hour following "complaints that decibel levels from screeching rails were too high", the Evening Standard reports.
City lawyer John Cooper told the paper: "We were all thrown out of the station. A member of staff told me it was because the decibel levels were too high. It was complete madness. Thousands of people were stuck and it was utter confusion. Some people were just laughing when the staff told them what was going on. It is health and safety gone mad."
Transport for London said the emergency closure, at 5.30pm, was prompted by "a lack of lubrication on the tracks". A spokesman explained: "We closed the platforms because passengers were reporting that they could hear a loud screeching sound.
"It does happen from time to time. You have metal rails running on metal tracks and they need lubrication. It would have been better to solve the problem before rush hour but our emergency team were on the scene quickly and were able to get the line running again."
This explanation is unlikely to impress Steve Cooper, who was trying to get home to Basildon when the emergency lube squad rushed to the scene. He said: "Someone came over the Tannoy and said the Central line was being closed due to squeaky tracks. How bad can it possibly be to disrupt thousands of people on their way home during rush hour? The noise is noticeable at Bank, but you couldn't call it unbearable. It's more of an irritant, really."
He concluded: "Why didn't they just leave it another hour or so and avoid all that chaos? After a hard day at work all you want to do is get home." ®
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COMMENTS
from a central driver
bank station is located on a very tight bend and has to be constantaly greased to stop the horrible skreeching noise, but bank wasnt the ony station on my line last night just the worst. the station was closed as the noise WAS TOO HIGH, and in the day of constant litigation my company went with the guide lines for noise levels and shut the station. this also gave the staff the chance to get on the track without risk to the public so the line could be re instated much quicker. whilst this was happening the line was suspended for a short while in both directions, closing bank was a essential to prevent over crowdwing to protect the public from falling onto the tracks as no train could be brought into the platform whilst the greasing was done - trains were held in platforms either side whilst this happened - there is method to the madness if you look closely enough, before the greasing was complete trains had to run though the area at reduced speed - Automatic Train Operation was supended though the area causing yet more delays and over crowding - if they had ran full speed more noise would have been generated and without lubrication who knows what damage to the rails or trains could have occured....... need i say more...
sorry has to anonymously
No wheels?
"You have metal rails running on metal tracks"
I'm no genius, but has anyone suggested using wheels,?
40 years...
... since I first started regularly travelling on the Central from Snaresbrook to the west end (and, later, from Liverpool St to Holborn) and the flanges always squealed at Bank. And if one was stood by the connecting door with the window down, it was often finger-in-the-ear loud, painfully loud. The difference is that back then nobody gave a shit if the passengers went deaf whereas today, they're scared shitless of being sued.
You'd think, given that section of line opened in about 1900, they'd have the problem licked by now. Surely there must be a better answer than smearing KY on the railhead.
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