TUBE DERAILED AT CHANCERY LANE - OVER 30 INJURED (25th January 2003)
Thirty two people were taken to hospital after a crowded Tube train smashed into a tunnel wall when it derailed in central London. The Fire Brigade said it received a call at 1.54pm saying a train with eight carriages hit a tunnel wall. Shocked passengers who were on board the Central Line train spoke of flying glass, smoke and panic.
A Scotland Yard spokesman said terrorism was not the suspected cause of the crash at Chancery Lane station.
It was believed all 800 passengers had been taken off the train and casualties had been taken to three nearby hospitals.
A wheel or axle failure may have caused the derailment of the train, according to an expert. Passengers reported hearing screeching and 'clanking' sounds minutes before the train came off the tracks. The accident investigators have been seen taking cameras and floodlights into the station tonight where the process of examining the wrecked carriages would begin.
The Central Line service and Waterloo & City Line has been suspended. LU said both lines may be closed until Wednesday and that it could be several weeks before Chancery Lane, St Paul's and Bank stations are open again. The line’s train fleet, which entered service less than 10 years ago, recalled for a series of safety checks. For information regarding services on the Central Line call Travel Information on 020 7222 1234, or check the tube's website
Union leaders have called for a public inquiry into the derailment and said all safety work carried out under the controversial Public Private Partnership Underground part-privatisation should be suspended. Mick Rix, general secretary of the train drivers' union Aslef, which has been highly critical of PPP, claimed that LU management had been repeatedly warned about potential problems on Central line trains but had failed to act. There were also reports that the train's driver had reported a fault on the train before the derailment.
Yahoo News has full reports of the latest on this but watch this space for more on the incident.
TUBE STOPPAGE LATEST
For now we only have to contend with tube workers possibly refusing to work while the firefighters are on strike.
"London Underground workers are to be balloted on strikes in a row related to the firefighters dispute, the main rail union has announced. The Rail Maritime and Transport union will ballot around 7,000 Tube workers for industrial action, which could be launched next month. Scores of union members have been refusing to work normally during the firefighters' stoppage because of safety fears." - said Sky News. "General secretary Bob Crow said it was "outrageous" that Tony Blair and other ministers had condemned staff for not working in what they considered to be unsafe conditions".
As the firefighters have just begun a 24 hour strike (from 9am 21st Jan) it looks as though more disruption could be on the way. Keep checking on Yahoo's news for the latest as to how this would affect the tube. Also here's a map of which tube stations will be closed during the firefighters' stoppage. It's stations dependent on lifts basically and during the stoppage no lift will be in operation on the tube.
In the autumn we had our fair share of tube strikes. We had three 24 hour strikes: one in July about safety and PPP and one in September & one in October about pay. Check out
Yahoo's news for the latest on the strikes.
More were planned but it looks like Ken Livingstone has stepped in to save the day....well at least for a while. Leaders of the Rail Maritime and Transport Union (RMT) and Aslef have accepted Mayor Ken's offer to take the pay row to non-binding mediation as soon as Transport for London (TfL) takes control of the Tube in a few months.
A 3% pay increase was offered (drivers currently earn on average £31,200 - more than the average wage of nurses and firefighters) but the unions wanted more. The last strike was called after a "yes" vote by less than one third of the Aslef and RMT members - 2,517 out of 8,043 who were invited to vote. It was successful because only 3,435 members voted.
If the new negotiations are successful a new pay increase could be backdated to April 2002. So has Ken saved the day??? Watch this space, but it certainly looks like a strike free tube for the next few months at least.
For more up to the minute news there are several London Underground news feeds here which should keep you busy.
There was a pretty heated message board on the Standard's site discussing the threatened strikes. Join the discussion or just read the thoughts
here.
AN AMERICAN'S VIEW OF THE TUBE - WELCOME TO BOB KILEY
Obviously Bob Kiley's been in the news quite a lot recently. He's London's new Transport Commissioner, appointed by Ken Livingstone to look after the tube and has been sacked by The Government as Chairman of London Transport because of his opposition to the partial privatisation of the tube. I came across an interesting article in the San Franciso Chronicle (of all places) the other day with an interview with Bob Kiley (orginally from Boston) and his very "suprising" reaction when seeing the usually crowded Victoria station.
"Bob Kiley was standing in Victoria Station the other day when some of his new employees walked out and put their hands up, telling people to stop entering the station because there were too many already inside.
Kiley panicked.
"There's going to be a stampede," he thought. "People are going to die."
But the masses stood patiently, grim-faced but uncomplaining, for what must have been 10 minutes before they were allowed in."
Bob, you need to get used to us Londoners who are totally used to being shut out of Victoria station on an almost daily basis. The article continued with Bob saying: "If that happened in Boston, there would have been trouble, and if it happened in New York you'd have a lot of dead passengers," Kiley said. "But there's a civility here."
Too right...although it was reported there were scuffles at bus stops on the 5th Feb the day of the first tube strike!!!
Bob continued: "In the 1970s, when I first got into transportation in Boston, the Underground was the organization to emulate. But there has been 30 years of neglect. The Metro in Paris is now considered the best in Europe, and the Underground is regarded as a once great system that has been allowed to deteriorate."
Let's hope Bob's the man to revitalise it, after all he's used to political shanigans as he used to be in the CIA.
The article ended on this poignant note: " 'I never dreamed I would be trying to recruit a CIA agent,' Livingstone told Kiley in their first conversation.
'I never expected to be hired by an unreconstructed Marxist socialist,' Kiley replied. "
If you'd like to see the full story click here. There is also an absolutely brilliant recorded interview by National Public Radio (NPR) in the States. It's wonderful - about 8 minutes long but worth every minute as it contains an interview with Bob Kiley, comments from Ken Livingstone, comments from station assistants, passengers and some brilliant train drivers announcements. This is not to be missed - click here. Or log on to this page on NPR's site for the more on this including an acknowledgement to my site of which they write: "Going Underground, is a quirky web guide to the London Undergound, covering such topics as tube smells, notable fare-dodgers, tube etiquette, and the occasional subway-riding pidgeon." - Thanks guys!!!
BYE BYE DEREK
Oh my god!!! Privatisation, what can I say. It's a hot topic at the moment. Bob Kiley's been sacked as Chairman of London Transport but he's still part of Ken Livingstone's team as Transport Commissioner for London. Basically Mr Kiley and the Government don't see eye to eye about the partial privatisation (PPP - Public-Private Partnership) of the tube. Bob's dismissal was ordered because of his staunch opposition to PPP for the Tube which he says is unsafe and expensive. It came just before the former New York subway chief was to present two damning reports to the LT board both of which back his argument that PPP is bad in terms of safety implications and financial prudence. 
Paul Godier succeeded Derek Smith as full time managing director on
the 8th October 2001 and Del Boy is now Chairman of the London Underground.
On the 14th December 1999 Tony Blair took the Jubilee Line through Canary Wharf on his way to the Millennium Dome, and almost nobody took a blind bit of notice. 
Again, she ignored him. Only once did she glance in his direction and even then showed no recognition. By the time she got off at Canary Wharf, Mr Blair had resorted to shuffling through his papers and talking to his Press secretary Alistair Campbell, who was sitting opposite him.