Piccadilly delays blamed on Tube chiefs ‘disposing of vital track tool’

TUBE chiefs were condemned today by London’s official transport watchdog for disposing of vital equipment for clearing leaves on the line which led to prolonged travel disruption.

Failure to clean slippery tracks could result in trains being unable to brake properly, putting them at risk of collision or derailing, states the report from London TravelWatch. Piccadilly line trains, damaged in the slippery conditions, had to be taken out of service.

This led to a shortage of rolling stock. But a lathe used by London Underground (LU) to re-profile the wheels was given to Abellio Greater Anglia in 2015. The report claims what it calls the lathe “sale... impaired LU’s ability to repair damage done to its own fleet”.

It blamed LU budget cuts, saying the “primary cause” of disruption was “a failure to clear lineside vegetation to the agreed standard”. “In 2015 and 2016 there was a serious deterioration in the... Piccadilly line as trains were withdrawn [due to] damage to wheelsets... There was disruption as a result of this failure on the part of LU.”

TravelWatch is writing to LU expressing its “concerns”. It said a “simple” solution was fitting glue-spreading equipment to trains, but this had not been done on Piccadilly line stock. It added: “If trains [cannot] brake properly there is a risk of trains overshooting platforms, colliding or derailing if they pass through a signal at danger.”

Mick Cash, leader of the RMT which revealed the report, said: “The union has been warning for years that shortterm, politically motivated budget cuts have long-term implications for reliability and safety. The TravelWatch examination proves we were right. What Tube bosses were doing disposing of

key bits of kit to private rail companies like Arthur Daley in some back-street lock up at the height of this crisis is beyond me.” He said with more cuts scheduled “Londoners can expect more cancelled or delayed services”.

LU’s Nigel Holness said: “The lathe would not have prevented the leaf fall issues last year. We have trained more staff in wheel repair, introduced two engineering trains to improve adhesion and carried out vegetation clearance.” A spokesman added: “We did not own the lathe. We leased it from Network Rail but the lease was not renewed. It was taken over by Greater Anglia.”