Oh, and it was all going so well...
A few weeks ago we reported on the fact that the Waterloo & City line was back up and running after a five month shutdown for a complete refurb.
We were actually quite pleased that the work only overran by ten days.
And then along comes this:
Transport for London (TfL) said Metronet was failing to deliver 'a robust and reliable' service on the Waterloo & City (W&C) line, which carries about 40,000 passengers each day between Bank and Waterloo.
Apparently there have been "repeated breakdowns of the signalling equipment and trains on the line", including six incidents in two days just days after the drain reopened.
And the reason for all this? TfL and Metronet can't seem to agree who should repair the signalling equipment:
A TfL spokesman said there were ongoing problems with the signalling and the track which Metronet had not yet resolved.
'Clearly Metronet has not yet delivered a robust and reliable service on the Waterloo & City line and we are demanding that it does that as soon as possible,' the spokesman said.
'Any suggestion that London Underground should continue to expect signal failures on the line is completely unacceptable.'
Metronet's view is that they only have to maintain the system 'as it stands' i.e. when it breaks they can fix it but they don't have to replace the whole system so it actually stops breaking so much.
Of course if they did replace the signalling system it would mean closing the line again.
Brilliant.
