Well, the Routemaster bus might be going out, but London Underground seem to be debuting the Routemaster Tube, albeit unwittingly. In a slightly worrying item, the BBC report that a Victoria Line train recently travelled between stations with a set of doors open.
A paternoster-style Underground system might seem like an intriguing idea, but the sudden acquisition of 630 volts of direct current awaits anyone attempting to alight before their stop.
Metronet, who are responsible for maintaining the line, blamed unspecified passenger horseplay for the incident. Transport Union boss, Bob ‘in-no-way-alarmist’ Crow, begged to differ:
Shoddy modifications…carried out by unqualified agency staff [have] led to another safety crisis on the Tube network.
It is slightly troubling that the train was able to pull away with its doors open, particularly if it had happened during the rush-hour overcrowding. But it hardly constitutes a crisis, in our opinion.
With all the safety culture in the world, mechanical faults will occur from time to time, especially if passengers start 'mucking about' with the doors. What would the Victorians have made of it all, in their outrageously dangerous open-topped Tube cars?
Most of the stock has now been checked, with Metronet assuring us that they have found 'no cause for any concern'.
