Saw a nifty bit of news this morning - it seems that the contracts have been awarded to build the first monorail service in India - in Mumbai (Bombay). I saw a series of programs earlier this year on BBC television about the city’s railway service and the people who use or work for it, and it is obvious that the city is absolutely desperate for more capacity on their public transport.

The monorail will operate at speeds in excess of 125 mph.

The official website says that depending on the vehicle/car combination 2-car train may occupy 100 passengers at any one time on a "Regular" operation. Nevertheless, on "Full" and "Crush" operation, the capacity may be increased to 225 and 300 respectively, at three minute headways. Hopefully crush wont be the same as the existing railway, which has people literally hanging on the outside of the carriages at times.

I wonder how they describe the London Underground in the morning - full or crush?

Prompted by a comment on Annie Moles’s blog about sarcastic warning messages on the tube network I was reminded of a thought I had yesterday about the perpetual audio warning messages which pervade the transport system today.

I was sitting on the DLR coming back from Greenwich, when I noted the usual instruction to “take all your belongings with you” appended to the advisory about which station we were approaching. As Diamond Geezer has noted on many occasions (I think it is a bug-bear of his), are people really going to deliberately leave stuff behind and then change their mind when the audio warning is played?

It got me wondering.

We are getting increasing quantities of these warning notices all over the place and they are blending into background noise which people increasingly ignore. For evidence that people ignore them - try getting off a tube train at Canary Wharf in the evening after a dozen messages to let passengers off first. Trust me, you wont find a welcoming corridor make available by commuters decorously standing back so you may depart in comfort. It’s more like trying to get to the china department in Harrods on the first day of the sale.

Despite anecdotal evidence that the audio messages are being ignored - we are getting more and more of them.

Question - has anyone ever done a proper statistical study into their effectiveness?

I would be very interested to see the results of a study carried out over say, a month on a tube line - where the “take your belongings with you” message is switched off and to see if it actually resulted in more rubbish being left behind (I’d ignore the free newspapers comics they hand out as people leave those behind deliberately).

If indeed there is an increase in negligence, then fair enough - but somehow, I rather suspect that there won’t be. So, lets have a proper study carried out (or the results of the previous one published), and we can see if there is a valid reason for all these damn warning messages blaring at us all the time.

The East Coast Main Line National Express trains are to stop serving tea in cups and saucers. Apparently passengers in First Class dining cars complain about the noise of spoons rattling about in their saucers, so mugs are replacing cups and saucers (couldn’t they just switch to plastic spoons?)

The new-style drinking vessels are designated as ‘quiet mugs’, and although still made of china, have undergone extensive testing, both with trains going at speed, passing other trains travelling in the opposite direction and rounding curves (really?).

The new crockery will not be used by Standard Class passengers, however, who will still be served out of cardboard cups.

The first cup and saucer appeared on a British train on the trial run of a dining car by the Great Northern Railway between London and Peterborough in 1879, which means they could not have received many complaints over the ensuing 129 years.

Via The Railway Herald

I used to travel a lot - and always paid extra for first class (to avoid the screaming kids), and a cup of tea served properly in a cup and saucer was one of those refined delicacies which made the trip just a tiny bit more enjoyable.

The decision to stop serving tea correctly makes me a bit sadder this morning.

There is a section of the London Underground which has a short bit of track, and just a single train which shuttles between two stations at either end - and it isn’t the Waterloo and City line.

I am referring to a tiny spur line on the Northern Line which links Finchley Central to Mill Hill East - and this weekend I wandered up to partly have a look at the line, but mainly as the track runs over a viaduct bridge which is reported to be the tallest on the entire tube network.

On arriving at Finchley Central, I popped across the platform to the waiting shuttle train - which was surprisingly busy for a Saturday morning on what I presumed would be a quiet part of the network. The trip to Mill Hill East goes over four bridges and initially you are at the same height as the houses before they suddenly drop away and you go over the viaduct. Alas, there are no grand views to gasp at as you go over the bridge, and a few minutes later you pull into Mill Hill East station.

Despite being stuck on a tiny spur line, it lacks any quaint historic traits, being very much a modernised platform and cleaned up station building. Nice to see the modern fitments are available, but a bit of a shame that there is nothing cute to look at.

The end of the track points directly at a private house - I wonder what it feels like to look out of your window and see a tube train heading directly for you?

It is worth possibly noting a bit of history.

The first railway was the G.N.R.’s branch line from Finsbury Park to Edgware, which was opened in 1867 - and  Mill Hill East station was opened, as Mill Hill, in the same year. From 1868 trains ran from Edgware to Ludgate Hill and Loughborough Junction but in 1869 they were diverted to Moorgate; in 1872, with the building of the branch from Finchley to High Barnet, through services were withdrawn from the Edgware line and a shuttle service was instituted from Edgware to Finchley. A station was opened in Bunns Lane (later Mill Hill Broadway overland station) in 1906 but the line later suffered from road competition and was closed to passenger traffic in 1939.

A proposal under the 1935-40 New Works Programme to link it to London Transport’s Underground system was not carried out in full; the eastern end of the branch, from Finchley Central to Mill Hill East, was electrified in 1941 to serve the near-by barracks, while frequent Underground trains began running to the west end of London, the City, and Morden over the Northern line.

In 1970 the rest of the railway lay derelict, although looking at maps suggests that much of the original single track route is still there, covered in trees.

I decided to walk back from Mill Hill East towards Finchley station, so I could get to see the viaduct from a vastly more interesting location - underneath it.

It’s a short walk along modern busy roads before you come to what is quite a rural looking bit of road (inc pavements on only one side) and yet also very busy - which makes taking photos sans cars in the view surprisingly difficult.

There is a stream running under the viaduct, and I presume that if it was responsible for cutting the steep valley I was in - then it must have been significantly more vigorous in its youth.

Curing round a corner, you can finally see the impressive 13 span viaduct in the distance - the Dollis Brook Viaduct - after the stream which runs under it.

I spent some time taking loads of photos - and on one side the hillside is open and it was tempting to scramble up the hill to get some more photos, but I was less dressed for “scrambling in the undergrowth” and more for “meeting friend for lunch later”, so that plan had to be curtailed.

Having gone down a steep road to get to the viaduct, you have to go up an equally steep hill at the other end to get towards Finchley Central station - noticing on the route this rather sad bit of Victorian street lighting - probably an old gas lamp.

There was also a side alley and I noticed that it had a footbridge which passed over the railway, so a quick stop there to get a view of the viaduct from above - although you can’t really see a lot from there thanks to the trees lining the route.

Having spent an hour going up and down more often than the stockmarket has been wont to behave recently, it was not a surprise to see that my destination station was at the bottom of another slope.

Maybe I shall go back one day in more appropriate clothing to see how much of the disused line is still walkable - as it seems to be part of the Northern Heights walk.

More photos - as usual on my Flickr account

A couple of weeks ago, the Transport Museum held another of their scavanger hunts where teams are sent off around London to take photos of a subject based on a sheet of clues.

This hunt was themed on the tube roundel – which is 100 years old this year.

It is no longer just a tube roundel now though, and the sign is used for all forms of TfL transport – including as I have now learnt, even street furniture!

Four teams were formed – and we have all uploaded our photos/blog onto a website, and the winners of a public vote wins a prize.

I won’t do a tacky “vote for me please” pleading comment, as I would prefer to leave it up to you to choose which team to pick.

http://www.webjam.com/roundel_scavenger_hunt