Piccadilly line to remain suspended between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge until late-January
Plans to restore Piccadilly line services between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge have been pushed back to late January.
Transport for London (TfL) closed the Piccadilly line between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge and has been running a reduced service between Acton Town and Rayners Lane to limit further wheel damage caused by unusually intense leaf fall last autumn, which damaged some of their trains.
Services were due to be restored by now, but TfL now says that while it continues to make “good progress in repairing the damaged train wheels, our fleet shortages have been impacted by a number of damaged train motors caused by recent poor weather.”
They’re now aiming for the full service to be restored by late January.
The problems stem from unusually heavy leaf fall this year, which caused extensive damage to train wheels and means they have fewer trains to run along the tube line.
TfL previously said that the leaf fall this winter was unusual, with leaves staying on trees for longer than usual before falling in large quantities during the storms late last year. The sudden drop of so many leaves at once overwhelmed their usual autumn processes for clearing the tracks before it damaged the trains.
In brief, the leaf fall causes the tracks to be coated in a thin very slippery goo, and if trains slide along the tracks when applying brakes, apart from the safety issue, it also means the wheels get a flat surface worn in them where they slipped over the tracks. If the damage gets too bad, they need to regrind the wheels back into circles, and that takes time. When so many trains are affected at once, then they have to take trains out of service.
Full service is now expected to be restored later this month.
Metropolitan line services between Uxbridge and Rayners Lane are unaffected.
A new Piccadilly line timetable came into effect on 13th January to allow for short-term weekend closures to prepare for the new trains that are due to start in service in late 2025.
Dates of weekend Piccadilly line closures
Weekend | Piccadilly line closure |
---|---|
Fri 24 January (Night Tube) | Hyde Park Corner to Cockfosters until 03:30 |
Sat 25 – Sun 26 January | King’s Cross St Pancras to Cockfosters (after 03:30 Sat 25 January) |
Fri 31 January (Night Tube) | Hyde Park Corner to Cockfosters until 03:30 |
Sat 1 – Sun 2 February | King’s Cross St Pancras to Cockfosters (after 03:30 Sat 1 February) |
Fri 14 February (Night Tube) | King’s Cross St Pancras to Osterley until 03:15 |
Sat 15 – Sun 16 February | King’s Cross St Pancras to Northfields and Uxbridge (from 03:15 Sat 15 February) |
Fri 7 March (Night Tube) | Hyde Park Corner to Cockfosters |
Sat 8 – Sun 9 March | Hyde Park Corner to Cockfosters |
Fri 21 (Night Tube) – Sun 23 March | King’s Cross St Pancras to Osterley and Uxbridge |
Sat 5 – Sun 6 April | Wood Green to Cockfosters |
Fri 18 – Mon 21 April | Acton Town to Uxbridge |
Fri 2 – Sat 3 May | Hyde Park Corner to Acton Town (until 07:00 Sat 3 May) |
Fri 9 May (Night Tube) | Osterley to Cockfosters (until 04:15) |
Sat 10 – Sun 11 May | Hyde Park Corner to Cockfosters (after 04:15 Sat 10 May) |
Fri 16 May (Night Tube) | Cockfosters to Heathrow and Uxbridge |
Sat 17 – Sun 18 May | King’s Cross St Pancras to Osterley and Uxbridge |
Sat 24 – Mon 26 May | Hammersmith to Cockfosters |
Sat 7 – Sun 8 June | Wood Green to Cockfosters |
Sat 21 – Sun 22 June | Hammersmith to Cockfosters |
The article neglected to mention (unless I missed it) that for many weeks in November and December, TFL announced that improved service would commence as work ended by 12 January. It is not only those travelling beyond Rayners Lane who have been severely affected (though they have it the worst) but everyone using the Piccadilly line. The waits for trains at rush hour can be 8 minutes if not more or more. It’s been months of the most awful service. Very dispiriting for regular commuters. At least the Rayners Lane shuttle 4 x per hour has been gotten rid of.
This has been going on for weeks and I have not seen the obvious question either asked or answered.
Given that the problem is a track problem that arises betwern Rayners Lane and Uxbridge where yhe Piccadilly and Metropolitan Line trains use the same track, how come the problem has hit the Piccadilly.Line trains so badly but left the Metropolitann Line unscatched?
Something just doesn’t add up here as yhe Metropolitan trains are bigger and more heavily loaded.
In answer to Andy, the Met line trains have wheel slip prevention, basically anti lock brakes. Piccadilly line trains don’t have this, and this will continue to be a potential issue until the whole fleet is 24 stock.
Be prepared for more of the same this year as more 73 stock becomes life expired and not enough 24 stock to replace them
I’m not sure the problem is necessarily down to the conditions on the stretch between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge – it could be anywhere on the Piccadilly line. As Albert says, this is due to the lack of wheel slip prevention and so they could be damaged anywhere.
The removal of RL to Uxbridge is to reduce the demand for trains across the whole Piccadilly line, and the Met can cover that stretch.
Thanks for that. I was trying to understand how a lack of friction between the wheel and rail could wear a flat spot, but I can see that would allow wheels to lock on the “goo” and then hit bare rail sections where the wear would be rapid
So it could be said the equipment does not meet existing conditions – although to be fair they were the right type of leaves, just too many of them