Hammersmith tube station (District and Piccadilly lines): Difference between revisions

Revision as of 11:04, 3 May 2004

Revision as of 16:14, 5 May 2004

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'''Hammersmith tube station''' is a [[London Underground]] station in [[Hammersmith]]. It is the western terminus of the [[Hammersmith and& City Line]], next to [[Goldhawk Road tube station|Goldhawk Road]], and is on the [[District Line]] line between [[Barons Court tube station|Barons Court]] and [[Ravenscourt Park tube station|Ravenscourt Park]] and the [[Piccadilly Line]] between [[Barons Court tube station|Barons Court]] and [[Turnham Green tube station|Turnham Green]]. The station is in zone 2.

Tunnel just outside the station was the ___location of a train derailment on the Picadilly Line on 17th October [[2003]], which caused some damage to rails and sleepers, but without human injury, when the wheels of the last carriage left the tracks. The cause of the derailment was a broken track; an investigation report with input from maintenance contractors [[Metronet]], London Underground, rail unions and rail consultants, suggests that the underlying cause was outdated specifications for track inspection resourcing and equipment. The rail that snappped was on the outside of a curved section of track; it was turned round by London Underground in 2001 because of [[corrosion]] in its inner face, so that what had been its running side was positioned on the outside of the curve. This meant that what had been the running side - including the corroded section - was now in tension. The combination of corrosion and the forces exerted on it by trains led to it snapping. [[Ultrasound|Ultrasonic]] inspection equipment specified for track inspections was unable to detect outside face cracks of the sort postulated to have led to the break. Metronet indicated it would respond to the incident by employing different ultrasound detection equipment, increasing the frequency of inspections, and by a preference for replacing rails rather than turning them around.