Piccadilly Line delays: Tube commuters hit by another day of rush hour chaos due to 'shortage of trains'

Commuters on the Piccadilly Line faced more rush hour chaos this week because a “shortage of trains”.
@SianEmmaWilson
Francesca Gillett25 November 2016

Commuters on the Piccadilly Line faced more rush hour chaos this morning because a “shortage of trains”.

Passengers hit out at an “appalling” service on the line as Tube trains between Acton Town and Uxbridge were cancelled.

Severe delays hit the rest of the line - the fourth busiest on the Tube - leaving people struggling to get into work.

Transport for London said the problems were due to faulty wheels which had worn down on slippery tracks in the recent wet weather.

A TfL spokesman told the Standard half of all trains on the line are out of service and travel chaos could continue into next week.

One commuter told the Standard that the driver of his Tube said 40 out of the line's 79 trains were out of service.

This week passengers repeatedly faced travel misery because of not enough trains, with commuters facing chaos on Thursday evening as they tried to get home.

Many angry travellers took to social media to plead with London Mayor Sadiq Khan to “sort it out”.

Ian Luke said: “Shocking Piccadilly Line again. Service part suspended due to lack of trains. Mayor of London are you watching this?”

Jam packed: Passengers try to get onto the Piccadilly Line platform at Kings Cross.
@JackSerle Twitter

Tony Joseph said: “Third day in a row of terrible service on Piccadilly Line due to a ‘shortage of trains’. Where did they all go?”

Peter James Farrell said: “A shortage of trains? Really? Jesus this line is a joke. Heard it all now a shortage of trains!!”

Another social media user, LiamFlow on Twitter, said they had to wait 13 minutes for a train which was then held in Arnos Grove to “even out the gaps” in the service.

Transport for London apologised to commuters on its Piccadilly Line Twitter feed.

The spokesperson said a “more than normal” number of trains have needed essential maintenance.

But they added they did not know when services would be up and running again, after Tube users asked if delays would last throughout the day.

Crammed: Piccadilly line commuters fill the platform after a signal failure sparked rush hour chaos (@Saf_fitness )
@Saf_fitness

Some commuters joked about how the delays coincided with Black Friday and considered the reasons for a “shortage of trains”.

Eddie Sykes said: “Have all your drivers gone Black Friday sale shopping or something?! Sort it out.”

Another Twitter user, Fred the Leopard, said: “What causes a shortage of trains? It’s not like they go on holiday or ring in sick.”

Terry Jones called it “ridiculous” and asked where all the trains had gone.

Queues: Travel misery on Friday morning as fall-out from Piccadilly Line delays hit Finsbury Park.
Alister Babb (Twitter)

Tony Matthews, general manager for the Piccadilly Line, said: "I sincerely apologise to Piccadilly Line customers whose journeys have been disrupted this week.

“We have had to take some Piccadilly lLine trains out of service to repair their wheels, which unfortunately means we do not have a full fleet available.

“We’re working around the clock to fix the trains so that we can return to a good service as quickly as possible.”

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