Falling Concrete "Reinforces Case Against Driverless Trains"
RMT to step up fight to defend track patrols after incident at Shepherd's Bush Station
The RMT Union says that the incident on Monday which saw lumps of concrete falling onto a Central Line train outside Shepherd's Bush Station reinforces the case against driverless trains and for protecting track patrols.
General Secretary Mick Cash says: " "This incident of falling concrete from development works above the Central Line is not the first of its kind and with whole swathes of London now a building site it rams home the dangers for the tube network as developers rush ahead with their projects.
"The incident could very easily have ended up in tragedy and reinforces once again the argument against Boris Johnson and Zac Goldsmith's lethal plans for a driverless tube network.
" RMT will also now step up the fight to defend and expand in-house track patrols against the threat of casualisation and privatisation."
The RMT has also released a picture of a nine inch long lump of concrete which it says was found on the roof of a Central Line train at 11am today.
The discovery comes after engineers were forced to carry out emergency repairs after builders drilled through the roof of a tube tunnel, showering a train with debris.
The incident on Monday evening caused the Central Line between Marble Arch and White City to be closed after chunks of masonry said by passengers to be "as big as rugby balls" fell onto a westbound tube train through a hole in the tunnel roof outside Shepherd's Bush Station.
Transport for London say that contractors building the £1billion extension to Westfield Shopping Centre breached the tunnel wall, which is around 100 metres below ground, according to its own figures.
TfL said it was possible to see into the tunnel from a building site above.
No damage was caused to trains or the track, but TfL said the risk that other debris might fall through the hole meant it had to be filled before trains could begin running again.
The damage was repaired and the line reopened around 9.30pm.
Operations director Peter McNaught apologised to passengers affected by the disruption and said: " We will be carrying out a full investigation into the cause of this issue alongside those involved."
The Central Line is running normally on Tuesday.
February 23, 2016
