Boris Watch

Back before I went on holiday, the Mayor’s comment on big TfL news stories was written thus:

As well as significantly cutting carbon dioxide emissions, we’re looking for taxis that are quieter and produce fewer air pollutants, which will be good news for anyone who spends time in London.

‘Taxi drivers should be particularly pleased – they’re more exposed than most to traffic pollution, and they should also see the benefit of cheaper fuel costs as low carbon taxis would use less than a standard taxi.

Doesn’t sound like the Boris that appears to regale us on BBC London and Today, really.  One might almost say that this was written by some PR bloke somewhere and signed off by the big man.

However, on one of the recent ones, I’m delighted that the authentic Boris appears to have been unearthed, possibly from the depths of Ken’s wine rack, where he and Patience Wheatcroft were counting the spoons:

‘It always perplexed me that boffins could produce mobile phones the size of a credit card yet passengers would emerge dripping with sweat from Tube trains that lacked air conditioning.

‘That is why I am chuffed to bits that plans are afoot to finally put these systems on Circle, District, Hammersmith and City and Metropolitan Lines trains.

Air-conditioning the Tube was a manifesto commitment, of course, so we need to keep an eye on this, particularly given that the committment was, um, light on detail to say the least.  Mr. Stop Boris helpfully dug this up a few days back:

I will look again at having an air-conditioned tube

That was it.  Well, that’s not very specific, is it?  Note that he’s now specifically referring to adding air-conditioning to Tube *trains*, here, rather than the Tube as whole, which risks giving up a hostage to fortune on the deep-level lines where this is next to impossible without staggering amounts of money spent ventilating the long tunnels.  An Eton education and jolly, amateur, can do spirit cannae alter the laws of physics, cap’n.

Lesson time.  Transport air-conditioning wasn’t around in the early 20th century when the tubes were dug, and, like any kind of refrigeration, overall, it produces more heat than it removes, all of which has to go somewhere.  At stations you can get away with beefing up existing ventilation facilities or even adding a new shaft and some fans (which isn’t cheap).  It’s between stations that the problems arise – putting aircon onto trains increases energy consumption (which is ungreen, anyway, and you’ve got to pay for the juice), and the extra energy drawn gets converted straight into heat in the tunnels, which is exactly the opposite effect to that required, in turn requires even beefier ventilation.  Every time TfL have looked at this in the past they come up against this and conclude that it’s only feasible to tackle the stations and indeed the new 2009 Tube stock for the Victoria Line, which is only just being tested now, hasn’t got air-conditioning or, presumably, space to fit it (they’re small, y’see).  You’re not going to get air-conditioned Tube trains under Boris, in other words, it’s stations only, and if that’s what he thinks the manifesto committment means he needs a clue fast.

More seriously, he’s also plain wrong about putting ‘these systems into … trains’, meaning the sub-surface lines, which operate in larger, shorter tunnels just underground or on the surface and thus don’t suffer as much as the deep tube from the heating effect.  In fact he either doesn’t know what he’s talking about or is deliberately deceiving people – there won’t be squads of guys installing air-con kit onto the trains now running on the lines for the very good reason that the trains are due to be scrapped.  I’ll be writing to TfL later for clarification on this.  I hope it’s the former.

What’s actually happening is a phased introduction of a new design of train known as ‘S’ stock, onto the Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith and City and finally District Line.  This process, originally under the PPP Metronet SSL contract but now under TfL’s control has been going for years and air-con was always in the specification along with regen braking which should reduce energy consumption and presumably tunnel heating, too (normal trains convert energy to heat on braking, heating the tunnel, regen trains pump the energy back into the system as electricity).

When was this announced?  Here’s a TfL press release about it from December 2006:

Detailed plans to upgrade a third of the Tube network over the next decade and help tackle climate change were announced by the Transport Commissioner Peter Hendy today.

The Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines will get new air-conditioned trains from late 2009, together with a new signalling system and renewed track.

Obviously, this came with its own Mayoral comment, which offers us the interesting opportunity to compare styles for much the same announcement:

“The upgrade of these lines is the next stage of Transport for London’s (TfL’s) investment in the renewal and improvement of London Underground.

“This upgrade will be felt by passengers every day, who will benefit from air-conditioning and extra space on the trains.

“It will also deliver major energy efficiencies which will reduce energy costs and make a positive contribution towards reducing London’s CO2 use and tackling climate change.”

To note:  the introduction has apparently slipped from ‘late 2009′ into 2010, and that’s only the first Metropolitan trains, the full service on all four lines won’t be for several years after that, as locals round here know to their annoyance; the District is last on the list and won’t get ‘S’ stock until 2015 or so.  There’s also a reference to ‘S’ stock progress in a TfL Investment Programme report [PDF] from December 2007 where:

Manufacture of S-Stock Train 1 shell has slipped, due to material delays, however this should not affect the delivery date of January 2009 to LU for testing and then, for passenger service by December 2009.  Detailed design has been completed ahead of the planned completion date of
December 2007

So not only is Boris announcing it wrongly, he’s announcing something that’s already being built and will be finished and rolling in about six months, having been specified and designed way before he became Mayor.  ‘Finally’, my arse.  He’s chuffed to bits to find out that Peter Hendy implemented his manifesto committment eighteen months ago?

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