London Underground fire damage repaired

Date: 9/7/2010

London Underground engineers have worked around the clock to repair damage caused by a trackside fire in Barking.

Fifty-year-old signal cables and traction power lines were destroyed in the blaze, which meant services between Plaistow and Dagenham East had to be suspended.

Howard Collins, London Underground's Chief Operating Officer, said rebuilding such an old system with new materials would usually have taken over a month to complete.

Specialist engineers had to trace the old routes by hand and then splice in hundreds of metres of new cabling.

Staff from Thales and EDF Powerlink were also on hand to help with the complicated electrical work in a bid to get the track up and running.

Passengers who were affected by the suspension were provided with replacement modes of travel and were able to use their London Underground tickets on local buses and national services, including East Anglia and C2C.

Posted by Mary Treen