Tube engineers face bomb blast carnage

A crack team of engineers was at the scene of Tube bombings within minutes of the terrorist blasts in the capital last week to help evacuate passengers from the stricken trains.

London Underground’s Emergency Response Unit (ERU) was deployed to all three bomb blast sites at King’s Cross, Aldgate East and Edgware Road to help evacuate the injured, provide emergency lighting and ensure the tunnels were safe
for the emergency services to operate in.

The ERU’s engineers met with the most appalling scenes of carnage, particularly at the King’s Cross site where the depth and narrowness of the tunnel meant the blast devastated at least five of the train’s eight carriages.

One maintenance worker, who asked not to be named, said: “We arrived on site after the emergency teams and the area was sealed off. It was well organised, there was no panic, but they were reporting a bloodbath down there.”

The ERU is funded and operated by TubeLines, but was set up as part of London Underground’s Public Private Partnership (PPP) deal to handle all emergencies across the Tube network.

A spokeswoman for TubeLines, a joint venture between Bechtel and Amey, said: “These are the Tube’s most experienced and highly qualified engineers. They have had a huge amount of training for all kinds of emergencies and are on call 24/7, 365 days a year. Their role is to get things up and running as soon as possible.” The unit has a pool of 100 engineers.

Damage to London Underground’s bomb-blasted tunnels will not be fully assessed until the police have finished their investigation into the terrorist attacks at all three sites.

A spokesman for Metronet – a consortium of Bombardier Transport, Balfour Beatty, Thames Water, Seeboard and Atkins – which is responsible for the Edgware Road and Aldgate bomb sites, said: “We are working closely with London Underground and the emergency services, but we do not have access to the sites because they are still crime scenes.”

However, preliminary investigations carried out by the ERU have revealed extensive track damage at all three sites and substantial damage to the walls of the tunnel at the site of the King’s Cross blast, which is part of TubeLine’s operating area. 

London Underground, which has responsibility for the cost of service delays, will have to reimburse TubeLines and Metronet for any extra repair work as a result of the bomb attacks.