What happens if.....

[sooey]

there's a catastrophic failure of one of the London underground tube lines under the thames?
Would the whole of the subway system below sea level be filled or is there some safeguard to prevent this happening?

 

[LastMagicBean]

I think i'm right in saying this has already happened.

During bombing raids in WW2.

 

[sooey]

Thanks lmb, I've just looked that up. All I could find was the Balham tube disaster when a bomb landed in the road above the line and burst the water and sewage lines, flooding the tunnel and killing sixty odd people.
What I'm talking about though is if one of the tunnels was breached below the river, you've got a whole oceans worth of water waiting to pour in.

 

[wotan]

I am sure I saw on a documentary about the tube system there were at certain points flood gates fitted, if they are still operational I have no idea.

Wotan

 

[snico]

Most lines have flood barriers to prevent flooding. The London Underground pumps water out of the tunnels 24 hours a day.

Not sure the what the effect would be if a tunnel collapsed

 

[Whitespirit66]

Would the whole of the subway system below sea level be filled or is there some safeguard to prevent this happening?

Something similar happend in the Capital of the Czech Republic, Prague, in 2002. They have an extensive underground metro system, with some very deep stations. When the river Vltava flooded, the metro acted like a drain, and many stations were completely submerged. Not actually due to a failure of a line or tunnel, but same result.

It must have been a complete nightmare pumping out the water, cleaning everything, before the job of renewing whole signalling and safety systems. Bit by bit, the system was restored to full operation, but it took several months before all stations were re-opened. Luckily, many of the metro trains are robust, Ruskie built units, which weren't too badly damaged.

I am a regular visitor to Prague and the Czech Republic. The flood happened in the summer, but by the time we visited in late autumn, everything was back to normal and we were able to travel between pubs unimpeded.

This video shows the extent of what happened. Check (or should that be Czech )-out the shot of the top of the escalators at 2 mins.

 

[sooey]

Thanks whitespirit, it's not quite the same thing as I had in my mind but bad enough and probably answers the question of what would happen if there was a serious breech. Bit of a scary thought if you use the subway often.

 

[joe-90]

Wasn't there a flood that almost killed Brunell?

 

[^woody^]

Nothing would happen

 

[libby lou lou]

Wasn't there a flood that almost killed Brunell?

Thought it was something to do with the pressure vessels built to keep the water out that done him in?

 

[sooey]

Nothing would happen

What do you mean?