Why is there never a day when the whole of The London Underground works perfectly?

Question

Yes, I understand that maintenance has to be carried out for our own safety. But, planned maintenance usually happens on the weekends. I'm talking about when they have "signal failure" and severe delays and close some lines altogether. Surely signal failure is down to somebody being incompetent or not replacing old equipment?

Answer 1

Because to work perfectly it needs maintenance work to be carried out and to do maintenance work it needs to stop working perfectly while this maintenance work is going on, so it is a vicious circle. Unless, of course, you count maintenance work as part of the term "work perfectly" (as you should really, -sorry!), in which case it means that the Tube always works perfectly, strange as it may sound.

Answer 2

As long as there are no bombs in it you shouldn't complain. But tell me, do you have those malodorous homeless people in Underground too? I certainly understand they have nowhere to go and that they need some warm but their vapors drive me crazy.