Emergency Response Unit (ERU)
The ERU is a division of Tube Lines dedicated to ensuring that the network is made safe and services restored as quickly as possible following a fire, derailment or other emergency.
The ERU is staffed by some of the most highly skilled and technically able members of staff operating on the Underground. They have to be ready and able to manage any situation or incident that could arise on the system.
With four depots around London, the Emergency Response Unit (ERU) covers all of the Underground lines, not just the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly. If something goes wrong, London Underground’s Network Control Centre contacts the ERU and a team is dispatched to deal with it.
They will cover anything from track vegetation problems to ultra-sonic rail defects. Each team has a van and a lorry loaded up ready for action. They carry everything needed for a track job in the van and are ready for moving a train with their Rolling Stock Lorry.
Although they do not have the blue flashing lights the ERU is an emergency service. With set times to reach track and rail problems they have to beat the clock and London’s traffic to get through to an incident. For the most pressing emergencies the police will escort the teams through the city.
In fact the ERU is a lot like the fire service – awaiting a call out whilst working in their depots around London. Spending 12 hours a day together makes them a strong unit, ready for anything. They work through the year on five week rosters, with three days training for every team member in between.
When they are not repairing tracks or righting trains, the ERU teams stay in their depots: looking after machinery and preparing for the next call out, until the phone rings and they’re off.
The team have covered every situation you could think of: from removing a badger from the tracks in a wheelbarrow; to having milk bottles pelted at them whilst repairing tracks; to handling suicide attempts and train derailments. No day is ever the same. The ERU teams have one of the most crucial jobs in the city and they continue to help London as a fourth emergency service.