1 IN 8 'TEMPORARY' TUBE SPEED RESTRICTIONS TAKE MORE THAN 4 WEEKS TO FIX

10.13.46am GMT Tue 4th Jan 2005

On the day that fares increase hit Tube commuters, new figures released today by the London Assembly Liberal Democrats show that there were 344 different speed restrictions imposed on London Underground in the last year.

The figures, revealed in a Mayoral answer to the Liberal Democrats, show that more than one in eight of these speed restrictions were in place for more than a month. Seven speed restrictions had been in place for more than 6 months, with two of these on the Central Line being in place for more than a year.

The lines with the most speed restrictions between 12th October 2003 to 13th November 2004 were:-

· Metropolitan Line with 87

· District Line with 62

· Northern Line with 56

· Central Line with 53

· Piccadilly Line with 48

London Assembly Liberal Democrat Transport Spokesperson, Lynne Featherstone, said:

"The number of speed restrictions in place on the Tube shows how desperately in need of vital maintenance our crumbling underground network is. It is staggering that there are some so-called temporary speed restrictions that have almost become permanent fixtures.

"With lines plagued by signal failures, broken down radios and faulty trains, a priority must be placed on ensuring that defects that have already been identified are fixed quickly.

"At the start of his re-appointment as Transport supremo in London, Bob Kiley must tell the infracos that taking more than a month to fix a 'temporary' speed restriction is simply unacceptable."

ENDS

Notes to editor

The figures were taken from Mayor's Answers to Questions.

Speed restrictions on London Underground

Question No: 1912 / 2004

Lynne Featherstone

Please can you let me know the total number of speed restrictions on London Underground, broken down by a) line and, b) length of time the speed restriction was in place, and c) for the last 12 months?

The table below shows the total number of temporary speed restrictions imposed per line and the length of time they were in force. The table covers the period 12th October 2003 to 13th November 2004. The figures for each column do not include the previous columns i.e. the figures for the 1 week column are more than a day and less than a week.

Total Between Between Between Between Between Between Between

Imposed during period 0 - 1 day 1 day - 1 week 1 - 4 weeks 4 - 13 weeks 13 - 26 weeks 26 weeks- 1 year 1 year +

Bakerloo 6 2 3 1 0 0 0 0

Central 53 16 12 3 11 6 3 2

Victoria 3 3 0 0 0 0 0 0

Waterloo & City 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Hammersmith & City 13 9 3 1 0 0 0 0

District 62 45 15 2 0 0 0 0

East London 3 1 1 1 0 0 0 0

Metropolitan 87 51 17 4 15 0 0 0

Jubilee 13 10 3 0 0 0 0 0

Northern 56 34 8 8 1 4 1 0

Piccadilly 48 40 6 0 0 1 1 0

All Lines 344 211 68 20 27 11 5 2

61.3% 19.8% 5.8% 7.9% 3.2% 1.5% 0.6%

As of 9/12/04, 13 of these speed restrictions remain in place, 7 on the Central, 4 on the Northern and 2 on the Piccadilly lines.