Jubilee line at its worst since 1999 extension
Tube bosses have admitted the performance of the Jubilee line has been at its worst since the extension to Canary Wharf opened in 1999.
Commuters heading to work on Tuesday morning (March 25) endured the total suspension of the line for an hour and a half, the latest in a string of rush-hour problems to have plagued the line since the New Year.
Penny Hazell, from Transport for London, is general manager of the Jubilee line and responsible for overseeing its performance. She spoke to The Wharf about the problems.
“The first six weeks after Christmas were the worst we have experienced since the extension came on stream in 1999,” she said. “We’ve been going through a difficult patch because the pressure on the line has been higher than ever before.”
Miss Hazell added: “Our performance was impressive up until November but it’s been difficult since Christmas. The passenger numbers have increased faster than anyone could have predicted.”
Tuesday’s disruption was caused by communications equipment failure. Other recent issues have included defective trains and faulty platform doors, while many journeys are punctuated by frequent stops in
tunnels while drivers wait for signals to change.
Miss Hazell, who uses the line herself every day, was frank about the problems customers have endured. She admitted, with signal upgrade work scheduled to continue until the end of next year, there is more misery ahead.
“It’s likely to get worse before it gets better, I’m afraid,” she said. “There is an enormous amount of work to do and it means there will be a number of weekend closures. We’re working hard to bring the line up to 21st century standards and customers will benefit in the long run.”
Those improvements include the introduction of new digital radios over the next few months while trials of platform markings to make it easier to board and exit trains are ongoing.
“The work we do is not always visible,” said Miss Hazell. “We are managing the way we deal with
passengers who become ill on trains, which is a major cause of delay, and also looking at ways of improving embarkation at stations.”
The Jubilee Line carries about 600,000 passengers a day. That’s likely to increase by around 25 per cent over the next few years and Miss Hazell asked passengers to be patient while they work to improve journey quality.
She said: “I’m confident we can get back to the level of reliability most customers have come to expect.
“Once the signal upgrade comes into operation customers will see much quicker journeys. The signalling will be computer controlled. Trains will run in parallel, so they can run closer together. People will feel they are always moving and it will put an end to the stop-start journeys many people experience at the moment.”
simon.hayes@wharf.co.uk
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"We’re working hard to bring the line up to 21st century standards and customers will benefit in the long run.”
I can't believe this statement. Yes, it was opened in the 20th century (1999) but with 1 year to go till the 21st century, shouldn't the system have been up to scratch for at least 25 years or so. And what about this sudden increase in passengers that couldn't have been predicted, where do these people come from since Christmas??? That the system wouldn't be able to handle the growing number of people working at Canary Wharf is something we all knew at the time it was build, but don't tell me that suddenly within the past three months the amount of passengers has doubled or so. A complete bull story from London transport to cover up bad planning and wasting taxpayers money.
Well I think they are doing a brillant job
How would we ever have managed this week without those yellow lines on the floor Phew.
I'd much rather have some more of them pointing me around, and telling me which spot to stand in, rather than the trains actaully get me to work on time
It's not occured to anyone that the Jubilee line has had a marked increase in passengers since Christmas and the East London Line, which used to get people to Shadwell to take the DLR to Canary Wharf, has been closed since Christmas? Good work everyone for noticing the impact of the East London Line closure.
It's not occured to anyone that the Jubilee line has had a marked increase in passengers since Christmas and the East London Line, which used to get people to Shadwell to take the DLR to Canary Wharf, has been closed since Christmas? Good work everyone for noticing the impact of the East London Line closure.
“We’ve been going through a difficult patch because the pressure on the line has been higher than ever before.”
What has the number of peole got to do with anything??! The failures are down to, and I quote, "Tuesday’s disruption was caused by communications equipment failure. Other recent issues have included defective trains and faulty platform doors, while many journeys are punctuated by frequent stops in
tunnels while drivers wait for signals to change."
It makes no difference if there's 1 person on a train or 8000 - communication failures means they can't run!
And why the hell wasn't "21st" century quipment installed when the line was built just 9 years ago???!!!!!! It would have been relatively cheap to do it at the time, but to retro-fit now will be costing so much more...