Interview: Tube Lines chief executive Terry Morgan

His company, responsible for the upgrade and maintenance of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, has to juggle the demands of commuters with a huge works programme.

The intricate nature of upgrading the signalling means a continuation of weekend closures on the line for the forseeable future.

Mr Morgan said: "We certainly need the rest of this year.

"We've done most of the layout of cabling and equipment, but in a railway system the testing requirements are quite severe.

"It doesnt just have to function, it has to be safe and has to be tested against lots and lots of different scenarios. That takes time.

"It's not easy trying to do the amount of work we're doing and keep as full a service as we can.

"Sometimes we've had the odd blip and I regret that because building a reputation takes time.

"In my perfect world I'd shut the railway down for a period of time and just go in there and get it done, but that's impossible given the criticality of the Jubilee Line to the Wharf.

"It wouldn't work. It's the main artery here."

Tube Lines, based in Westferry Circus, was created in 2002 and was invited to bid for work on the Underground by the Government as part of its Public Private Partnerships (PPP) initiative.

Mr Morgan is convinced there is still a place for PPP, despite public suspicion of the idea.

He said: "For me the Tube Lines model worked.

"Given the amount of funding, given the commitment we gave in terms of performance I think the answer is yes.

"People tend to forget we were invited to bid. The Government was determined to bring private sector expertise to deliver programmes because of the history of how they had failed previously.

"The Underground desperately needed investment and people have forgotten what it used to be like when there was no investment available."

Mr Morgan, 60, leaves Tube Lines later this year but the rugby-loving Welshman is heading across the Wharf to lend his expertise to the Crossrail.

He leaves Tube Lines in good health, having overseen a change in culture from a public sector employee to a private company.

His real legacy will be the apprenticeship scheme he helped create, improving staff retention and ensuring the skills are there to handle technological advances.

He said: "I do feel very possessive about my appprentices because I was an apprentice myself.

"Today we have a full complement of technicians. Some of the new programmes we've got coming in have quite a switch in technology, like the new signalling system, so that's a skill set we can train the apprentices for in a much more thoughtful way.

"It's the workforce of the future.

"I like to think we've given people the expectation they should be ambitious.

"We'll take a VIP down to our training school in Stratford and the VIP will ask 'what do you want do?' and they'll frequently answer 'I want to do his job' and point at me.

"We worked very hard at trying to create the right culture, to change the way we motivated people, and the results have been spectacular."