Glynn Barton COO of TfL apologises for Central line delays

LondonWorld

Glynn Barton, COO of Transport for London (TfL) apologies for recent delays on the Central line.  The delays have been caused by a shortage of trains due to repair works needed on defective traction motors.  During a visit to a train depot at Hainault, engineers are hard at work repairing trains to get them back into service.

Transcript

00:00 So the teams here are working really really hard to make sure we've got as many trains out on the

00:05 Central Line as we can possibly muster each day. We are having difficulties at the moment,

00:10 the Central Line's a really old fleet, we've got a massive capital investment program in

00:16 the Central Line coming up but unfortunately we are seeing failures cropping up in motors especially

00:23 in other parts of the trains which is meaning that we aren't getting as many trains out as we'd like

00:28 to on the Central Line. So what the teams are doing here is they're trying to get those motors

00:32 which causes the issues at the moment back on the trains as quickly as possible so we can provide

00:36 the best service for customers. What I can guarantee is we're absolutely working around

00:39 the clock here, we've got as many people as we can do, given safe working time etc to ensure that we

00:45 can get that fleet out on the network and serve our customers. It's absolutely essential so they're

00:50 not new trains on the Central Line, what they are refurbished trains, completely refurbished,

00:55 so stripped down, new wheelchair bays, new CCTV but crucially as well a new traction system so

01:01 we moved from the old DC to AC traction on the Central Line. Unfortunately that program's been

01:07 delayed with uncertainty around government funding etc, we're really keen to crack on with that because

01:12 it's really important that we get those refurbished trains out on the network as soon as possible so

01:17 our customers experience the service we want to give them. I think the first thing to say is to

01:21 apologise to our customers who are experiencing delays on this line, I would like to assure them

01:26 that we are doing as much as we can to get as good a service as we can do given the fleet that we

01:30 have. What we have done though is we've significantly increased the amount of customer information we

01:35 have have out on the network, allowing customers to understand what is happening to the service.

01:41 We're also supplementing some of the key bus routes that run alongside the Central Line,

01:46 particularly out on the branches to ensure that there's a bus alternative and we can shuttle bus

01:51 on as well. Now alongside that as well we're looking at what we can do timetable wise around

01:57 the Central Line to see if we can regulate the service a little more so customers know

02:01 what to expect when they turn up at the station.

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