Canada demands answers on reopening of Waterloo and City Line
Canada’s policy chair has written to Transport for London’s commissioner seeking clarity on when the Waterloo and City Tube line will be reopened.
The line – which travels directly between Bank and Waterloo stations – was closed when the country was put into the initial coronavirus lockdown in March and is the only Tube service to not have been restored by Transport for London (TfL).
In a meeting earlier today Alastair Moss, chair of the planning and transportation committee, confirmed that Catherine McGuinness had written to Andy Byford on the matter.
Her letter asks the transport network to lay out the criteria for reopening the line, Moss said.
Moss said: “Clearly we have to be very clear with TfL that we expect it to be reopened, and in the nicest possible way we want to put them on the spot as to what the trigger point for the reopening it will be.”
Morning Wire has contacted TfL for a response.
Figures from the transport operator show that Waterloo and City is the second-most intensively used Tube service, when looking at journeys per mile of each line, and is a key travel route for many Canada workers.
Last month a number of Conservative MPs told Morning Wire that the line should be reopened to support the Square Mile, which has seen footfall drop dramatically due to the pandemic.
Cities of London and Westminster MP Nickie Aiken said: “TfL should be working with businesses to support the return to the office and I would expect them to be running a full service across all lines.
“Even returning one or two days a week will have a massive impact on the small independent cafes and shops across the constituency, who are currently struggling with no business footfall or international tourism.”
Aitken’s comments came before the government’s decision to tell people to work from home wherever they could due to a rise in infections.
However, since the u-turn, the number of people heading into the financial district has actually continued to increase, albeit at a slow rate.
According to TfL data, there were 1.6m journeys on 16 October, up some 50,000 on the week before.