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Thursday 07 November 2019 1:01 pm  |  Updated:  Friday 15 November 2019 9:53 am

Revealed: These are London’s most overcrowded Tube lines

By: Stefan Boscia

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Transport for London (TfL) announced its "Deep Tube upgrade programme" last year, which will see new models on some of these lines, however the first trains won't be seen until 2024.

London’s Tube lines are running at overcapacity during morning rush hour, new figures have revealed.

Statistics from mayor of London Sadiq Khan show that morning peak hour capacity on the London Underground is more than 100 per cent, with the Northern, Central and Jubilee lines the most crowded.

Read more: TfL adds more trains to Victoria line at peak times

The Northern line is running at 130 per cent of capacity during peak times, while the Central and Jubilee lines are at 116 and 115 per cent respectively.

The figures revealed that evening peak hour capacity is 84 per cent.

The figures come just days after TfL announced it would increase passenger capacity on the Victoria Line by 275,000 passengers each weekday.

Which are London’s busiest morning Tube Lines?

PositionTube LineMorning peak hour capacity
1Northern Line130 per cent
2Central Line116 per cent
3Jubilee Line115 per cent
4Victoria Line105 per cent
5Metropolitan Line97 per cent
6Bakerloo Line95 per cent
7Piccadilly Line91 per cent
8Hammersmith & City and Circle Lines88 per cent
9District Line85 per cent

Conservative London Assembly member Tony Devenish blamed Transport for London’s (TfL) revenue losses on the overcrowding.

TfL is expected to make a £742m loss in 2019-20 on the back of Khan’s fare freeze and expensive bus subsidies.

Devenish said: “By depriving TfL of much-need revenue through his flawed partial fares freeze…the mayor has severely restricted the amount of money available for much-needed infrastructure upgrades.”

Read more

No air conditioning on the Tube? Blame Sadiq Khan

Crowded London Underground platform during summer heat wave, passengers fanning themselves to stay cool

Khan announced a four-year TfL fare freeze for individual journeys as a part of his campaign for mayor in 2016.

The freeze was in contrast to Boris Johnson’s time as mayor of London when prices rose by 42 per cent over eight years.

A spokesperson for Khan said the policy made public transport “more affordable for millions of Londoners”.

They added: “He is also investing record amounts in modernising and increasing capacity on London’s Tube network.”

Read more: London mayor race: Rory Stewart falls behind rivals

“This includes the huge transformation of Bank station, the Northern Line Extension, major new signalling on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines, and investing in major upgrades to stations such as Finsbury Park.”

Independent mayoral candidate Rory Stewart has indicated he would likely raise TfL fares if elected and Conservative candidate Shaun Bailey has also said a fare rise would be a “done deal” under him.

Stewart told Morning Wire on Tuesday it “cannot make sense to be running a system that’s losing this much money every year”.

“Under Boris Johnson, TfL was generating a lot of money for the city a lot of time, but for various reasons – not all his fault – TfL under [Khan] has been losing money,” he said.

TfL and Khan were contacted for comment.

Read more

Andy Burnham should show London he cares by funding this one transport project

Andy Burnham, Mayor of Greater Manchester, standing outside 10 Downing Street in a suit and tie.

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