UK - London must pour more money into the tube

[John Ashworth]

London must pour more money into the tube, says upgrade firm

* Dan Milmo, transport correspondent
* The Guardian,
* Monday August 4 2008

The firm responsible for maintaining some of London's busiest underground services, Tube Lines, has predicted severe consequences for the network if it is starved of investment, amid warnings from the capital's mayor that funds must not be hijacked by the £16bn Crossrail project.

In an interview with the Guardian, Tube Lines chief executive Terry Morgan said the network required "a huge amount of effort" to cope with passenger numbers of more than 3 million a day. London mayor Boris Johnson warned last month that a multibillion-pound tube upgrade must not be sacrificed to fund Crossrail, which will run between Paddington and Liverpool Street mainline stations. Morgan said the tube network needed a substantial financial commitment over the next decade.

"The interesting debate is affordability and does TfL have the money to do what it wants to do," he said. "To stand still requires a huge amount of effort. There is not sufficient robustness in the system to leave it alone. It is still very fragile."

The mayor's Transport for London body must fund much of its £7bn contribution to Crossrail and an estimated £10bn investment plan for the tube from a £39bn Treasury settlement that covers TfL's needs from 2010 to 2017. The £10bn would cover daily maintenance and upgrades that will enable more frequent trains on the Piccadilly and Northern lines.

The £30bn public-private partnership under which firms are contracted to upgrade the tube network slipped into financial crisis last year when Metronet, the contractor responsible for three-quarters of the underground, was placed into administration after building up a projected overspend of £2bn.

According to industry sources, there are fears that TfL's settlement is not large enough to cover the work that must be carried out by Tube Lines and the now publicly owned Metronet, placed into TfL ownership.

The head of London Underground, Tim O'Toole, admitted this month that any fall in passenger numbers due to an economic slowdown would hit revenue and "would have implications for our funding that would make it more difficult". TfL has asked the PPP contract referee, Chris Bolt, to publish an estimate of Tube Lines' financial needs over the next decade before funding talks with the contractor.

Morgan also confirmed that Tube Lines is bidding for Metronet contracts including station refurbishment work - one of the areas where Metronet racked up a sizeable overspend. The Tube Lines boss added that the company, co-owned by support services firm Amey and project management specialist Bechtel, is interested in a track replacement contract owned by building firm Balfour Beatty.

"I would like to think that we can help through our ability to do project work in terms of value for money and certainty that the job will get done," he said.

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

I never understand the investment issues. Surely a 5p levy per trip, given the millions of users, would soon make up any shortfall? This would equate to 150 k per day or 54 million pound a year. 1p would provide 10 million pounds.

The tube is so expensive anyway it would not be much of an increase.

Anyone know if the cost of travel is controlled by legislation?