Tube Lines and Metronet work under scrutiny

The maintenance and inspection regimes of Tube Lines and Metronet - the two consortia responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of London Underground - are under examination by London Underground (LUL) and the Health & Safety Executive (HSE) following two tube derailments last week.
The first derailment happened on Friday night at Hammersmith, when the running rail broke under a Piccadilly Line train. The second incident occurred on Sunday when a Northern Line train came off the track at a set of points at Camden and crashed into the tunnel wall.
An HSE spokeswoman told CJ it was investigating both derailments. "At Hammersmith it is a fairly simple investigation as the main cause of the derailment is known - a crack at the bottom of the rail. It should take between three and four weeks to complete," she said.
Paul Emberley, director of communications at Metronet, told CJ: "The derailment at Hammersmith has been fully rectified. All track on every part of the network is visually checked every 72 hours. This particular section of track was checked only the day before and LUL has said this type of crack would not have been spotted from a visual check."
At Camden however, no immediate cause is obvious so the investigation will take longer. Tube Lines, made up of Amey, Jarvis and Bechtel, said at this early stage of the investigation it appears the sixth car derailed and became detached from the rest of the train.
When asked if Jarvis would now consider pulling out of its Tube deal, a Jarvis spokesman said: "No."