Poor management on Tube PPP exposed

Poor management on the Tube PPP is delaying improvements and preventing further investment, according to members of the London Assembly.

The transport committee of the Assembly said that with the maintenance infracos Tube Lines and Metronet failing to deliver improvements on time there was now a reluctance among shareholders to increase investment in the London Underground.  

A record number of overruns and failure to deal with improvements to tracks, signals, lifts, escalators and stations was said to be deterring further investment.

Two years since the PPP contracts were signed, the transport committee admitted that improvements had been made, but added that more could have been achieved.

Although there have been improvements on Underground tracks and station refurbishments, failure to manage engineering work effectively is a cause of much frustration, added committee members.

Committee chairman Roger Evans said: "We were consistently reassured that by 2010, the improvements outlined for the first seven-and-a-half-year phase of the PPP would have been achieved. 

"It is vital that Metronet is able to demonstrate that its station refurbishment programme is back on schedule by the end of 2005 and that both maintenance companies are able to reduce substantially the number of engineering overruns.  Londoners are entitled to expect nothing less."