Metronet woe to delay work on the Tube

Work to refurbish tube stations in London will be delayed by at least two years following Metronet's fall into administration.

London Undergound chief Tim O'Toole told a meeting of the London Assembly Transport Committee last week that "all of our programmes will be under stress".

He estimated the building programme would be delayed by at least two years, but insisted there were no plans to downgrade work.

O'Toole also revealed that tube contracts could be retendered as Public Private Partnership (PPP) jobs. He said other options in the frame include breaking Metronet's contracts down into smaller packages of work and keeping maintenance in house.

O'Toole told the committee the final decision would be driven by money rather than ideology.

In a comment that appeared to support a PPP deal, he said: "If someone can come up with a structure that can deliver more cash sooner and be paid back later, that would be of great interest to me. The government is certainly not going to give us a blank cheque."