Have the steps taken by the Mayor and Transport for London to reduce delays and improve performance on the Tube led to improved services for passengers? 

The London Assembly Transport Committee will tomorrow question transport chiefs on updates to Tube performance and the upgrade programme. The Committee will be following up its report on delays – The State of the Underground^[1] – published September 2011. 

Transport Committee Members will also explore progress on the Mayor’s pledges to utilise a ‘delay-busting’ action plan to reduce delays by 30 percent by 2015; maintain investment to complete line upgrades; and introduce automatic train control on 48 per cent of Tube trains to lead to the first ‘driverless’ train within a decade.^[2]

The following guests will attend:

• Mike Brown, Managing Director, London Underground and London Rail,
  Transport for London (TfL)
• Gareth Powell, Director of Strategy & Service Development for London Underground
• David James, Chair, Independent Investment Programmes Advisory Group (IIPAG)

The Transport Committee meeting will take place on Thursday, 18 October from 9.30am in the Chamber at City Hall (The Queen’s Walk, London SE1). Media and members of the public are invited to attend. The meeting can also be viewed via webcast.

 Notes to editors: 

1. The State of the Underground (September 2011) analysed the 20 per cent increase in delays between 2010 and 2011 by type of delay and line. Since the line upgrade programme began in 2003/04, Tube delays per year had reduced by 27 per cent. However, August 2010 to January 2011 was the longest sustained period of poor performance since 2003/04. Industrial action accounted for nearly half of the increase in delays, although the main reason for delays on the four worst performing lines –Jubilee, Victoria, District and Metropolitan – was equipment failure. The Committee made seven key recommendations to the Mayor, TfL and IIPAG.
2. The Mayor pledged to introduce automatic train control on 48 per cent of rolling stock by the end of 2014, paving the way for the first ‘driverless’ train within a decade. In July 2012, media reports of a leaked TfL document showed ‘driverless’ trains could be trialled on the Jubilee line from October 2012. Media reported in October 2012 that driverless tubes would not start operating for at least a decade.
3. Read the full agenda papers for the meeting.
4. See all of the work by the Assembly on Upgrading the London Underground.
5. Caroline Pidgeon AM, Chair of the Transport Committee, is available for interview. See contact details below.
6. As well as investigating issues that matter to Londoners, the London Assembly acts as a check and a balance on the Mayor.

For more details, please contact Sheena Craig in the Assembly Media Office on 020 7983 4603/4206.  For out of hours media enquiries please call 020 7983 4000 and ask for the Assembly duty press officer.  Non-media enquiries should be directed to the Public Liaison Unit, Greater London Authority, on 020 7983 4100.