Tube delays due to overcrowding hit five-year high, new figures show

Overcrowding delays: Commuters pack on to a London Underground train
Alex Lentati
Sebastian Mann4 September 2015

Tube delays caused by overcrowding have reached a five-year high, new figures have shown.

Disruption is apparently worst on the Central, Victoria, Northern and Jubilee lines, where the Liberal Democrats described the levels of delays as "very worrying".

Figures obtained by the party's transport spokesperson on the London Assembly, Caroline Pidgeon, showed there were more Tube delays in the 2014/15 financial year than for five years.

She said: "The Mayor and Transport for London are constantly boasting about the record performance of the London Underground. However, there is an increasing problem of serious overcrowding for passengers on much of the Tube, and this is only going to get worse.

"These figures were dragged out of the Mayor and reveal that we cannot afford a day of complacency in tackling Tube delays and ensuring the Tube upgrades are funded.

"Improvements to the Tube are barely keeping up with the rising demand for travel created by London's booming population and record numbers of tourists."

The figures showed there were 237 delays in 2014/15 because of overcrowding, compared with 153 in 2010.

Steve Griffiths, Chief Operating Officer for London Underground, said: “Occurrences such as these are a relatively small factor when you look at the overall reliability of the network and account for about one per cent of total delays, which have in fact been cut by 40 per cent in recent years. You would also expect that incidents caused by crowding to be increasing because of the huge demand and record ridership we’re seeing on our services.

"This is precisely why we are working so hard to upgrade the Underground by putting in modern signalling and introducing new, higher capacity trains. It also demonstrates quite clearly the case for further investment into London’s transport network and for major improvement projects such as Crossrail 2.”

The Mayor's Office has also been contacted for comment.

Additional reporting by PA

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