Heat exhaustion on the central line
Request ID: FOI-0748-1819
Date published: 18 July 2018
You asked
To Whom It May Concern:
Under the Freedom of Information Act, I am requesting the following information:
Please provide the information electronically. Please also provide your responses broken down by year.
(1) How many people have died over the last 5 years on the central line where some fault can be attributed to a lack of air conditioning?
(2) How many people have fallen ill over the last 5 years on the central line where some fault can be attributed to a lack of air conditioning? If possible please break this down into severely ill and not severely ill?
For both of these questions, if the data is not available for illness where some fault can be attributed to a lack of air conditioning, please provide data for people falling ill due to heat exhaustion.
If it is not possible to provide the information requested due to the information exceeding the cost of compliance limits identified in Section 12, please provide advice and assistance, under the Section 16 obligations of the Act, as to how I can refine my request.
If you can identify any ways that my request could be refined please provide further advice and assistance to indicate this.
If you have any queries please don't hesitate to contact me via email or phone and I will be happy to clarify what I am asking for, my details are outlined below.
Thank you for your time and I look forward to your response.
We answered
TfL Ref: 0748-1819
Thank you for your email received by us on 20 June 2018 asking for information about London Underground’s Central line.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. You asked for:
(1) How many people have died over the last 5 years on the central line where some fault can be attributed to a lack of air conditioning?
There were no fatalities during the last five years on the Central Line that were attributable to heat, exhaustion or a lack of air conditioning.
(2) How many people have fallen ill over the last 5 years on the central line where some fault can be attributed to a lack of air conditioning? If possible please break this down into severely ill and not severely ill?
We are investing millions as part of a long-term programme to ensure we can deliver more services and continue to introduce new trains to meet growing customer numbers whilst providing more comfortable journeys across the Tube network. We have implemented energy efficient solutions on new trains which saves energy and reduces the heat generated. We have also removed heat from our station and tunnel environment by installing new ventilation or cooling solutions.
On the Central line in particular, we have installed solar reflective material on the external surface of train roofs and solar reducing films on windows to minimise solar gains into the carriages.
We will also be introducing 250 new Tube trains with air-cooled carriages on the Central as well as Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Waterloo & City lines, with the first new trains delivered on the Piccadilly line from 2023.
We do not record the number of incidents attributed specifically to air-conditioning and therefore we are unable to provide the data you requested.
If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for any reason, please do not hesitate to contact me.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal as well as information on copyright and what to do if you would like to re-use any of the information we have disclosed.
Yours sincerely
Jasmine Howard
FOI Case Officer
Information Governance
Transport For London
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