FOI request detail

North line upgrade

Request ID: FOI-2387-1718
Date published: 17 January 2018

You asked

Please provide the business case submitted to the relevant boards referring to the purchase of additional trains for the jubilee and northern lines prior to its pause and the details of how further improvements to the frequency of the northern and jubilee line will be made without new trains.

We answered

TfL Ref: FOI-2387-1718

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 23 November 2017 asking for information about upgrade works.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy. I can confirm we hold some of the information you require. You asked:

  1. Please provide the business case submitted to the relevant boards referring to the purchase of additional trains for the jubilee and northern lines

     

    There is no specific Business Case for the Jubilee and Northern line Additional Trains, instead there are separate Business Cases for the overall upgrade schemes for the respective lines. Details of this can be found in the papers for the meeting of the Programme and Investment Committee of the Board which was held on 28 June 2017 at the following link: http://content.tfl.gov.uk/pic-20170628-item07-lu-world-class-capacity.pdf

     

     

    Please note that, in accordance with section 21 of the FOI Act, we are not obliged to provide you with the information requested as it is accessible to you elsewhere.

     

     

    Please also note that the estimated cost of purchasing rolling stock has been redacted from this document as it was considered exempt by virtue of paragraph 3 of Schedule 12A of the Local Government Act 1972 in that it contains information relating to the business affairs of TfL.

     

     

  2. Details of how further improvements to the frequency of the Northern and Jubilee line will be made without new trains.

Following careful consideration to balance our investment priorities across the network, we have decided to focus on making the most out of our existing assets to improve productivity. Opportunities include optimisation of the train service pattern, faster turnaround times, measures to enhance the signalling system to improve train performance, and changes to the maintenance regime to increase train productivity.

It is TfL’s aspiration to introduce up to 32 trains per hour on the Morden branch of the Northern line during the morning peak. This is planned for 2020 to coincide with the Northern Line Extension service. We also plan to introduce up to 32 trains per hour Jubilee line service by 2021, and the feasibility and technical requirements for this are currently being developed.

The table below sets out the current service levels on both lines and the status of each of the service improvements we are looking to introduce.

Northern Line

Jubilee Line

Current Status

Current service

24tph on both branches in peak hour, 30tph on the Morden Branch

30tph in peak hour only

N/A

Improvement 1

Extend PM peak 24tph service to two hours in Jan 2018

30tph peaks extended to two hours in May 2018

Funded within current Business Plan

Improvement 2

Up to 32tph on the Morden branch and up to 28tph on the Bank branch during the AM peak hour northbound

An aspiration to achieve up to 32tph during the peak between West Hampstead and North Greenwich

Proposed – this is currently in development

If this is not the information you are looking for, or if you are unable to access it for some 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

Lee Hill

Senior FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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