TfL Ref: FOI-2480-2425
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 2nd November 2024 asking for information about the Central Line.
Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“I am writing to request access to historical data for the Central Line in 2019, specifically for a project I am undertaking. I am seeking two datasets, with the first being the highest priority. Details are as follows:
First, I require detailed arrival time data for each train on the Central Line for the maximum period available within 2019. Ideally, this would cover every day of the year; however, if that is not feasible, please provide data for as many consecutive months as possible. The data should include the exact time and date of each train’s arrival at every station on the Central Line, taking into account any delays or schedule adjustments on the date of travel.
Second, if possible, I would also like to request information on the train load at the time of each arrival. This could be an average load over a set period (e.g., 15-minute intervals or longer) as long as it is connected to specific times and dates to allow for correlation with the arrival data. If direct passenger load data is unavailable, please provide the total weight of the train carriages (including wagons) as an alternative.
I understand this may be a considerable request, so please prioritize the first dataset if limitations prevent fulfilling both. If there are any constraints regarding the volume of data, please let me know, as I may be able to adjust my request accordingly.”
I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require.
In regard to the request for train loading data, TfL does not hold the requested information. While we hold average train loading estimates for the Central line in our NUMBAT 2019 dataset (https://crowding.data.tfl.gov.uk/), we do not such data for specific dates and train arrivals.
In regard to the request for the arrival time of each train at each station on the Central line for each day of 2019, I am afraid that there is no proportionate way of providing such information. This would amount to an estimated 9-10 million rows of data. Even for a period of 1 month this would be around 800,000 rows. We do not see any wider public interest in spending the necessary resource to extract such large amounts of information. Note that TfL generally measures the customer experience of reliability on the London Underground using Lost Customer Hours data. Data for each London Underground line for each 4-week period of 2018/19 and 2019/20 – and guidance notes – can be found on our website here:
https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/underground-services-performance
If you would like to reframe your request to narrow its scope we will consider it accordingly.
Please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.
Yours sincerely,
David Wells
FOI Case Officer
FOI Case Management Team
General Counsel
Transport for London
