No Piccadilly line on the Uxbridge branch - website says its due to leaves but station notice board says it will be fine after 0900. Are the leaves going to miraculously get up off the tracks before 0900 or is the line closed because you have no staff and are prioritising the Heathrow branch yet again? Under freedom of information legislation I would like all records and documents relating to the decision to suspend the Uxbridge branch on the Piccadilly line including evidence of leaves being the issue and why the Met line trains are not impacted on exactly the same rails. Records should include evidence of the problem and what decisions were made and by whom (at least job description of not names). I would also like to see any policy documents relevant to this closure and any historic documents which show how long this issue has been known about on this branch. I would also like to see staffing records for the last 7 days and today for the Piccadilly line ie number of drivers working 0600 to 0700 by day including today

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Our ref: FOI-2508-1920/GH

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 11 November 2019 asking for information about the Uxbridge branch of the Piccadilly line.

Your request has been considered under the requirements of the Environmental Information Regulations and our information access policy. I can confirm that we do hold the information you require.

For information on the problems caused by leaves on the tracks, please see the Blog post available to our customers here: https://madeby.tfl.gov.uk/2019/10/07/leaves-on-the-track/

As stated in the blog post:

“The new, modern trains on the Metropolitan and District lines feature technology that helps trains deal with these conditions. The Piccadilly line, for example, has much older trains that struggle far more with the conditions, causing more delays than on other lines.”

The Met Office report for that day, received on Sunday afternoon (attached) identifies the Low adhesion risk where track conditions will be challenging (black). The WPP states that in those conditions we will suspend the Piccadilly line between Rayners Lane and Uxbridge which we did.

The number of tube drivers working between 0600 – 0700 was:

3/11/19 – 11

4/11/19 – 18

5/11/2019 – 15

6/11/2019 – 14

7/11/2019 – 16

8/11/2019 – 20

9/11/2019 – 17

10/11/2019 – 10

11/11/2019 – 18.

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.

If you are not satisfied with this response please see the attached information sheet for details of your right to appeal.

Yours sincerely

Graham Hurt

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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