Dear Sir/Madam. This is a request for information under the Freedom of Information Act 2000. My request relates to the number of fires occurring on the London underground. I would like to request the following information: 1) How many fires have occurred either on underground tube trains or in tunnels in the last calendar year up until November 29th 2019. 2) For each of these fires, please could you provide details on the time it took between the fire being reported and the train being evacuated for each incident? 3) Please provide any information you have regarding the usual protocol for responding to fires on tube trains e.g immediately evacuate train or hold train in tunnels till fire brigade comes. 4) please could you provide any information you have regarding the cause of these fires? Please supply the information in an electronic format. If you feel that a substantive response to this request is not possible within a reasonable time frame, I would be grateful if you could contact me and provide assistance as to how I could refine that request. Furthermore, if part of the information in the scope of this request catches one or more exceptions please remember to apply a presumption in favour of disclosure, as stipulated by regulation 12(2). I look forward to receiving your response within 20 days. If you need any further clarification, please do not hesitate to contact me.

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TfL Ref: FOI-2655-1920

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 29^th November 2019 asking for information about fires on the London Underground.

Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.

I can confirm that we hold some of the information you require. Your questions are answered in turn below:

1) How many fires have occurred either on underground tube trains or in tunnels in the last calendar year up until November 29th 2019.

Please see the table below (which also addresses question 4), which lists all confirmed train/tunnel fires in the period 01/01/2019 to 29/11/2019 (confirmed fires are based on the investigating manager recording that a fire was confirmed, as opposed to reported/smelt but not seen). Note that the majority of fires reported in the table below were able to be extinguished by TfL employees or contractors, with the Fire Brigade in attendance in 11 out of the 57 fires. Note also that the majority of these fires took place in the drier months of the year (43 took place in the five month period May-September) and that, where known, trackside litter/rubbish was the most common fuel (in 21 cases). Fires on the London Underground are typically caused by arcing (an electric discharge) from the electric current collector shoes (the part of the train in contact with the electric rail which delivers power to the train) igniting litter or dried vegetation, which soon burn out. Our trains are designed to be made out of non-flammable materials, and the materials that are used are tested to ensure they do not give off toxic gases when exposed to flames.

Area	Incidents	Notes
Passenger Train (in car)	14	10 - Arson by passengers, 3 - customer items overheating, 1 - train issue
Passenger Train (underneath)	11	11 - overheating components, traction faults, or brakes
Platform	2	Electrical cable and track smouldering
Running Line (cut & cover)	3	Track fires / smouldering
Running Line (tunnel)	27	Track fires / smouldering
Total	57

2) For each of these fires, please could you provide details on the time it took between the fire being reported and the train being evacuated for each incident?

This data is not held.

3) Please provide any information you have regarding the usual protocol for responding to fires on tube trains e.g. immediately evacuate train or hold train in tunnels till fire brigade comes.

The usual protocol for a fire on an Underground train is that so far as it is safe and possible to do so the train continues to the next station, where staff can assist, passengers can be evacuated and emergency services can address the incident. The station may also be evacuated depending on the exact circumstances. If the train is unable to reach the next station, the Train Operator will evacuate passengers from the train and await further assistance from colleagues / the emergency services.

4) please could you provide any information you have regarding the cause of these fires?

See the “notes section” of the above table.

If this is not the information you are looking for 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,

David Wells

FOI Case Officer

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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