Request ID: FOI-2820-2324 Date published: 20 November 2023
You asked
Hi,
Can I please enquire, why the circle, district, H&C, Jubilee, Elizabeth & Metropolitan lines are closed until 3pm on Saturday the 11th November?
When was this decided and communicated and has this type of closure happened before?
We answered
TfL Ref: FOI-2820-2324
Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 6th November 2023 asking for information about closures on the network on 11th November 2023. Your request has been considered in accordance with the requirements of the Freedom of Information Act and our information access policy.
Specifically you asked:
“Can I please enquire, why the circle, district, H&C, Jubilee, Elizabeth & Metropolitan lines are closed until 3pm on Saturday the 11th November?
When was this decided and communicated and has this type of closure happened before?”.
I can confirm that we hold the information you require.
The Elizabeth Line was not closed on Saturday 11th November 2023. The London Underground lines you reference were closed for software testing in connection with the Four Lines Modernisation (4LM) project (see here for more general information about the project: https://tfl.gov.uk/travel-information/improvements-and-projects/four-lines-modernisation), a project that has already started to improve travel time and reliability of services on some of our oldest Tube lines. The works were required to test and integrate a section of the new signalling and control system on the District, Circle, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The closure was added to our log of planned track closures on Wednesday 10th May 2023 and would have been added to the TfL website shortly after (see the following link to our website page of planned closures and service changes: https://tfl.gov.uk/status-updates/planned-track-closures).
Ahead of these works we were in contact with all of our key stakeholders including MPs and Assembly Members along the impacted routes, borough councillors and officers, veteran groups and our accessibility and business stakeholders. Our pre-warning posters were issued on Monday 6th November to all affected lines and all Zone 1 stations to highlight the closure and to provide alternative travel advice. Our train operator scripts and public address announcements were also issued that week. Travel advice and rail replacement bus posters were issued to stations on 9th November. Further, our weekly “multi-modal email”, sent on Thursdays to approximately 3 million subscribers, covers the weekend track works and also detailed information regarding the closure and our travel advice so customers could plan their journeys. The TfL Go App, Journey Planner, social media channels, Metro and TfL website also carried the details of the closure and travel advice. I can confirm that there have been a number of occasions where we have had to make significant closures as part of testing the new 4LM signalling system.
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
