FOI request detail

Signal failures

Request ID: FOI-4491-1718
Date published: 12 March 2018

You asked

Dear TfL, Please tell me the dates, locations and Tube lines of all engineering work conducted since 1 January, 2017. Please also tell me the dates, locations and Tube lines of all signal failures that have taken place since 1 January, 2017. If my request needs to be clarified or modified to fit within time or cost constraints, please contact me as soon as possible instead of waiting 20 days.

We answered

TfL Ref: 4491-1718

Thank you for your request received by Transport for London (TfL) on 12 February 2018 asking for information about signal failures and engineering works on the Tube.

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 the information you require. You asked:

Please tell me the dates, locations and Tube lines of all engineering work conducted since 1 January, 2017.

Please also tell me the dates, locations and Tube lines of all signal failures that have taken place since 1 January, 2017.

The first table is a list of signal failures showing the line it occurred on, the date it happened and the actual location (station) of the failure.

The second table shows the day and the date of planned engineering, the line it was on and the section of line that were closed.

There is a variety of signalling systems in use on the Underground network, some dating back to the 1950s and some having gone into use in 2012. The range of different eras that the technology comes from presents different challenges in ensuring signal reliability. However, we are tackling this problem in a number of ways.

The Four Lines Modernisation programme will transform the signalling on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. The change to computer-based signalling will improve the speed of trains and also make both the signals and trains perform more reliably. The £5.2bn programme will make a huge difference to 40 per cent of the Tube network, boosting capacity and making journeys quicker.

New signalling will also be introduced onto the Bakerloo, Central, Piccadilly and Waterloo & City lines as part of the upgrade of Deep Tube lines. The first line to benefit will be the Piccadilly line, with the next phase of the project set to start later this year.

We have also created a team as part of our organisational change whose sole focus is working on signalling issues. We will continue to work on maintenance across many different aspects of ensuring reliability on the network, but this new team will work to drive reliability and make sure that our customers’ priorities are at the forefront of all work we undertake to improve and maintain signals.

Please note that we also regularly publish data on our website the number of signal failures that resulted in a delay of over two minutes: https://tfl.gov.uk/corporate/publications-and-reports/underground-services-performance.

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

Sara Thomas

FOI Case Management Team

General Counsel

Transport for London

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