Kensington & Chelsea is to benefit from better transport under a proposed £10 billion, five year investment programme to give London a 21st century transport system, unveiled by Mayor of London Ken Livingstone today.

Speaking at City Hall, the Mayor said:

"This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to reverse decades of under-investment in Kensington & Chelsea and right across London. It marks an end to stop-start funding for London's transport. The programme will deliver real improvements in the services and capacity needed to keep passengers travelling in and through Kensington and Chelsea on the move."

The main benefits for Kensington & Chelsea included in TfL's 5 Year Investment Programme, subject to approval by the TfL Board, are:

  • the reduced congestion, improved bus services, lower emissions and possible lower accident rates of the proposed western extension of the congestion charge, covering most of the borough of Kensington and Chelsea and Westminster - subject to an extensive public consultation the detail of the proposal and a final Mayoral decision in Summer 2005;
  • a new package of improvements for Silverlink Metro services including station and security enhancements such as better CCTV and lighting, graffiti cleaning and the extension of station staffing hours providing a greater presence early in the morning and later at night;
  • on the Tube, step free access to Earl's Court and Knightsbridge.

In addition, the following improvements to Central, District and Circle, Hammersmith and City and Piccadilly Lines and stations are planned to be delivered under the PPP:

  • station refurbishments and/or modifications to: Knightsbridge, Ladbroke Grove and Holland Park (2006); Earl's Court, Gloucester Road, Westbourne Park, Latimer Road, South Kensington and West Brompton (2007-2010);
  • all 75 District Line trains to be refurbished by 2009 including space for wheelchairs, audio & video info systems and refurbished seats and interiors;
  • Central Line upgrade by 2006 to improve journey times.

The Mayor added:

"The last four years have seen huge improvements in Kensington and Chelsea's bus services. This investment programme will build on this and deliver improvements right across the transport network.

"We have had to take hard choices. Even with the biggest transport investment programme London has seen since the Second World War, we cannot do everything we want to do this time round. But there have been no trade-offs between maintaining the existing system or launching new projects."

Work undertaken to improve transport in Kensington & Chelsea by TfL over the past four years, benefiting all Londoners including those with disabilities and the socially excluded, includes:

  • more reliable services and better information on all bus services;
  • licensing private hire vehicles to improve passenger safety;
  • funding for improving conditions for walking, cycling and road safety;
  • improvements in dial-a-ride and taxicard funding;
  • increased frequencies on 23 routes and new low floor, fully accessible buses on 19 routes;
  • the introduction of four new routes (148, 360, 414, 430) and six new night bus routes (N137, N148, N22, N345, N7, N74);
  • funding for additional Met police officers and police Community Support officers to reduce crime and the fear of crime, improve enforcement on and around bus routes and tackle taxi touting;

In partnership with the Royal Borough a range of local schemes have or will shortly be implemented including:

  • pedestrian access improvements to the Kensington Olympia interchange served by West London Line trains and District Line Underground services and;
  • establishing a City Car Club that the Royal Borough leads on behalf of six other boroughs.
  1. The Investment Programme will be formally approved by the board of TfL at a meeting on October 27th.
  2. Crossrail is not part of the Programme. TfL is progressing it as a joint partnership with government in expectation of a Hybrid Bill.
  3. Many of the projects listed are subject to further consultation or other statutory processes before they can be delivered, and may be delivered beyond the life of the Programme.Tube Lines are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines;
  4. Tube Lines are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines;
  5. Metronet Rail BCV are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Bakerloo, Central, Victoria and Waterloo & City lines;
  6. Metronet Rail SSL are responsible for the maintenance and renewal of the Sub-Surface lines, the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City, Metropolitan and East London lines.