Thousands of London commuters today suffered major disruption after night engineering
failures, with more closures are planned for this weekend.
The Jubilee and Metropolitan services were disrupted during the morning peak after Tube
engineers failed to complete work in the Neasden area in time.
The Central line was also disrupted when a contractor did not book off after his shift,
meaning the track had to be searched.
The delays follow a week of line breakdowns across the Transport for London network.
Bob Crow, the RMT union leader, said: ‘Despite all the assurances from Tube chiefs
we are back into the cycle of breakdowns and failures which are directly related to the
continued problems with both fleet and infrastructure across the network.
‘We warned that maintenance cuts would impact directly on services and today’s chaos
proves that our fears are well founded.’
With the month-long part closure of both the District and Circle lines between High Street
Kensington and Edgware Road stations, 5 of the network’s 11 lines suffered disruption this
morning.
The entire Circle line will also be closed for upgrade work this weekend, with major
works also meaning no trains on the Hammersmith & City line between Baker Street and
Hammersmith and the suspension of the Piccadilly line between King’s Cross St Pancras
and Cockfosters.
A TfL spokesman said this morning’s Jubilee and Metropolitan line disruption was the
result of a defective rail found near Neasden during an overnight inspection.
Further afield, dozens of rail passengers were forced to flee their compartment after being
attacked by wasps. A swarm of the stinging insects flew through a carriage of the Brighton
to Bedford Thameslink service yesterday.
Rail staff moved passengers into a different part of the train and sealed the carriage. Andy
Strang, an IT worker said: ‘It didn’t make for the easiest journey into work.’
