Latest figures show ‘continued trend of improved Tube reliability’

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Figures published yesterday by Transport for London (TfL) show that train services on London Underground (LU) have continued to improve as the number of people using the Tube increases.

The figures for the four week period from 21 August to 17 September, published by TfL, show that the ‘number of track failures fell by 15 per cent against the same period last year and are at their lowest level for the period since 2003/04 – having reduced by 57 per cent since then’.

Delays as measured by Lost Customer Hours have ‘fallen by nearly 47 per cent’ since 2003/04 when the programme of Tube upgrades began.

LU operated 96.8 per cent of scheduled kms in the four-week period, meaning that the Tube has met service reliability targets in each of the first six four-week periods in 2011/12.

This continuing long-term trend of improving reliability has seen LU operate 97.1 per cent of scheduled services so far this year.

Unplanned station closures fell by more than 26 per cent from the previous four-week period, while signal and point-related failures dropped by 13 per cent, mirroring the decrease seen over the five previous periods.

This comes against a backdrop of a continued growth in the number of people using the Tube, with 84.1m journeys from 21 August to 17 September.

That figure takes the total for the year from 1 April to 523.9m, a 2.7 per cent increase on the same period last year.

In July the railway carried the highest ever number of passengers in a four-week period when 90.6m customers used the Tube.

The figures have been published in a new format for the first time in keeping with a commitment made to London Assembly Members earlier this year.

The new format gives a wider range of measures and reports them in a more accessible way.

Mike Brown, MD of London Underground said:

“These figures show that the long-term trend of improving reliability on the Tube is continuing, alongside the range of improvements we are making to Londoners’ journeys through new trains, signalling, track and upgraded stations.

“Delays during the period are down by around 47 per cent since we started the massive programme to upgrade the Underground in 2003/04, and this comes at a time when we are running record levels of services and carrying more customers than ever before.

“This trend has been maintained despite these figures including some days when equipment failures affected customers on the Victoria and Jubilee lines.

“Every journey is important to us and we are therefore working tirelessly to further improve reliability for our passengers.”

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