§ Lord Lairdasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether the extreme delays on the Jubilee Line on 1 March were caused by a failure to complete engineering work at Finchley Road; if not, what was the reason; and what steps are being taken to ensure that there are no further delays. [HL1046]
§ The Minister of State, Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions (Lord Macdonald of Tradeston)Day-to-day operation of the Jubilee Line is a matter for London Underground (LUL). LUL informs me that during the morning of 1 March an unusual number of problems occurred almost simultaneously, with the cumulative result that around 45 per cent of normal service unfortunately could not be run.
First, in the course of LUL's nightly out-of-service hours programme of safety checks on the system, a broken rail was discovered north of Finchley Road on the north-bound Jubilee Line track. Engineering work to repair the track was started immediately but was not complete before the start of morning services. As a result some Jubilee Line services had to be suspended and a temporary speed restriction had to be imposed, to enable the necessary safety work to be completed. This led to the cancellation of several trains.
These problems were exacerbated by two other unrelated incidents: a signal failure near the site of the 47WA broken rail and a SPAD (signal passed at red) farther down the line. These incidents caused further delays, leaving many trains out of scheduled position, severely delayed or cancelled.
LUL has in place official standard procedures, kept constantly under review, both for scheduled maintenance work and for following up and recovering from incidents such as these when they arise. LUL regrets that on this occasion the combination of difficulties arising together led to exceptional delays.