Passengers on the Central line are unlikely to see improvements until the end of the year after delays to the arrival of refurbished trains.
Only one train has re-entered service after being modernised under the £500 million Central line improvement programme (Clip), though a second is due within weeks. A new timetable that would improve train frequencies — gaps of five minutes or more are commonplace — is anticipated by December.
However, there are no immediate plans to tackle waits of up to 20 minutes on the line’s Hainault “loop” in east London until more trains are refurbished.
Transport for London is a year into its five-year Clip programme, which aims to extend the life of the 30-year-old trains by fitting new motors, seating and lighting, and introducing on-board CCTV.
But the need to train engineers to carry out the 10-week rebuilds and to overcome “snagging and software issues” has meant that no refurbished trains have re-entered service since March. The revamped trains, which can be spotted by their new moquette seating, have to undergo weeks of testing.
TfL commissioner Andy Lord apologised to passengers for almost a year of delays and overcrowding that has resulted from the shortage of trains. Many trains have had to be taken out of service at short notice to replace burned-out motors, in addition to the five trains at a time undergoing renovation.
Mr Lord said: “I’m looking forward to an improved timetable before the end of the year, and then more refurbished trains coming into service during 2025.
“The good news is that the second train will be entering service shortly… it will take us a couple of years to do the whole fleet.”
Mayor Sadiq Khan was briefed by TfL on the Clip programme last week. He admitted that the current service on the line, which is used by 200 million passengers a year, was not acceptable.
TfL decided to refurbish the trains because it could not afford to buy a new fleet, but the plan was delayed by the pandemic. But one expert said: “Sadly, with the benefit of hindsight, if TfL had known then what they know now, they probably wouldn’t have embarked on this and gone straight for new trains.”
