'Improvement work' will not be completed until 2017

Residents are reeling from the shock admission by TFL that 'improvement work' on the District Line will not be completed until 2017.

Red-faced TFL officials came clean last week and admitted that the works will take a minimum of 3,000 days.

Whilst the improvements to the District Line, billed to "bring about faster, more frequent services along with improved reliability, customer information, accessibility and enhanced safety and security”, were always going to be the last to be completed, the latest news of the dealys will add insult to industry.

Local commuters, used to being overlooked by Piccadilly Line trains, will have to wait a further four years from the original timings to experience any real changes.  And whilst the District Line will get some new trains, these will only run on the Wimbledon branch.

According to the most recent census, Hammersmith and Fulham has the highest per population tube usage rate in London, with the District Line the most popular service. At peak times, the Wimbledon branch of the District Line operates at 92 per cent of total capacity

LBH&F Council Leader Stephen Greenhalgh said, "Hard-pressed users of public transport in London are used to delays on the tube - but this is scandalous. It is unacceptable that this work is not even scheduled to begin for another five years.

"It is bad enough having to endure the inevitable station closures and disruption when the works commence, but the fact that local people are expected to put up with the current woeful service for so long before anything is done is deplorable."

June 8, 2007