Spending Cuts Signal Further Delays For Piccadilly Line Upgrade

And puts the prospect of trains stopping at Turnham Green back indefinitely

Planned work on the Piccadilly Line has been put off indefinitely according to the returning London Underground chief operating officer Mike Brown.

The announcement, made in his first interviews since he took up the role for the second time in March, comes as a blow to campaigners hoping that the Piccadilly upgrade would have brought forward the possibility of trains stopping throughout the day at Turnham Green station.

Mr Brown, who has spent the past two years running Heathrow Airport, revealed the changes to the planned schedule after London Underground’s takeover of works from Tube Lines and Government spending cuts. Although he downplayed the extent to which the delays were the result of the latter, he admitted to being 'aware of current economic realities'.

The Piccadilly Line was due to be completed by the end of 2017. Mr Brown declined to give a new completion date saying, “you could assume I’m looking for all possible synergies but it’s really all I can say.”

Transport Union RMT is warning that the scale of cuts being planned will 'savage maintenance and renewals work'.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said, "With cuts of up to 40% in the transport budget we are looking at thousands of job losses amongst the staff who operate and maintain services with dire consequences for passenger safety as corners are cut."

He added, "It is crystal clear that modernisation and upgrade works will be axed with high speed, electrification and Crossrail all on the butchers block."

July 13, 2010