Tube Boss To Take Another Look At Piccadilly Line Stop

Turnham Green could get trains on weekends and earlier evenings

Mary Macleod MP got a commitment from London Underground's Managing Director Mike Brown that he will take another look at Piccadilly line stopping at Turnham Green.

The pledge came when Mary Macleod and Angie Bray met with a number of TfL figures including the Commissioner of Transport, Mr. Peter Hendy, Mike Brown, Managing Director of London Underground and London Rail, Michele Dix, Managing Director of Planning and Clare Kavanagh, Director of Performance, Surface Transport.

A range of transport issues were discussed at the meeting including the impact of the Olympics on transport.

Mr Brown said he would look at the possibility of trains stopping at the station throughout the weekends and earlier in evenings. Currently the Piccadilly line stops at the station from 10.30pm onwards.

The campaign to get trains to stop at Turnham Green has been running for years with much towing and frowing from Government and London's Mayor.

There are contractual and technical issues at present with an all day stop at the station but new signalling works are due to take place at Turnham Green by 2014 and a decision will be made before this date if a permanent stop can be factored into the timetable.

Mary Macleod MP said: “This is a major step forward. It would make a real difference to Chiswick residents if they were able to get back from work earlier in the evening and spend more time at home with their families. This is about improving their quality of life on a daily basis.

"Ideally I would like to see a permanent all day stop at Turnham Green because there are approx 5.9m (includes entries and exits) passengers who use this station throughout the year and have quite long waiting times compared to other stations.

“Chiswick is a tightly packed residential community with a vibrant local community and has become a destination area for those who want good shops and great restaurants in a lovely part of London. Better transport links here would encourage car users to switch to public transport and we would have a greener London.

"The Turnham Green residents group, Hounslow Council and I will work with TfL and London Underground, to see if incremental improvements can be made in advance of the signal works and then fight for a permanent stop for when signal works are complete.”

Below are comments made by Chiswick residents:

“I suggest that the best way forward would be a six month trial with Piccadilly line trains stopping all the time.”

“It is very frustrating to see the Piccadilly Line trains rush through T Green, sometimes nearly empty, while one waits 10 minutes or more for a District Line.”

“District line tubes de-camp very full, onto Turnham green station, resulting in queues for the stairs and along the tunnel...more trains stopping would thin this out.”

“In the morning (leaving for Central London) there is often 5 to 15 minute delays waiting for a District line train. During that time anything from 2 to 5 or more Piccadilly line trains will pass the other side of the platform, often nearly empty at this time of the morning. Coming home is more difficult, especially in our recent spate of cold weather. I walk with a crutch and it is very difficult for me to balance standing up for an entire journey.

"It is often announced that the Piccadilly line train will be held for a few minutes to sort out gaps when there are delays. Stopping at Turnham Green would also solve this problem. But as I sit in the cold, on very dark nights, watching these not overcrowded Piccadilly line trains pass me by, I just do not understand why, say, every third or fourth one could not stop for me and my fellow waiting passengers.”

“The Mayor should do everything possible to get people out of their cars and using public transport. In an area of high car usage such as Bedford Park, the Mayor should be falling over himself to make public transport attractive - rather than penalising the residents for living here!”

“As a small business in Chiswick, we find it MADDENING to watch the Piccadilly Line trains sail through Turnham Green. We have many clients in central London and the time taken to get to meetings by public transport is a problem. With a Piccadilly Line stop we would immediately reduce journey times to our clients by about twenty minutes. When you’re a small company, that twenty minutes makes all the difference!”

“I hope you will stress what a pain the District Line is and that 80% of passengers waiting a Turnham Green, want the Piccadilly Line.”

March 30, 2011