Agenda item

(Acting Chief Executive) To receive a presentation from Peter Tollington, General Manager of the Central and Waterloo Line and Stephen Jones, from London Underground Limited. They will give a presentation updating their latest work plans for the District and will also be taking questions from the Committee and other members in attendance.

 

The Chairman welcomed Peter Tollington the General Manager for the Central, Waterloo and City Lines and his colleague Michael Graves the group station manager for stations between Epping and Stanmore.

 

Mr Tollington gave a short presentation to the meeting (slides attached) saying that this was the second busiest and the longest line on the underground. It was fully automated and was modernised in the 90’s. The Central Line had enjoyed a surge in demand since then, with an understandable dip in 2002, after the Chancery Lane derailment. It serves about 650,000 people every week day. There has been a large improvement in peak capacity since 2003 and by 2008 they were at the limit of what the line could provide, using 79 of the 85 trains in the fleet at peak hours. Stratford Station now carried more people on Saturday afternoons that it did at the rush hour in the late 90’s.

 

They have a customer service improvement plans in place to provide Oyster vending machines with pre-loaded value at stations, more wide aisle gates and more service information, they were working hard to provide information remotely and have regular accurate announcements. They also have staff deployment reviews and coaching and they were proud to have higher levels of staff than other comparable stations in the UK.

 

They also have a ‘reliability programme’ but they were finding cable theft a major problem and this reduced reliability.

 

Their upgrade plan was looking to bring in air conditioned articulated trains when capital allowed. They were currently looking to rebuild the busiest stations on the Central Line such as Tottenham Court Road, Victoria, Bond Street, Bank and Paddington. Stratford Station had been transformed where they had put in a new ticket hall and had opened an extra platform to set it up as a one way station, with passengers getting off on one side of the train and passengers getting on from the other side. They are also upgrading other stations with CCTV and better communication systems.

 

They were had increased capacity by 30% through line upgrades, new trains, track and signalling. They were currently refreshing their fleet of trains by replacing their windows (the old ones used to let in water) and their seats. The Metropolitan Line was getting new trains that were air conditioned and articulated.

 

They would be putting on extra staff for the upcoming Olympic Games; they already have the capacity for the games and are currently refining their plans in readiness for next year.

 

Mr Tollington then went through the questions that the committee wished to be considered at their last meeting.

 

Capacity on trains, specifically rush hour on trains and train stock improvements - Mr Tollington said the line was presently working to capacity and he did not know where any extra space would come from. They were relying on the new ‘Cross Rail’ development to take some of the excess people from the Central Line. They could not increase the number of trains running on the Central Line, although they have a world class signalling system they cannot run trains any closer together. It may be the next generation of trains could increase the standing room.

 

Q: As the Metropolitan Line had new trains would the Central Line be getting them soon.

A: That would be about 20 years away, new designs would be great to have.

 

Q: When would Cross Rail be coming on track?

A: It was on schedule for 2017.

 

Q: Would the train stock improvements make them cooler?

A: We were looking at various systems for this but there was no money to take it forward. Current train stocks were constrained by space available, both inside and outside the train, and the size of the tunnel to put in air conditioning or ventilation.

 

Engineering works and refurbishment –

 

Q: Why are weekend works not well advertised, and are there any works coming up?

A: We are doing extensive works every weekend and notices about works are sent out. The weekend works are very necessary, doing work that could not be done overnight (heavy engineering). It was a difficult balancing act keeping the line operating and repairing/upgrading it, but necessary.

 

Q: Some weekend works coincides with other transport closures in this area and occasionally with big events, which tend to jam up the system. Can this be addressed?

A:  Occasionally unplanned things clash with us. We try to co-ordinate with other big events happening where possible. If you have any specific issues you can follow it up with me.

 

Q:  Sundays are becoming like Saturdays, but the timetabling does not reflect how busy it is, with only one train every 10 minutes. Also there was a major closedown in June but we had no idea how frequent the busses would be.

A:  We are looking at matching train services to demand and this work will be finished in a couple of years, but I will provide a separate formal response.

 

Q: Additional weekend capacity would not be added until 2013, why two years delay?

A:  We need to liaise with other lines, station schedules etc. and share staff. Also 2012 will disrupt our schedules.

 

Refurbishments at Mile End, destination boards and low ceilings – the station had been bedevilled by water ingress and the only solution was to dig up the A12 and put in a waterproof membrane. This was never going to happen. However, a water management system will be installed; unfortunately this would leave no space for a conventional Dot Matrix display board. We have to install flat screens which are not as good. We are however exploring other ways. As for station staffing, visibility would always be a problem, but they are there.

 

Q: The message boards are a complete waste of time, also there are no announcements on where the trains are going, and it is very claustrophobic in there.

A:  We have attempted to make it brighter by improving the lighting and retiling and other decorative improvements.

 

Oyster cards, will the scheme be extended and there have been reports that they were not working as they should – they will not be extended further. The reports in the press about cards not charging the right amount were not correctly reported, it was mainly due to customer misuse. We are looking to roll out a bank card system on London Busses by 2012 to make it easier to travel.

 

Q:  Barriers are sometimes left open so passengers just walk through and do not have to swipe their cards.

A:  We do not wish to trap customers at peak times, and we have put in more readers but passengers have to swipe out to complete their journeys.

 

Parking issues around stations –

 

Q:  We have heard about adding a second layer to the Epping Station Car Park – could we not use the derelict cutting at Stonnards Hill Bridge, with a roundabout at the station parking area. You can also zone the street to one hour parking only.

Q:  The fare increases on the overland trains are encouraging more commuters to drive to the end of the line to board the trains, making parking a nightmare, what is the current situation?

A:  I will take away any suggestions and consider them. I have no knowledge of any scheme to build a new level. British Transport Police are looking at the area around the station.

 

Q:  We are in the middle of a major parking review in Epping. In the past LUL have indicated that they would do something about the parking and there have been many rumours over the years. We need to work with LUL to solve some of these problems. There was talk of using the old coal yard at Epping Station. The new road markings are not helping people when dropping off.

A:  We are happy to revisit these restrictions. The double yellow lines are to deter people parking for long periods. We are aware that parking around Epping is a problem, but we are always open to suggestions.

 

Q: Can you also look at Debden; there is land there that might be suitable for use as a parking area.

A:  There was a scheme for Debden but it may be on hold at present.

 

Q:  There has been a price hike in the Car Parks – where does this money go? And, what does TFL do to educate the public in using buses to get to stations and not their cars?

A:  We contract out to National Car Parking Ltd. Some of this money comes back to TFL where it is reinvested. As for educating drivers, we tend to leave them to their own devices and rely on their local knowledge etc.

 

Q:  There are some sidings at Grange Hill and Chigwell Stations, could these be used for extra parking.

A:  I will look into it and send a response.

 

Disabled exit at Epping Station; could people be advised at Theydon Bois on which side of the station the train was to stop at so they could decide what to do – this is a long running issue and we are currently looking at this. Some solutions are vey expensive and some not physically possible as we have to use both platforms. We are looking at using the exit on Platform 2 but this would entail some risks for us including staffing issues. The current signalling system does not allow us to advise passengers at Theydon Bois. We have asked that, if possible, trains are put to Platform 2.

 

Litter in car parks –

 

Q:  There is a problem in Loughton with litter in the shrubbery that is not being cleared. I am prepared to meet someone about this. It is an eyesore, especially with the Olympics coming up.

A:  Car parks are cleaned under contract. Michael Grade will speak to you separately after the meeting.

 

Impact of the Olympic Games – LUL are looking forward to this. We know that commuter travel will be reduced by holidays and they would also be making other arrangements during this period. People attending the games would not have to queue at the ticket office as they will have their own tickets. We will cope, but we also have contingent plans.

 

Q:  Are there any plans for getting people from Waltham Abbey to Stratford?

A:  These are separate venues and we do not anticipate much travel between them.

 

Q:  Loughton to Waltham Abbey – what about residents going to Waltham Abbey, they would have to go to Central London. Would you consider putting in something between Loughton and Waltham Abbey?

A:  To the best of my knowledge this has not been considered. There are however, two bus routes covering Loughton to Waltham Abbey. I will investigate and get back to you.

 

Security at unmanned stations, lack of staff in the evenings – there are occasions when staff are not available, but we still have the capacity to respond by asking neighbouring station staff to patrol. We also have CCTV systems monitoring stations. We can find no reported incidents of crime when stations were unmanned.

 

The Chairman thanked Mr Tollington and Mr Graves for an interesting presentation and patiently answering all the questions put to them.