London Underground’s Managing Director has apologised to passengers after a series of service failures, two of which meant passengers had to abandon trains which were stuck in tunnels.
In a statement issued on Tuesday, Mike Brown said he was “sorry that for a second day many of our customers have had difficult and in some cases severely interrupted journeys to work.”
Referring to the two incidents of passengers being forced to exit trains while still in the tunnels, Brown said: “I know that having to walk along the track through a tunnel is distressing. It is not something our customers should have to expect, and is something we always seek to avoid.
“Nevertheless, on the rare occasions when a train is stuck in a tunnel, as soon as it becomes clear that we will not be able to arrange for it to be moved within a reasonable timescale, the safest and best option is to take customers off of the train. This was the case on both the Jubilee line yesterday morning, and the Victoria line this morning.”
London Underground have blamed “a power interruption” for the Jubilee line incident and say a train defect on one of the new Victoria line trains was the cause of the second incident.
Brown denied claims that the incidents were connected to industrial action “, except on the Metropolitan line where a programme of essential maintenance on some trains is indeed being delayed by the current disruptive and unnecessary practices urged by the RMT leadership.”
London Underground are reminding passengers delayed for more than 15 minutes that they can apply for a fare refund.
In a statement issued by the RMT on Wednesday, General Secretary Bob Crow said: “It’s all very well Mike Brown apologising to passengers for the chaos of the past week but what he really needs to do is slam the brakes on the cuts to safety and jobs that are right at the heart of the current crisis on the tube.
“Axing two thousand posts and slashing safety-critical maintenance schedules will tip the tube over the edge and make the kind of breakdowns and failures seen in recent days part of the regular travelling experience. That is a dangerous gamble that the Mayor and his officials should pull back from.”
