Brake Goes Underground!

6.12.16pm BST (GMT +0100) Tue 15th May 2007

Photo-caption; Tom Brake MP (left) with Metronet representative

On the 10th of May Tom Brake Liberal Democrat MP and Spokesperson for London went underground with representatives from Metronet, the company responsible for the maintenance and renewal of 9 of the 12 London Underground tube lines; including the track, trains, stations and bridges.

Tom visited Oxford Circus Station to see Metronet's £55 million modernisation, due for completion in spring 2008. Oxford Circus is the second busiest Tube station on the LU network, 64 million passengers pass through it each year.

Tom then moved on to the Bakerloo line tube reconditioning site, Charing Cross to Piccadilly Circus where he observed tube track reconditioning in a tunnel environment.

Tom said, "It is another world down there. It's dirty, noisy and claustrophobic and if the work overruns it can have drastic consequences. But once the work on these stations is completed, commuters' journeys will be greatly improved."

The visit took Tom deep underground and between 12.30 and 2 am as almost all the work is carried out at night. This gives the project team just three and a half hours each day to do the Deep tube track renewal on 77.5 miles of deep tube tunnels.

As Spokesperson for London Tom felt it was important to see the progress Metronet have made on these projects and what they involve internally.

The benefits, once fully completed will also include; almost double the number of CCTV cameras for passengers' safety; tactile edging on platforms help visually impaired and passenger help points are fitted with induction loops for those with hearing difficulties.