Weekend Northern Line closures to be cut

Published: 20 May 2010
by JOSIE HINTON

SMALL businesses could be spared more than a year and a half of weekend closures of the Northern Line following a pledge by London Mayor Boris Johnson to review the plans.
The announcement follows the mayor's decision to buy out the shareholders of Tube Lines, bringing the upgrade work under Transport for London (TfL) and ending the public-private partnership (PPP) deal.

Mr Johnson has promised the £310million deal is “excellent news for London,” allowing him to slash the number of planned evening and weekend closures on the Northern Line. He said the partnership set up to upgrade the London Underground network “wasted a colossal sum of money”. Unconfirmed reports suggest the number of weekend closures of the Northern Line could be reduced from 84 to just 12.

A TfL spokesman said a new closures plan was not yet available, but promised a “full review” of the existing proposals would get underway as soon as the deal is completed on June 30.
Chief executive of Tube Lines, Andrew Cleaves, has denied the partnership was a failure, and said Tube Lines had already reduced the closures to just 14 after consultation with residents.