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Stations shut each week because of Tube crush
Katharine Barney, Evening Standard22 Feb 2008
London Underground was forced to close and evacuate at least one Tube station every week last year as it struggled to cope with overcrowding.
Out of 74 occasions when network bosses shut and emptied stations, all but a few were due to overcrowding.
The figures were obtained from Transport for London under the Freedom of Information Act.
King's Cross was worst affected, with nine closures. Two took place on one day - once in the morning rush hour and again in the evening.
Victoria and Oxford Circus were closed five times each because of a surge in passengers.
Commuters on the Circle and Hammersmith and City lines suffered an average of one closure a month, as did those on the Central line.
TfL is vowing to increase capacity on the network. But transport experts warn the problem could get worse because of growing passenger numbers. In 2006 one billion packed onto the Tube for the first time. The network now carries just over three million a day on average.
Jo deBank from London TravelWatch, said: "The problem is adding more trains at places like King's Cross is impossible, as there already is one every minute. It's great that people are
using the Tube but consumer demand is something London Underground need to look at."
Passengers warned serious accidents could happen. Matt Aston, who uses Bank station, said: "The station was recently evacuated twice in a week after commuters were diverted following another failure on the Jubilee line. Medics and police were there and thousands poured into the street at Monument and Bank.
"It was clear that the staff were completely overwhelmed and underprepared for the numbers, and there was a definite sense of panic."
The statistics record 11 closures on the Victoria line last year, nine on the District, eight on the Piccadilly, seven on the Jubilee, six on the Northern and Bakerloo, two on the Metropolitan, and one on the East London line.
A TfL spokesperson said: "The Tube is carrying more passengers than ever before, a record 1 billion last year with a further increase - to roughly 1.1 billion passengers - this year. This additional demand means that the Tube can be crowded at peak times, which requires LU to take steps to control access to busy stations on occasions. This is why it is vital that we invest to renew the Tube, and increase capacity.
"The investment programme will deliver upgrades of all lines over the next five to 10 years."
Reader views (2)
Why cant we stagger the time we go to work/school? School should start at 8am and the working population should start work between 9 and 10am.
- Henry, London, UK, 25/02/2008 11:52
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And Red Ken increases the price of the Rip off charge for larger vehicles, just incredible!
Why not double tube fares for large people.
- George, Hempstead, 22/02/2008 13:57
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