200 Jubilee line workers will spend Christmas underground
Over 200 Tube Lines employees will forego Christmas to test a new signalling system aimed at speeding up journeys on the Jubilee line. To help get the improved service safely working as quickly as possible, the whole Jubilee line will be closed from the
Over 200 Tube Lines employees will forego Christmas to test a new signalling system aimed at speeding up journeys on the Jubilee line.
To help get the improved service safely working as quickly as possible, the whole Jubilee line will be closed from the end of services on Christmas Eve through to the start of traffic on Monday December 29 - giving workers 104 continuous working hours to carry out vital testing compared to the usual four hours at night.
George Clark, Tube Lines Chief Engineering Manager says:
"After looking at all the options we decided that the best time for a full closure is over Christmas as it causes the least disruption for commuters. It is vital that we fully test the new system to check that services can run smoothly and safely before passengers come on board. Unfortunately this can only take place during a closure of several days.
"We are sorry for the inconvenience caused, but the closures are necessary in order to deliver a faster and more efficient Jubilee line in the long-run."
The new signalling system is part of a £600 million investment in the Jubilee and Northern lines. When the new system comes into passenger use a typical journey between Wembley Park and Waterloo will take 28 minutes, compared to the current journey time of 31 minutes.
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Tens of thousands of kilometres of new cabling have already been laid, each train has had over 5,000 wires re-connected and 30 new signal equipment rooms have been built.
The Jubilee line has 63 trains, 27 stations and 76km of track.
