Tube Lines, the company responsible for the multi-billion pound upgrade of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines, today announced that it had completed upgrades to Archway, Clapham South, West Ham, Stratford, Westminster and Canning Town stations.  Just South Wimbledon and Hounslow East stations remain as Tube Lines nears its target of 96 station upgrades by June 2010.

Keith Sibley, Stations Delivery Manager for Tube Lines, said:

“All over London, millions of passengers are benefiting from major improvements to their Tube stations.  In the past seven years, we’ve modernised some of the network’s busiest stations like Leicester Square and Waterloo.  At Wembley Park, for example, we almost doubled capacity so that it could handle the increased numbers of passengers travelling to the redeveloped stadium.

“We’ve also become remarkably adept at developing new ways of working, building on lessons learned, and making good use of all available access time.  This continuous improvement in how we carry out our work has enabled us to upgrade stations faster and cheaper, thereby minimising disruption and cost to Londoners,” he said.

The scope of a station upgrade varies depending on how recently a station has been refurbished and what the general condition of the station facilities are.  Stratford, Canning Town, West Ham and Westminster are modern stations with state-of-the-art facilities so the focus of the improvement work will be on boosting the existing passenger information systems and enhancing the overall ambience of the stations.

The upgrades to Archway and Clapham South stations will greatly improve the journeys for millions of passengers who use the stations each year.  Passengers can now access better information on how the underground network is performing thanks to new information displays on the platforms and in the Ticket Halls as well as a new public address system at Clapham South.  New station control rooms, more CCTV systems, emergency signage and passenger help points will greatly improve safety and passengers will also see improvements to the overall look of the station as structural repairs are undertaken, wall tiles replaced and the decor is improved.

Tube Lines has implemented significant improvements to its procurement strategies and supply chains which has seen it deliver every station upgrade on or ahead of time.  These have resulted in significant time and cost improvements meaning Londoner’s can be confident they’re getting value for money in their station upgrades.  For example:

• The timeline for station upgrades have reduced by 30%, from an average of twelve to nine months.

• The unit cost per square metre is now 50% less than that of the first ten stations upgraded by Tube Lines.

Tube Lines has invested more than £500 million in its station upgrade programme resulting in significant improvements to passenger journeys across the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.  These passenger benefits include:

• Better security with 300% more CCTV coverage;

• More passenger assistance with 150% more public announcement systems and double the number of public help points;

• Improved environment with the average number of graffiti tags reduced by 80%; and,

• Help with travel from new passenger information display systems from which passengers now receive accurate and timely information.