Hourly checks on Tube repairs

Tube chiefs have taken unprecedented action to prevent a repeat of the travel chaos which has af fected hundreds of thousands of commuters.

Last week the busy District and Circle lines failed to open on time following a weekend shutdown for engineering work.

A major section of the District line and the entire Circle line will again close this weekend. LU is fearful it again will not be finished in time. To prevent this, and a repeat of the disruption on Monday morning, LU has ordered Metronet, the private sector consortium carrying out the work, to report on progress every hour.

There will also be five conference calls during the weekend involving the most senior managers from LU and Metronet to discuss progress. LU says it is ready to step in at any moment if things look like going wrong again. Metronet engineers had the wrong parts to complete track replacement work at Oxford Street station.

Metronet spokesman Paul Emberley said a much tougher regime would be in place this weekend on the District and Circle lines to ensure the work remained on schedule. He said: "Five conference-calls will take place, two on Saturday and three on Sunday at designated times. Senior managers from Metronet, its contractors Balfour Beatty and LU will participate in these calls.

"If unforeseen events occur during progression of the work, mitigating steps can be jointly agreed to ensure a timely hand-back [of the two lines] for normal start of service on Monday morning."

Of the Central line fiasco over

the wrong spare parts, Mr Emberley said management and checking procedures had also been tightened. He described problems over spare parts as "unforgiv-able". Passengers face 11 weekend shutdowns throughout the year, including the closures on Saturday and Sunday of the District and Circle lines. Both are heavily used by shoppers at weekends.

LU says closing the lines is the only practical way to get such a huge amount of work completed.