MPs blast Tube firms

The part-privatisation of the Tube was today labelled a costly and unjustified exercise that has failed to improve service.

The most damning indictment yet of the public-private partnership (PPP) comes from MPs on the all-party Commons transport committee, which also fears accidents could increase under the system.

The PPP cost billions but has been criticised from the start, with privatesector maintenance firms Metronet and Tube Lines accused of failing to fulfil the terms of their contracts while making millions in profit.

Critics include Mayor Ken Livingstone, his transport commissioner Bob Kiley, all the rail unions and virtually every transport authority.

The MPs report "major concern" about management, cost and delivery of infrastructure projects. They claim there has been no real improvement in service - "the top priority for passengers". They have "no confidence"-the situation will improve or that the private sector "will meet the targets expected in the future".

They acknowledge the huge increase in central government funding to improve the Tube - amounting to ?1,048million in the last seven years - but say such an increase would have produced improvements without the PPP. The report comes 24 hours after hundreds of thousands of passengers suffered huge disruption because Metronet again failed to complete engineering work on time.

The MPs express concern about the "increase in incidents which might lead to accidents" since the PPP began. On one occasion there were two derailments - at Camden and Hammersmith - during the same weekend. They say Tube chiefs "must ensure" the complex PPP arrangements "do not increase risk on the Underground".

A London Underground spokesman said: "The Tube is improving. It is safer, cleaner and more reliable than it has been for many years, but we know there is much more to do.

"We have committed ourselves to trying to make the PPP work. We continue to press Metronet and Tube Lines to ensure they deliver the improvements they promised."