New PPP blow over safety

Fresh safety issues over the Tube were raised today, throwing into doubt the Government's plans to pour billions of pounds into upgrading the creaking system.

The Government's own safety inspectors have raised 52 issues which must be agreed before they give the final go-ahead.

Allan Sefton, head of the Railway Inspectorat e, described some of the safety issues raised as " significant".

Inspectors have highlighted "shortcomings" in signal maintenance.

They are so worried that to make sure London Underground makes the improvements required they intend serving an improvement notice - a legal requirement.

The Railway Inspectorate - part of the Health and Safety Executive - today formally lodged the 52 issues with London Underground. By law, it has to be satisfied that arrangements for the private sector takeover are safe before the PPP can go ahead.

Doubt is expressed about LU's arrangements for satisfying itself that the private companies will "comply with appropriate health and safety standards" over tracks and trains.

HSE inspectors are also not yet satisfied with the way LU follows progress and is delivering commitments to safety improvements.

Bob Crow, the RMT union leader, said it was " astonishing" that the Government had given the go-ahead to the PPP while the HSE "still has clear doubts about safety aspects of what is being proposed." An LU spokeswoman emphasised that Mr Byers "has repeatedly said that the PPP will not go ahead if it is not safe."

A spokesman for Aslef, the train drivers' union, said: "The HSE's assessment must be a red light to the whole scheme which clearly cannot guarantee passenger safety."

? Further strike action on the Tube drew nearer today as 3,000 train drivers finished voting in a ballot expected to endorse industrial action. Votes will be counted tomorrow, with announcements later or, more likely, Thursday from the RMT and Aslef, which ordered the ballots in a long-running dispute over pay.