Tube lines could close for months

Large sections of the Tube could be shut for up to two months at a time, it emerged today.

London Underground chiefs will decide "within weeks" whether to take the drastic step to clear a backlog of vital repairs.

Entire sections of the Northern line, used by more than 650,000 passengers a day, could be first to close.

A decision is also expected on a closure of four to six weeks on the Waterloo & City line, used by 40,000 commuters a day. Shutdowns of other sections of key lines are also mooted. The move would bring months of misery for commuters.

Both private consortia responsible for maintaining the network, Tube Lines and Metronet, claim long-term closures are the only alternative to recurring delays when night engineering work overruns. A London Underground spokesman said: "We are investigating long-term closures of sections of the Northern line." He warned of "complex negotiations" with Tube Lines before LU would agree to the closures. If it does, shutdowns would probably begin next year, each lasting four to eight weeks.

The gloomy prospect comes on top of a warning this week that Tube overcrowding is set to increase. Last year a record 976 million passengers used the network, an increase of six million in four years.

LU said a decision to close any line would depend on --factors including the impact on commuters and whether LU judges the private sector has the capacity to do all the work on time.

At the moment engineering work to improve the network is confined to nights and some weekends when the power is shut off.

There would also have to be a renegotiation of the already highly complex contracts governing Tube part-privatisation.

An LU spokesman said that under the contracts Metronet and Tube Lines had agreed to carry out the huge refurbishment programme by working at nights and weekends only.

If that were now to be changed, the LU spokesman said: "We want to know what benefits we get back."