London’s new mayor Sadiq Khan has announced a 24-hour tube service will begin on Central and Victoria lines from 19 August, with Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern lines to follow in the autumn.
The coup comes almost exactly a year to the date that Boris Johnson tried to launch the ‘night tube’ only to have his plans derailed by the unions which claimed he bypassed workers without consultation in order to rush through new all-night hours.
It is the second major transport policy Khan has announced within just a couple of weeks of winning the election, and comes after months of stand-offs between TfL, City Hall and Tube workers that caused travel misery for the capital’s commuters.
Khan said: “The Night Tube is absolutely vital to my plans to support and grow London’s night time economy – creating more jobs and opportunities for all Londoners. The constant delays under the previous mayor let Londoners down badly.
“I have made getting the Night Tube up and running a priority, and London Underground has now confirmed that services on the first two lines will launch on 19 August.”
Transport for London estimates it will cut journey times by an average of 20 minutes, and support around 2,000 permanent jobs as well as boosting London’s economy by £360 million. There will be six trains per hour through central London on all Night Tube lines between 12:30am and 05:30am.
Central line: trains will run between Ealing Broadway and Loughton / Hainault
Victoria line: trains will run on the entire line
Jubilee line: trains will run on the entire line
Northern line: trains will run on the entire line except on the Mill Hill East and Bank branches
Piccadilly line: trains will run between Cockfosters and Heathrow Terminal 5
