Tube Lines and Alstom to improve Northern Line

Tube Lines has signed a deal with Northern line fleet maintainers Alstom to improve reliability of the trains on the country's busiest railway line.

Tube Lines also renews Alstom's Jubilee line fleet maintenance contract with a value of GBP80 million.

The deal amends the private finance initiative (PFI) agreement made between Alstom and London Underground in 1995, which Tube Lines inherited when it assumed responsibility for the Northern line in 2003.

Tube Lines will further increase its investment to support Northern line fleet improvements.

The agreement ensures that Tube Lines' performance targets laid down in the more recent public private partnership (PPP) deal with London Underground and Alstom's own targets set within the PFI contract are aligned, enabling both companies to work together to reduce the impact of faults on passengers.

As part of amending the PFI deal, Tube Lines and Alstom have agreed a plan to improve fleet maintenance and therefore reliability in order to meet the new targets.

The deal introduces a new joint management structure where senior managers from Tube Lines, Alstom and London Underground will meet regularly as a working board to ensure improvements are being delivered and any problems which arise are quickly addressed.

There will also be an agreed involvement of Tube Lines as part of Alstom's day to day activities to maximise the benefit both parties can bring to the daily operations and maintenance.

Terry Morgan, Chief Executive of Tube Lines said: "We've significantly improved fleet reliability on the Jubilee and Piccadilly lines and want to do the same on the Northern line to reduce delays to the three quarters of a million people who use it every day.

It will take time for the new structure to bed down but we intend that this agreement with Alstom will result in a gradual improvement in performance over the coming weeks and months.

"We will be working with Alstom to implement more innovative ways of maintaining trains which combine with improvements Tube Lines has delivered on track and signalling to give passengers a better Northern line.

We want to move more quickly towards realising our vision of delivering an outstanding Tube for London".

Paul Robinson, Managing Director of Alstom Transport, UK and Ireland said: "We recognise that in the PPP domain, contractual alignment is essential to the smooth and efficient delivery of service to the ultimate end customer, the fare-paying public.

To that extent, the alignment of Tube Lines and Alstom of their deliverables is key, and we are pleased to be moving forward in a spirit of partnership".

Reinforcing the working relationship of the two companies, Tube Lines has also renewed Alstom's contract to maintain the Jubilee line fleet in a deal worth approximately GBP80 million (euro117 million).

Alstom has been working with Tube Lines since 2003 when it assumed responsibility for the line, with Alstom maintaining the fleet since its introduction in 1996.

The direct arrangements are very different to the PFI covering Northern line fleet maintenance.

The two companies have now agreed to work together on the maintenance of the Jubilee line fleet until 2017.

The successful completion in January 2006 of the delivery of the Jubilee line fleet extension - a two-year project to make the existing 59 Jubilee line trains longer with the addition of a seventh car, and to add an extra four trains to the fleet - demonstrates Tube Lines' and Alstom's strong teamwork.

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