A London MP has called for “drastic improvements” on the District Line after years of delays on a section of the line.
Issues have got so bad on the Wimbledon branch of the busy Tube line that south Londoners cannot depend on trains to get them to work or school on time, Putney MP Fleur Anderson has said.
Sir Sadiq Khan was recently forced to apologise to thousands of tennis fans who faced days of disruption during the Wimbledon tennis tournament as the District Line plummeted to its worst performance in more than a decade.
“If you ask Southfield residents, they will say [the problems have lasted] for years,” Ms Anderson told the Standard. “It goes up and down. Last Autumn, there was a peak of signal failures. Sometimes it’s in the winter when the tunnels get flooded.
“It came to everyone’s attention during Wimbledon, but that was not the start of it. Even at my surgeries, people had been coming to me talking about the failures on the District Line.
“They are so frequent, one couple came to say their grown-up daughter had to move out of Southfields because she couldn’t rely on getting to work. That’s how bad it had got.”
A serious track fault led to two days of delays during the first week of the Wimbledon grand slam, while signalling failures and a track fire near Southfields station during 34C heat caused further problems.
Ms Anderson explained the Wimbledon branch has been hit by regular track circuit failures, which can disrupt the spacing between trains and cause a knock-on effect up the Tube line.
She also warned that the destinations of trains suddenly change to help maintain a safe gap between services.
The Labour MP also said that while large sections of the District Line have been modernised, the Wimbledon branch has fallen behind and her constituents are “losing out”. Network Rail is in charge of the maintenance.
Sections of the track in use south of Putney Bridge station are 130 years old.
Ms Anderson continued: “There is something about our branch, the Wimbledon branch, because it’s run by Network Rail, means it hasn’t been modernised, so the signals keep failing.
“Last Autumn, they said it was because too many leaves fell at once. Now it is because of the hot weather. Really, if your systems can’t cope with what happens every year, with the seasons, then they’re not fit for purpose.”
It is understood that Transport for London (TfL) Commissioner Andy Lord has set up a group to look into the issue.
Meanwhile, Ms Anderson explained that the responsibility for the track on the Wimbledon branch is going to pass to the renationalised South Western Railway in around five weeks time.
“It won’t be up to Network Rail,” she continued. “They have really failed on this. I have met with the Chief Executive of South Western Railway and he has said he is going to be looking into it.”
But the MP warned there had been “no concrete measures” about how the issues will be fixed.
She added: “Residents will say ‘why on earth was this not done a long time ago’ but it is being done now. We welcome it.
“Whatever is behind it it has been going on for too long and we want to see a really drastic improvement in this service because it’s so unreliable.”
Meanwhile, Wimbledon MP Paul Kohler has also spent months complaining to TfL about issues on the District Line.
The Liberal Democrat described the disruption during Wimbledon as “a huge embarrassment in the middle of the championships, during one of the Crown Jewels of British sport”.
A spokesperson for Network Rail said: “We’re sorry to any District Line passengers whose journeys were affected by recent signalling issues on infrastructure shared between Network Rail and London Underground.
“Engineers were able to investigate the root causes of the track circuit failures and have made the necessary repairs. We are working closely with Transport for London (TfL) to understand and implement both short term actions to improve our response and collaboration as well as agreeing a longer-term strategy for the line.”
TfL has been contacted for further comment.
