Signal failures caused delays and disruption totalling almost 11 weeks across London’s tube network last year.
There were more than 1,800 such incidents in 2018 — causing disruption of more than 110,000 minutes, an average of about an hour each, according to data released by Transport for London under the Freedom of Information Act.
The District line saw the most incidents with 438 — totalling 28,749 minutes, the equivalent of almost 20 days. The 1.5-mile, one-stop Waterloo & City line had fewest failures, with just 25.
Signals are the lights that tell drivers if it’s safe to proceed. When signals fail, they turn red, causing delays.
The longest outage was on the District line at Plaistow in March, when a power supply issue disrupted service for more than six days.
The highest number of failures was at Acton Town, with 80 incidents.
Causes include power and air supply problems, while 30 were listed as “staff error”. The majority of Jubilee line signal failures were related to “platform edge doors”, which use more electronics.
Steve Hedley, of the RMT union, said some of the District line’s signals dated from the Sixties and needed government investment or “the signalling problems are only going to get worse”.
TfL’s Brian Woodhead said: “Delays on the Tube are at a four-year low, but we are investing over £5 billion into a new, modern signalling system on the Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Metropolitan lines. We have also created a team focused on tackling signalling issues.”
