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£ 1.5bn makeover for tube stations

from Cathy (cathyvpreece@aol.com)

South London Press

News

£ 1.5bn makeover for tube stations

Aug 6 2003
By Domenic Donatantonio

NEW disability access, CCTV, lighting, signalling and station fronts will form the extensive revamp for 16 of South London's Tube stations, it was announced last week.

Tube Lines, which took over the running of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines at the beginning of the year, has announced a modernisation and refurbishment programme, to be completed by 2011.

Stations to be modernised will have improved passenger access and the fabric of the buildings, such as walls, ceilings and floors, will be completely renewed.

Regular commuters through Kennington and Borough may have already noticed the start of the modernisation programme.

Stockwell is the first station set for refurbishment, which will involve a "lot more than a lick of paint", according to Tube Lines spokeswoman Sarah Hagen.

The company also revealed a 12-fold increase in its litter collection. Stephen Peat, director of operations, said putting magazine racks on trains to counter the problem of the thousands of newspapers left by passengers had been considered.

"We had to reject the idea because of security concerns," he said.

"But around 400,000 copies of Metro are taken on to our trains, and around half of those are left behind.

"Our drivers are now instructing passengers to take their rubbish with them as the ambience of the train is as important as safety and reliability."

Tube Lines has also announced a graffiti blitz. Mr Peat said: "We have had a major issue with graffiti.

"So like you'll find on an aeroplane, our trains are litter-picked at the end of the line. This is a 12-fold increase on the previous day-to-day cleaning."

The total upgrade for the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines across London is set to cost £1.5billion.

Mr Peat said: "We are putting more pounds in the ground than has ever been seen before."

(posted 7540 days ago)

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