'Record numbers' taking the Tube

Date: 20/4/2011

More journeys than ever before are being made on the London Underground system, it has been revealed.

According to Transport for London, during the financial year ending March 31st 2011, 42 million more people took the Tube than during the previous 12-month period.

Numbers also exceeded the 1.1 billion mark for the first time, while a record was broken for the amount of passengers carried during the four weeks leading up to Christmas at 90.6 million.

During the last 15 years there has been a 40 per cent increase in the number of commuters using the Underground, with 14 per cent of this rise occurring in the last seven years.

Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, said the network is running more trains than ever, in addition to carrying out engineering work in order to improve the system.

"We are investing in new trains, new signalling and new track, which will be key if we are to be able to keep up with the ravenous demand for Tube services of our ever-increasing population," he added.

London Underground recently selected a preferred bidder - Bombardier Transportation - for its signalling project, which will serve 40 per cent of the network and potentially make services faster and more frequent.

Posted by Mary Treen