Just 60 days before Olympics, London's floundering transport system reaches crisis point

It’s 6.30pm on Wednesday, the busiest time on the tubes and trains as rush hour in the capital reaches a peak.

A train station heaves with commuters heading home, the temperature soars into the 90s.

Passengers spill out of the platform onto the walkway, officials in yellow tabards and walkie-talkies announce there are no  trains running.

They give no explanation, and no other information to the hundreds of people crammed up against one another.

Bodies push and shove in all directions, the plan is to get to another platform and catch a different train, it is inconvenient, and means a longer journey, but at least they will get home.

But no, more officials say that line is also stricken with severe delays, they tell the frantic crowd to  “make alternative arrangements”.

The platforms continue to heave as more people flood into the station.

Many are wandering around without a clue where to get a train home, all lines are apparently out of action, and the entrances to those that are working are blocked to “prevent overcrowding”.

A train eventually arrives on the platform.

An announcement plays over the loudspeaker: “We are unable to give you a destination of this train but advise you get on it anyway and change if necessary”.

People who had left the platform flock back, cramming themselves through the doors to get a place on the one train that appears to be working.

It eventually moves, though no-one on board knows where they will end up. It stops and starts, lunges forwards, jolts and shudders amid terrified gasps from the people on board.

It is chaos.

A scene from a third world developing country in the 1930s?

No, this is the city of London in May 2012, 60 days before London hosts the 2012 Olympics.

Sixty days before an estimated 11 million visitors hit the transport network -11 times the amount it struggles to cope with now, and about 50 times the number at Bank Station on Wednesday night as utter chaos ensued.

Transport for London was responsible for this shambles, but they think they are doing ok.

"we have just recorded our most reliable year on record" TfL

They told me this week they feel they have improved their service, with delays at an all-time low.

Their comments came the week the entire network was beset with signal failures, track faults, faulty trains, engineering issues and staff problems.

This was the week 773 passengers walked through a tube tunnel for almost a mile in sweltering heat because of a faulty Jubilee Line train (the main line during the Olympics).

The fiasco continued - a second train was brought in to push the first one along, that too failed. 

This is not an isolated snapshot. In the past two and a half months there have been two days, that’s right just TWO days, where there have not been delays on London transport.

This is a reflection on Transport for London -  which continually raises its fares for, we are led to believe, reliably carrying the working heart of the country.

In 60 days it will be needed by thousands upon thousands of people going to and from the Olympics.

I presented my findings to Mike Brown, managing director of London Underground.

I showed him the following list, and put it to him that the service he manages is not fit for purpose. His response is at the bottom.

March 5, delays on the Central Line

March 6, delays on the Victoria Line

March 7, delays on the Victoria Line

March 8, delays on the Central, Jubilee, and Victoria Lines and DLR

March 9, Jubilee Line suspended

March 10, Central Line part closed, DLR part closed, overground part closed, severe delays on the Piccadilly and Metropolitan Lines.

March 11, several planned closures

March 12, severe delays on the Metropolitan, Circle, Hammersmith and City Lines

March 13, delays on the DLR

March 14, delays on District and Circle Line

March 15, Central Line Part Suspended

March 16, DLR suspended, Metropolitan and Central Lines severe delays

March 17, Piccadilly Line, District Line delays

March 18, several planned closures

March 19, Waterloo and City Line delays

March 20, Central Line delays, Circle and District Line severe delays, Jubilee Line delays

March 21, Metropolitan Line delays, DLR severe delays, Circle Line delays, Hammersmith and City Line severe delays, Northern Line part suspended, District line delays.

March 22, Jubilee Line severe delays, Waterloo and City Line suspended (non availability of staff), District Line part suspended

March 23, Metropolitan Line part suspended

March 24, Piccadilly Line delays

March 25, Circle Line severe delays, Hammersmith and City Line severe delays, Overground delays, District Line delays

March 26, Bakerloo Line part suspended, Overground part suspended, DLR delayed

March 28, District Line delays, Northern Line delays, Hammersmith and City Line part suspended

March 29, Piccadilly Line part suspended, District and Circle Line delays, DLR not going to Bank due to overcrowding due to faulty train, Circle Line severe delays, No DLR from Bank

March 30, Overground delays due to overhead wire problems, District Line part suspended, Hammersmith and City Line part suspended

April 1, several planned closures

April 2, Hammersmith and City Line delays, Metropolitan line part suspended, Circle Line delays, Victoria Line Delays, Bakerloo Line delays

April 3, Overground delays, Piccadilly Line part suspended, severe delays, Jubilee Line severe delays

April 4, Jubilee Line delays, District Line part suspended

April 5, District Line delayed.

April 6, numerous closures and suspensions

April 7 Numerous planned closures

April 8 Central Line severe delays, numerous planned closures

April 9 Numerous planned closures

April 10 Central Line severe delays; Hammersmith and City Line severe delays; Metropolitan Line severe delays and part suspension

April 11 Metropolitan line delays

April 12 Hammersmith and City Line suspended, Jubilee Line delayed

April 13 Hammersmith and City Line part suspended, District Line delays

April 14/ 15 Numerous planned closures

April 16 Jubilee Line delays

April 17 Victoria Line delays

April 18 DLR severe delays; Bakerloo Line severe delays; Metropolitan Line delays; Overground trains suspended

April 20 Overground trains severe delays

April 21/ 22 Numerous planned closures

April 23 Victoria line delays; Central Line severe delays; Jubilee Line delays; DLR delays

April 24 Piccadilly Line delays

April 25 Waterloo and City Line suspended; Northern Line severe delays; Metropolitan Line part suspended, severe delays; Bakerloo Line delays; Jubilee Line delays

April 26 Bakerloo Line part suspended, severe delays; Metropolitan Line delays; Circle Line delays; Piccadilly Line delays; Victoria line delays

April 27 Central Line part suspended

April 28/ 29 Numerous planned closures

April 30 Bakerloo Line delays; Piccadilly Line severe delays

May 1 Victoria Line delays; Bakerloo Line part suspended

May 2 Circle Line delays; Metropolitan Line delayed; Hammersmith and City Line delays; Victoria Line delays; DLR delays

May 3 Bakerloo Line severe delays; Victoria Line severe delays

May 4 Piccadilly Line delays

May 5/6/7 Numerous planned closures

Mr Brown’s response was:

"We are confident that we will support a great Games and keep London moving. 

“Should issues arise at Games-time, we have robust plans and alternative routes in place to get everyone to and from their events.

“We are working hard and making progress to improve the overall reliability of the Tube network. 

“Last year, we carried more customers than ever before and each day the Tube carries more passengers than the rest of the national rail network. 

“Every day we operate more than 8,000 train services with few significant delays, and we have just recorded our most reliable year on record with delays at their lowest ever.

“But we will never be complacent and accept that in the last few days our customers have not had the level of service they are right to expect.”

I would go further with that last comment Mr Brown and say whole-heartedly, with respect, that your customers have not had the level of service they are right to expect for a lot longer than the last few days.

I asked Transport for London about the chaotic scenes on the DLR this week.

They responded:

“The DLR became crowded at Bank last night as a result of problems on the Jubilee line. 

“DLR were requested to suspend services between 1818 and 1831 to relieve crowding, during which time DLR re-routed trains. 

“This is likely to have led to a lag in communicating to the Passenger Service Assistant what the destination of the train was; however, we want customers to receive as much information about services as possible and we will look at this.”

There are 60 days until the London 2012 Olympics kick off.

I envisage total mayhem. I hope I am wrong, I have a feeling I am not.