Upgrade for tube stations

South London Press

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Upgrade for tube stations

Aug 1 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 this week.

Tube Lines, who took over the running of the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines at the beginning of the year, have announced a modernisation and refurbishment programme for the stations by 2011.

Modernised stations 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 set to be the first refurbished station under the programme 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, Tube Lines' director of operations, revealed that they had even considered putting magazine racks on trains to counter the problem of the thousands of newspapers left by passengers.

"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."

To be refurbished

OVAL - completed by spring 2010
STOCKWELL - early 2006
CLAPHAM NORTH - spring 2010
CLAPHAM COMMON - spring 2010
CLAPHAM SOUTH - spring 2010
BALHAM - spring 2010
TOOTING BEC - spring 2010
TOOTING BROADWAY - spring 2010
COLLIERS WOOD - early 2010
SOUTH WIMBLEDON - late 2010
BERMONDSEY - spring 2010

To be modernised

BOROUGH - early 2005
KENNINGTON - early 2005
MORDEN - early 2006
WATERLOO - spring 2009

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