The Mayor and London Underground (LU) on Tuesday announced that 24-hour ‘Night Tube’ services at weekends will begin operation from the early hours of 12 September 2015, transforming night time journeys across London for millions of people. It will run on the Jubilee, Victoria and most of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines. This new service will complement existing 24-hour and night bus services, and will expand across other lines in subsequent years.
The announcement comes as independent research into the economic benefits of the Night Tube found that the new service will boost jobs and help maintain London’s status as a vibrant and exciting place to live, work and visit. Delivering on a pledge the Mayor and London Underground made last November, the new service has been made possible thanks to the continued modernisation of significant parts of the LU network and improved levels of reliability. The Night Tube will cut night time journeys by an average of 20 minutes, with some cut by more than an hour. It will also play a vital role in opening up London’s night-time economy to a host of new opportunities, supporting around 2,000 permanent jobs and boosting the economy by £360 million, the research found.
In order to meet the expected demand for Night Tube services, there will be six trains per hour through central London on all Night Tube lines, including the Jubilee, Victoria and most of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern lines. On the Northern line, there will be eight trains per hour to meet demand at busy stations between Leicester Square and Camden Town.
Boris Johnson, Mayor of London, said: “London is a bustling, 24-hour global city and by this time next year we’ll have a 24-hour Tube service to match. Running trains all through the night was once thought impossible, but with the huge investment we’ve put in and upgrades that have been delivered we stand ready to take the Tube to the next level. As well as creating vital new jobs and giving a huge boost to our economy, the Night Tube will help millions of people to get around our city more easily and quickly. The evolution of the Night Tube will without doubt make London an even better place to live, work, visit and invest.”
