The Central line is going to operate an emergency timetable – with 30 percent fewer trains during rush hour

Right now, it’s a pretty crummy time to be a regular user of the Central line. While, sure, we can get excited about the service’s very swanky refurbished trains (which you can get a first look at here), the line has been hampered by severe delays for months – and now there’s more bad news. 

While TfL sorts out delays and other issues on the red line, it’s been revealed that it’ll be operating on an ‘emergency’ timetable. While the Central line’s broken-down trains are fixed and its services evened out, commuters in rush hour can expect services to be reduced by nearly a third.

As reported by the Standard, Margaret Waite, head of customer operations on the Central, Waterloo & City and Victoria lines, reportedly told TfL staff:

‘Under the new timetable we will run an average of 21 trains per hour in the busiest direction in the evening peak, instead of the average of 30 trains per hour currently scheduled, which we are not currently able to deliver due to ongoing fleet issues.’ 

The ‘core section’ between White City and Leytonstone will see trains scheduled to run about every three minutes.

A lightly reduced service on the Central line was always part of plans to upgrade trains on the network. Five or six red line trains are being upgraded at a time, meaning that the Underground route has fewer trains than usual – though the situation has been made worse by broken-down services.

Recent London transport news on Time Out

The Central line isn’t the only London train route with a few issues at the mo. Just yesterday (February 27) Time Out reported on the Elizabeth line getting £140 million to fix its problems, while you can find out more about this weekend’s strikes with our full guide to industrial action on the capital’s rail network.  

Did you see that the ninth London Superloop bus route launches this weekend?

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