Underground Consider 24-Hour London ’12 Operation

Consideration is being taken by London Underground bosses to run the Tube around the clock during the 2012 Olympics, it has been revealed.

Transport for London (TfL) has established a working party to plan staffing for the proposed scheme with the Games expected to place extra strain on the Tube, which already handles three million passengers every day.

The main stumbling block appears to be that unions say they expect a battle on overtime pay for night staff, with the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (RMT) general secretary Bob Crow stating: “The hard fact is that there is no agreement with the unions in place for operating hours, volume of service, staffing levels or payments for next year’s Olympics.

“Not only that, but the continued job cuts and attacks on maintenance schedules mean that the Tube is short of capacity and prone to regular breakdowns at the best of times, let alone when we’ve got another million people to shift around the city.

“The mayor can’t keep London moving now, let alone for the Olympics in 2012.”

However, a TfL spokesman added: “We are on track to deliver all transport improvements well ahead of the Games and are confident of supporting a fantastic London 2012 Games and keeping London moving.

“We are now drawing up our detailed transport plans for the Games. However, no decisions have yet been taken about the Tube’s hours of operation during 2012.”