Why promises go down the tube

Opinion

As an engineer who used to be involved on a contract basis with London Underground — and might be again in the future — I was interested to see your article about the work to cool down the tube network.

As an engineer who used to be involved on a contract basis with London Underground — and might be again in the future — I was interested to see your article about the work to cool down the tube network (

Feature, 16 January

).

It is quite true that this is one of the biggest priorities facing the system, and as The Engineer points out there have been some near misses during hot weather, during which a very serious situation has only just been narrowly avoided.

While applauding the initiatives that are underway, I noticed that the Transport for London management is not putting any timescale on when we might see a solution.

This is hardly surprising. Anyone who has worked in the system will tell you the issues confronting the tube’s engineering teams are massive, and making promises is an unwise move.

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