Northern line misery until 2011

5:53am Thursday 11th January 2007

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NORTHERN line commuters will not suffer a strike this month - but they will keep suffering delays until 2011, it has been revealed.

A meeting of Northern line stakeholders on Tuesday revealed the introduction of a new time table last October did not improve services on the "misery line".

Instead, the line has become worse.

In the last three months of 2006, excess journey times (EJT) increased by a whole minute to reach 4 minutes 50 seconds. That is almost two minutes more than the EJT of three years ago - 2 minutes 55 seconds.

Officials admitted that delays would continue until a new signalling system is installed - which will be ready by 2011 at the earliest.

Roger Evans, the Conservative deputy chair of the London Assembly transport committee, reacted with disbelief.

"The thought that the hundreds of thousands of commuters who use the line on a daily basis have no prospect of an improved service until 2011 is genuinely shocking, especially at a time when they are asked to pay more," he said.

"The fact that delays are increasing despite remedial works goes to show that commuters on the Misery Line' really are treated as second-class citizens."

Meanwhile a strike threat by train driver's union Aslef has been averted after a sacked driver got his job back.

The driver, with 22 year's experience, was dismissed last year after going through a red light.

Aslef insisted he followed correct procedure and asked its members to vote on a possible strike. The result was due to be announced today.

A London Underground (LU) spokesman said an appeal hearing found the driver was guilty, but the punishment was "too severe". He was reinstated with a suspended sentence of 12 months.

Aslef was satisfied with the outcome. But a union spokesman added: "The driver should never have been sacked in the first place."