The Bakerloo line trains are the oldest in operation in the UK
(Picture: PA Wire)Transport for London is being “paralysed” by the lack of a long-term funding deal that has left it unable to start new projects since last summer, the Government was told on Wednesday.
The failure to strike a deal has also put “at risk” hopes of new trains for the Central and Bakerloo lines, according to the London Assembly.
In a letter to Transport Secretary Grant Shapps, the assembly warns that TfL cannot invest in new rolling stock and dozens of bus routes have been unable to be re-tendered - meaning older, more polluting vehicles have to keep running.
TfL’s current Covid bailout has been twice extended and is due to run out on Friday night. However TfL chiefs only expect a further extension until June.
They refused to accept a draft deal on February 4 because of “unacceptable” conditions that the Government was said to want to attach to the funding.
Caroline Pidgeon, Lib-Dem chair of the assembly’s transport committee, said: “The continued procrastination over a long-term funding deal for Transport for London is damaging for London’s transport system, for Londoners and for the entire country.
“TfL has not started any new capital enhancement projects since summer 2021, some TfL staff are being redeployed away from paused projects or being released, and no investment is being made in new rolling stock and new projects.”
TfL has reduced frequencies on more than 40 bus routes and has laid out plans to make major changes to several key routes, with the 271, 1 and 168 facing the axe or merger into other routes.
TfL commissioner Andy Byford on Tuesday met with 50 supply firms to warn of the “dire consequences” for jobs around the country should an infrastructure deal not be struck. TfL contracts are worth £7bn to the UK economy. Since November, TfL has deferred more than £300m of contracts due to uncertainty around its future funding.
Mr Byford said: “It is important that we work together through this extremely difficult time to protect jobs around the UK and avoid the scenario in which the forced managed decline of London’s transport network impacts lives and communities the length of the country.”
The Department for Transport, in response to the letter on Wednesday afternoon, referred to past comments about having already provided more than £4.5bn in covid emergency funding to TfL and its need to ensure that “any further settlement represents value for money for taxpayers across the UK”.
