Tube Lines

Tube Lines Limited, also known as Tube Lines JNP, was a private company responsible for the maintenance, renewal and upgrade of the infrastructure, including track, trains, signals, civil work and stations, of three London Underground lines. It was a consortium of Amey plc (a subsidiary of Grupo Ferrovial), Bechtel and its headquarters is at 15 Westferry Circus, where it now runs as a subsidiary of Transport for London.

From January 2003 the London Underground operated as a Public-Private Partnership (PPP), where the infrastructure was maintained by private companies but it was owned and operated by Transport for London (TfL). Tube Lines had a 30-year contract for the following lines:


 * Jubilee Line
 * Northern Line
 * Piccadilly Line

Tube Lines was responsible for over 200 miles of track, 255 trains, 100 stations, and over 2,500 bridges, lifts and escalators. The remaining lines of the London Underground were part of the Metronet Rail, which existed from 2003 to 2008 when it was taken over by Transport for London after being placed into administration.

Tube Lines encountered a funding shortfall for their upgrades and requested that TfL provide an additional £1.75billion to cover the shortfall; TfL refused and referred the matter to the PPP arbiter who stated that £400million should be provided. There had been many discussions over the future of the company in the second review period and it was announced on 7 May 2010 that Transport for London had agreed to buy the shares of Bechtel and Amey (Ferrovial) from Tube Lines for £310m. Combined with the takeover of Metronet, this means that all maintenance is now managed in-house by TfL. Mayor of London Boris Johnson described the PPP agreement with Tube Lines as "looting".