Air con planned for Hammersmith and City and District Lines by 2010


But no breeze at the end of the tunnel for Piccadilly Line

Transport chiefs at London Underground have announced that parts of the Tube network will have air conditioned trains from as early as 2010.

Trains on 'surface lines' such as the Circle, District and Metropolitan Lines could be up and running with air conditioning in about two years.

On these three lines, 190 new carriages will be introduced.

However, commuters using deeper lines such as the Piccadilly and Northern Lines will continue to suffer temperatures as high as 30 C over the summer.

London Mayor Boris Johnson said he was 'chuffed' that the air-conditioned trains will be running from 2010.

He said: "It always perplexed me that boffins could produce mobile phones the size of a credit card yet passengers would emerge dripping with sweat from tubes that lacked air conditioning."

London Underground have also announced that giant fans will be used to improve station air flow in the meantime.

The London tube network is more than 100 years old and was designed without ventilation shafts. Today the Tube carries over a billion passengers a year.

26 June, 2008
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