Londoners call for air-conditioned Tubes as capital cooks
London Underground say it will be six years before air-con trains are rolled out across London - but sweaty commuters say that's not fast enough
2 July 2009
OVERHEATING passengers called for air-conditioned Tube trains to be rolled out more quickly as temperatures soared on the Underground yesterday.
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Commuters in packed carriages endured sweltering 38C (100F) conditions on the Central line, with 35C (95F) recorded on Bakerloo and Victoria trains.
"There’s nothing worse than standing next to a sweaty man with your head in his armpit"
The trial of the Tube’s first air-conditioned train started last month, but Underground bosses said it will be a year before more are introduced on the Metropolitan line, and 2015 before all 191 new trains are in service on the District, Circle and Hammersmith & City lines.
Sarah Haddow, 18, a student from Pinner, Harrow, on the Bakerloo line, said: “If that can be speeded up, I think they should do it.
“There’s nothing worse than standing next to a sweaty man with your head in his armpit.”
Student Lalina Nixdorf, 20, from Notting Hill, said: “We need air con now.” Broker Kenny Groth, 29, from Battersea, complained: “I have to travel by Tube and it’s definitely not the highlight of my day.”
Transport for London said it will take six years for air-con trains to be built and tested.
Deep lines – such as the Jubilee, Piccadilly, Bakerloo, Victoria, Central and Northern – are too narrow for trains to have air-con units attached.
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