London Underground addressing the screech on the Central Line between Wanstead and Leytonstone but no air conditioning for 10 years

Central line users who have had to put up with the high pitched screech on the line between Leytonstone and Wanstead should soon get some relief.

Addressing the External Scrutiny Committee of Redbridge Council, Chris Taggart, head of line operations at the Central Line, explained how London Underground did some track fixing to alleviate the vibration that some residents had been enduring in their homes. “This created the screeching noise and we have been working hard to find a solution,” said Taggart.

The solution appears to be fixing pads alongside the track fixings, which takes away some of the noise. This approach has been used at Bethnal Green to good effect and will be used on the Wanstead stretch of the track.

Taggart also addressed the poor service on the Central line over the past six weeks. “The last six weeks has not been good on the Central Line, not as good as normally expected,” said Taggart, who explained there has been an overhaul of the trains going on, which has meant taking some trains out of service

The head of line operations conceded that the Central Line gets hot in the summer. He then outlined some of the measures that have been taken to alleviate the suffering of passengers, such as the fitting of a white film on the roof.  However, there will not be air conditioning on the trains till 2028.

On the question of reliability, he promised things would improve but this could take 18 months plus.

The Central Line operates 85 trains at present on its tracks, with plans to increase to 100. It runs 34 trains an hour.