Crumbling TfL assets costing London commuters 830,000 hours

The network has an estimated £6.5 billion worth of uncompleted repairs reports Kumail Jaffer, Local Democracy Reporter

A Northern Line train on the track with trees on either side

Crumbling Tube tracks, trains and signals are costing London’s commuters over 800,000 hours every week this year, Transport for London (TfL) has been told.

The network’s ‘renewals backlog’ is an estimated £6.5 billion, half of which is track work alone.

TfL has estimated that maintaining its assets in a steady condition requires annual renewals investment of around £1.1 billion to £1.2 billion – but renewals expenditure averaged just £700 million per year in the five years to 2025-26, contributing to the increasing backlog.

It has meant service delays have skyrocketed in recent years, with data from the London Assembly Budget and Performance Committee showing more than 300 incidents related to asset condition decline in the last four years.

Problems with the ageing fleet on the London Underground cost commuters as estimated 414,000 per week hours last year.

The figure is expected to be far worse in 2026-27, with data for April and May this year suggesting travellers will lose a total of 830,000 hours to delays directly linked to declining assets.

It has also seen the reduction of services across the network compared to a decade ago. Bakerloo line trains completed only 75 per cent of the distance last year compared to 2016-17, with the network only achieving 89 per cent as a whole.

TfL told the cross-party committee that incidents are becoming more frequent and more disruptive, and that roads, bridges and tunnels – such as Vauxhall, Westminster and Lambeth bridges, Croydon Flyover, A40 Westway and Rotherhithe Tunnel – are also being impacted.

Chair Neil Garratt, a Conservative Assembly Member, has now written to the Mayor of London to ask if TfL will publish a clear strategy for preventing the backlog from ballooning further and to help return key assets to a sustainable state.

“Deteriorating assets are making TfL services less reliable every year, leaving Londoners and visitors trying to get around the capital to suffer ever more stressful and uncertain journeys,” he said.

“The consequences of underinvestment include congestion, slower journeys, road restrictions, reduced accessibility and reduced reliability.

“The longer we allow TfL assets to deteriorate, the greater economic impact it will have on our city.

“We must see progress from TfL and the Mayor to ensure funding is in place to reduce this £6.5bn figure.

“This will allow for improvements in service reliability, boost passenger numbers and generate additional fare revenue, allowing TfL to reinvest in and enhance the services available to London.”

Londoners should not expect to see fast results without immediate and significant financial investment, the letter suggested, stating that current levels remain “significantly below the level required to stabilise the renewals backlog”. The backlog of asset renewals is forecast to increase from £6.5 billion now to £7.4 billion by 2030.

TfL’s 2026-27 GLA Budget sets out a 20-year capital investment programme, with a total spend of £121 billion over this period, including £51 billion for capital renewals at an average of £2.6 billion per year. However, the committee notes that just over half of the total figure is funded, casting doubt over what proportion of the capital renewals element can be carried out.

Patrick Doig, the CFO of TfL, told Assembly Members that delays to various bridges and roads not being fixed across London was the lack of a “national funding model for highway structures”.

The government has also recognised the importance of this, stating alongside their funding settlement for TfL that the network is “not expected… to solely finance those from operating incomes.”

The Mayor was subsequently told to work with ministers to push for a long-term strategy for “long-term national strategy for bridges, tunnels and highway structures with a sustainable national funding mechanism that reduces reliance on ad hoc competitive bidding processes.”

A TfL spokesperson said: “Our maintenance and renewal programme is constrained as a result of decades of underinvestment from previous national Governments. Safety remains our top priority, and we are currently investing an average of £860million per year in renewals – a substantial increase on the investment made pre-pandemic and during the pandemic years.

“Our maintenance regime involves the inspection and repair of assets, while our renewals work involves the replacement of our assets or refurbishment to extend their working life. While current renewals investment remains below that required, we carefully prioritise investment towards those assets most in need. We continue to work with the Government to emphasise the importance of sustained long-term funding for TfL in order to boost investment in our assets and ensure London’s success.”

City Hall was contacted for comment.

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