The Night Tube and London Overground Night Service, often referred to simply as Night Tube, is a service pattern on the

London Underground The London Underground (also known simply as the Underground or as the Tube) is a rapid transit system serving Greater London and some parts of the adjacent home counties of Buckinghamshire, Essex and Hertfordshire in England. The Undergro ...

("Tube") and

London Overground London Overground (also known simply as the Overground) is a Urban rail in the United Kingdom, suburban rail network serving London and its environs. Established in 2007 to take over Silverlink Metro routes, it now serves a large part of Greate ...

systems which provides through-the-night services on Friday and Saturday nights on the Central, Jubilee, Northern,

Piccadilly Piccadilly () is a road in the City of Westminster, London, England, to the south of Mayfair, between Hyde Park Corner in the west and Piccadilly Circus in the east. It is part of the A4 road (England), A4 road that connects central London to ...

, and Victoria lines, and a short section of the London Overground's Windrush line. The service began on the night of Friday 19 August 2016, providing 24-hour service on these routes from Friday morning to Sunday evening each weekend. It was suspended from Friday 20 March 2020 because of the COVID-19 pandemic, with the service partially reopening on Saturday 27 November 2021 and fully restored by Friday 29 July 2022.

Background

Since the London Underground's inception, the practice of running night-time services has been difficult, mainly due to night-time noise, and maintenance work that is usually carried out during the night. General mass upgrades to the overall London Underground network from the late-1990s onwards, along with large infrastructure improvements to stations and signalling, plus the building of

Crossrail Crossrail is a completed railway project centred on London. It provides a high-frequency hybrid commuter rail and rapid transit system, akin to the Réseau Express Régional, RER in Paris and the S-Bahn systems of German-speaking countries, kn ...

which will have sections going underground to connect with the main London Underground system, made it possible to introduce a limited night-time Tube service.

History

In September 2014, TfL announced the introduction of the Night Tube. The initial plans were for Friday and Saturday through the night services on a limited number of lines, with, on average, a train every 10 minutes or less, continuing from around midnight when train services usually close to around 5 a.m. and into the usual morning service. The planned service was on the whole of the Jubilee and Victoria lines. In addition to that, there was planned services on the Central line between

Ealing Broadway Ealing () is a district in west London (sub-region), west London, England, west of Charing Cross in the London Borough of Ealing. It is the administrative centre of the borough and is identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Pl ...

and Hainault or

Loughton Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...

, the

Northern line The Northern line is a London Underground line that runs between North London and South London. It is printed in black on the Tube map. It carries more passengers per year than any other Underground linearound 340million in 2019making it the bu ...

between

Morden Morden is a district and town in South London, England, now within the London Borough of Merton, in the ceremonial county of Greater London. It adjoins Merton Park and Wimbledon, London, Wimbledon to the north, Mitcham to the east, Sutton, Londo ...

and

Edgware Edgware () is a suburban town in northwest London. It was an ancient parish in the county of Middlesex east of the ancient Watling Street in what is now the London Borough of Barnet but it is now informally considered to cover a wider area, inc ...

High Barnet Chipping Barnet or High Barnet is a suburban market town in north London, forming part of the London Borough of Barnet, England. It is a suburban development built around a 12th-century settlement, and is located north-northwest of Charing C ...

via

Charing Cross Charing Cross ( ) is a junction in Westminster, London, England, where six routes meet. Since the early 19th century, Charing Cross has been the notional "centre of London" and became the point from which distances from London are measured. ...

, and the

Piccadilly line The Piccadilly line is a Deep level underground, deep-level London Underground line running between the west and the north of London. It has two western branches which split at Acton Town tube station, Acton Town and serves 53 stations. The li ...

between

Cockfosters Cockfosters is a suburb of north London to the east of Chipping Barnet, lying partly in the London Borough of Enfield and partly in the London Borough of Barnet. It is 10 miles (16 km) north of Charing Cross. Before 1965, it was in the count ...

and

Heathrow Terminal 5 Heathrow Terminal 5 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, the main airport serving London. Opened in 2008, the main building in the complex is the largest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom. Until 2012, the terminal was used ...

. The service was scheduled to launch on 11/12 September 2015, with the prospect of expansion across further lines in subsequent years. However, due to strike action, the start of the Night Tube was postponed until 18 August 2016.

Strike action

Members of several unions decided to take strike action in relation to the terms and conditions being offered by London Underground, largely regarding agreements specifically over the pay deal and hours worked by new Night Tube service personnel. Members of the

National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers The National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers (commonly known as the RMT) is a British trade union covering the transport sector. Its current President is George Welch and its current General Secretary is Eddie Dempsey. The RMT ...

(RMT),

Transport Salaried Staffs' Association The Transport Salaried Staffs' Association (TSSA) is a trade union for workers in the transport and travel industries in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Its head office is in London, and it has regional offices in Bristol, ...

(TSSA), and Unite officially started the first 24-hour strike at 18:30 BST on 8 July 2015, and the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen (ASLEF) drivers starting their 24-hour action from 21:30 BST on 8 July 2015, with disruption occurring several hours either side of the start and finish times. London Underground warned there could be no services on Thursday as a result of the walk-out. The strike affected all Tube lines and finished at 21:30 BST on 9 July 2015. A second 24-hour strike action by London Underground trade unions took place from 18:30 BST on 5 August 2015 until 05:00 BST on 7 August 2015, and there was no service at all on 6 August 2015. Three unions also threatened to strike on 25 and 27 August 2015, where talks were held between the unions and London Underground for negotiations. ASLEF decided not to participate in the planned strikes. On 27 August 2015, it was announced that the start date for the Night Tube had been pushed back due to ongoing talks about contract terms between trade unions and London Underground. Following agreement of new terms by TfL and the unions, Night Tube operations were confirmed to start in the second half of 2016.

Service launch

The first Night Tube train ran on the night of Friday 19 August 2016, with the Central and Victoria line services starting that night. The Jubilee line services started on 7 October 2016, the Northern line on 18 November 2016 and the Piccadilly line on 16 December 2016. On 15 December 2017 the

started the East London line (now known as the Windrush line) night service running between Dalston Junction and New Cross Gate. This was extended to Highbury & Islington on 23 February 2018. Between 2016 and 2018, there were also a series of Tube map covers to promote Night Tube.

Coronavirus pandemic

Night Tube services were suspended from Friday 20 March 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. It was originally planned to restart in Spring 2021, but in April 2021 it was announced that the service would stay closed until at least 2022. However, in November 2021, Night Tube services on the Central and Victoria lines reopened for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, after an 18-month hiatus. The East London Line on the London Overground reopened on 17 December 2021, the Jubilee line on 21 May 2022, and the Northern Line also reopened on 2 July 2022. The Piccadilly line was the last to re-open, with the original service restored from 29 July 2022.

Services

Typical Night Tube services are as follows:

Expected benefits

TfL estimated that the Night Tube would lead to the creation of 1,965 permanent jobs, the net additional output produced as a result equating to an additional £360m over 30 years (i.e. £12m per year). These include: *An estimated 1,965 permanent jobs supported by the Night Tube — 265 through direct operation of the service and 1,700 indirectly in the night-time economy, taking into account impacts on London's night-time economy and the additional London Underground staff required. *Time savings of, on average, 20 minutes (but in some cases up to an hour) on some routes. *Standard business case shows that for each £1 spent on delivering the Night Tube, benefits will be £2.70. Adding in wider economic impacts increases this benefit by £1.20 for every pound spent. In addition to the above quantifiable benefits, other benefits TfL believed the service was likely to deliver include: *Reduced demand for illegal minicabs, thus improved safety in

taxi A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a Driving, driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of thei ...

s at night. *Improved commuter journeys for many people who work during the night-time in central London but live outside the centre. *Potential for longer operating hours for pubs, bars, clubs, restaurants, bowling alleys, cinemas, museums, art galleries, and other attractions. *Reduced congestion at stations after events at entertainment venues like

the O2 The O2 (formerly known as the Millennium Dome) is a large entertainment district on the Greenwich peninsula in South East London, England, including an indoor arena, a music club, a Cineworld cinema, an exhibition space, Town square, piazzas, ...

, as people are not in such a rush to leave to catch the last Tube as events finish. *Improved accessibility to

Heathrow Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

for passengers flying or entering before 07:00 at the weekend.

Notes and references

Notes

References

External links

* – official Night Tube site * - official London Overground Night Service site {{navboxes, title=Night Tube and Overground, list1= {{Transport in London {{Britishmetros {{Central line navbox {{Jubilee line navbox {{Northern line navbox {{Piccadilly line navbox {{Victoria line navbox {{London Overground navbox, ELL=y Electric railways in the United Kingdom London Underground Modes of transport in London Rail infrastructure in London Subterranean London Underground rapid transit in England 2016 establishments in England Night trains of the United Kingdom