"Blue light" vehicle helping engineer response time

A scheme which allows Tube engineers to travel in a flashing "blue light" road vehicle has almost halved critical incident response time in the first month of operation, London Underground (LU) has said.

Emergency Response Unit engineers are using three new British Transport Police vehicles, driven by a police officer, to cut through London's traffic under the same "blue light" as used by the Met, fire and ambulance services.

The scheme is used for incidents where public safety could be at risk, such as stranded trains, "person under a train" or obstructions on the track.
Commuters stuck on crowded rush hour services have suffered hugely in the past simply because engineers using civilian vehicles have been unable to reach the scene of an incident, because they have been stuck in traffic.

LU said the average time taken in 2010 to restore service after an incident, which had brought trains to a stop, was two hours and 25 minutes, and last year was one hour and 23 minutes.

At a recent incident in the heart of London, Leicester Square, services resumed after 65 minutes. In another incident at Northfields trains were running in 57 minutes and at Southgate in 48 minutes - each with engineers arriving via the "blue light."

Mike Brown, LU managing director said: "These initial results from the blue light scheme are really encouraging and show how we can respond to incidents and restore service more quickly for customers by working in collaboration with police colleagues."

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