Night tube to begin on August 19

THE long-awaited Night Tube will launch on August 19, London Mayor Sadiq Khan has revealed.

The Central and Victoria lines will be the first to go live, with the with Piccadilly, Jubilee and Northern to follow in the autumn.

Plans for the Night Tube, which will provide a 24-hour weekend service, had been plagued with problems with rows between Transport for London (TfL) and unions over pay and working conditions.

Announcing the launch of the service, the new Labour mayor criticised his predecessor’s handling of the situation.

Mr Khan said: “The Night Tube is absolutely vital to my plans to support and grow London’s night time economy – creating more jobs and opportunities for all Londoners. The constant delays let Londoners down badly.

“I have made getting the Night Tube up and running a priority, and London Underground has now confirmed that services on the first two lines will launch on August 19.”

The Night Tube had initially been due to launch in September 2015, and even earlier this year Boris Johnson pledged to have it running by the end of July.

The Mayor’s office says the Night Tube will play a vital role in opening up London’s night-time economy to a host of new opportunities, supporting around 2,000 permanent jobs and boosting London’s economy by £360 million.

To meet the expected demand for services, there will be six trains per hour through central London on all Night Tube lines between 12.30am and 5.30am. This will rise to eight trains per hour on the Northern line to meet demand at busy stations between Leicester Square and Camden Town.

London’s Transport Commissioner, Mike Brown, said: “It is good news for London that the first ever all-night Tube service will be ready on 19 August.

“More than half a million people use the Tube after 10pm on Fridays and Saturdays, and the introduction of the Night Tube, which will support London’s businesses and jobs, is a historic step in our modernisation of the Underground and our work to support London’s economic growth.”

Around 200 part-time drivers are taking part in a 14-week training