Date set for takeover of Metronet

Maintenance firm Metronet went into administration in July 2007

Failed Tube maintenance firm Metronet will be taken over by Transport for London (TfL) next Tuesday, it has been decided in the High Court.

The private firm went into administration in July last year after an estimated �2bn overspend.

Metronet was responsible for maintaining two-thirds of the London Underground (LU) system.

TfL said removing Metronet from administration was "extremely good news for London's Tube passengers".

LU managing director Tim O'Toole said: "We will seek to put in place a stable, economic and efficient structure that is better able to deliver TfL's investment priorities."

These include increased passenger capacity on the Tube and improvements to stations, security and accessibility, he said.

And Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union, described the decision as "a massive relief".

'No more threats'

Created under a private-public financing initiative, Metronet announced last year that it was no longer able to meet its obligations amid spiralling costs.

Tube Lines, the other LU public private partnership (PPP) maintenance company, remains responsible for the rest of the network.

In March the House of Commons Transport Committee said Metronet and its shareholders were "primarily responsible" for its collapse.

Mr Crow said he hoped the announcement would "bring to an end a sorry and wasteful saga that has cost the public more than �2bn".

And he insisted there should be "no attempt to re-privatise these maintenance contracts".

"We also hope that our members can now be allowed to get on with maintaining and improving London's Tube network with no more threats to their jobs, pensions and conditions," Mr Crow said.

The Unite union's regional officer, Steve Hart, added it was "brilliant news for our members at Metronet and it's exactly what we have been campaigning for".

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