12:25pm Wednesday 10th March 2010
By Claire Hack
THE Mayor of London is considering legal action after a ruling stated maintenance on the Underground would cost about £400m more than expected.
Boris Johnson argued costs for upgrades and maintenance over the next seven-and-a-half years should be no more than £4bn.
But an arbiter has ruled that Tube Lines, the company responsible for the work, should receive £4.46bn and Mr Johnson has said he is "examining legal remedies".
A Tube Lines spokesman said the total needed for the upgrade work, which is funded by a public/private partnership (PPP), was actually £5.75bn.
Mr Johnson, who heads Transport for London, was critical of the arbiter’s suggestion that London Underground scale back improvements in order to economise.
He said: "The arbiter ruled the costs should be £4.46bn, demonstrating that Tube Lines' breathtaking original demand for £6.8bn was an attempt at daylight robbery.
"Londoners will be outraged that the Tube upgrades promised to them are now threatened.
"We are being asked to write a blank cheque in order to prop up failing Tube Lines. In other countries this would be called looting, here it is called the PPP."
The arbiter has previously said Tube Lines could have delivered the Jubilee line upgrade, which was not completed as scheduled, on time and to budget.
A Tube Lines spokesman said: "We happen to think he's set it [the final settlement] too low. He's only partially taken in the representations we gave him.
"London Underground set what they wanted and that's what we priced. If London Underground changes what it requires we're up for changing the work we're doing.
"There are some really tough choices we have to make in terms of the money we can spend. We're up for discussions to change the scope of work so we can get the costs within their budget."
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