Night Tube lines going through Southwark remain shut until next year, despite two other lines reopening amid concerns over women’s safety.
The Northern Line and Jubilee Line, the two lines that serve the borough, will continue to close at about 12.30am on Fridays and Saturdays – despite the Central and Victoria lines reopening throughout the night on the weekend.
It came after a petition to reopen the Night Tube as a way of protecting women garnered more than 140,000 signatures earlier this month, following the high-profile murders of Sarah Everard and Sabina Nessa in south London.
Transport for London (TfL) said that the other Night Tube lines – including the Piccadilly line – will return to service “as soon as practicable”, which the News understands to mean 2022. These lines have staffing shortages due to issues with training drivers while maintaining social distancing, and a large part of the Northern line Bank branch is closing between January and May 2022 for upgrades to Bank station.
The Night Tube first opened on Friday and Saturday nights in late 2016, before closing again in March 2020 at the start of the pandemic.
Night Tube: thousands sign petition calling for reopening to protect women’s safety
Calling for the Night Tube to reopen, campaigners said: “The running of a well-lit and well-connected Tube network, with platform CCTV and appropriately trained security staff serves as the best transport option to ensure millions of women across London can get home safely in the evenings and at night this coming winter. The reopening of the night economy after lockdown without this infrastructure is a disservice to women’s safety.