Taxpayers face a bill of hundreds of millions of pounds after one of London’s biggest Tube maintenance firms entered administration yesterday.
Metronet, the company behind a £17bn Tube maintenance programme called in administrators amid serious financial problems.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone’s Transport for London (TfL) provided emergency funding of £700m from the taxpayer to ensure the safe running of the nine Tube lines under Metronet’s control.
Mr Livingstone said the crisis “would not undermine services”
“All trains will continue to run and all stations will remain open,” he said.
Ernst & Young has been appointed as administrators and insolvency expert Alan
Bloom assured Londoners that he had an “overriding obligation” to ensure the Tube network continued as normal.
London Underground Managing Director Tim O’Toole however, warned that a programme of up to 70 station upgrades planned by Metronet might be delayed for months.
“This will feed in with the larger discussion with the government with the funding of the TfL and transport in London,” he said.
It is understood the size of the cash boost for Metronet could be around £750m, which would be enough to cover the firm’s weekly funding gap of £30m until the end of this year. TfL however have not confirmed this.
Metronet has been involved in a long-running dispute with TfL regarding who should pay for the spiralling costs of upgrading the network’s transportation.
The company had planned to invest £17bn over the next three decades under the terms of a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme. This method of financing large products has been supported by the government, but opposed by London’s Lord Mayor.
The operator of the other PPP Tube contract for the Northern, Picadilly and Jubilee lines, Tubelines, adopted a competitive tendering process and has not suffered any substantial cost overruns.
(JM)
Construction News
19/07/2007
Rail Maintenance Firm Enters Administration

17/04/2025
Willmott Dixon has been selected by Oldham Council to build a new Visitor Centre and Forestry Skills Centre at Northern Roots, the UK's largest urban farm and eco-park.
The development marks a major milestone in the transformation of 160 acres of green space at the heart of Oldham, part of the coun

17/04/2025
A groundbreaking ceremony has officially marked the commencement of construction for Versa, a state-of-the-art laboratory facility at King's Cross.
The project, which is being delivered by Morgan Sindall Construction, has been commissioned by Kadans Science Partner, a prominent European investor s

17/04/2025
A major milestone has been reached on Skanska's A428 improvement scheme, as the project team connected the new A428 and B1040 roads over a newly constructed bridge and opened it to traffic last weekend.
The achievement marks a crucial step forward in the project, enabling access to part of the main

17/04/2025
Our welfare unit hire division offers innovative ecowelfare units ready to be delivered nationwide and available in a range of configurations to accommodate 7, 12, or 15 persons with our most popular unit being our 12ft model fitted with advanced solar panels means there is no noise or vibrations f

17/04/2025
Huddersfield Station will temporarily close from Saturday 30 August to Monday 29 September 2025 to allow for a critical phase of engineering work as part of the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU).
The closure will enable extensive track and platform remodelling at the Grade I listed station, which ha

17/04/2025
Visitors to Mumbles over the Easter holidays can now enjoy the transformed promenade, as major upgrades under the Mumbles Coastal Protection Project near completion.
Contractors have begun laying a durable buff-coloured top surface, replacing the previously installed black Tarmac. The fresh finish

17/04/2025
Herefordshire Council has secured £1 million in funding from the government’s Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme, to redevelop Hereford's Museum and Art Gallery into one of the most energy-efficient heritage public buildings in the UK.
The funding will be used to install a low carbon heating syst

17/04/2025
David Lloyd Leisure, Europe's leading health, fitness and wellness group, has submitted a planning application to Wirral Council for a new club at Wirral Waters.
The proposed club, set to create up to 100 permanent jobs upon completion, will be located at Peel Waters’ Bidston Dock site off Wallasey

16/04/2025
Pennyfarthing Homes has officially broken ground at Danes Park in New Milton, launching construction on a significant new residential development that will deliver 164 homes.
To mark the milestone, directors from Pennyfarthing Homes welcomed Councillor Steve Davies, Portfolio Holder for Housing and

16/04/2025
GMI Construction Group is celebrating the official opening of Dakota Newcastle, the North East's first Dakota Hotel, situated on Newcastle's Quayside.
The 118-room luxury boutique hotel, located at St Anne's Wharf, has welcomed its first guests and is poised to become a major addition to the region