Over 700 Tube carriages 'soiled' last year

Over 700 London Underground trains required cleaning last year due to carriages becoming 'soiled', Transport for London (TfL) has confirmed. The information was revealed in a response to a Freedom of Information (FoI) request this week.

The response defined soiled carriages as being any incident that required the train to be taken out of service or cleaned. This included accidents involving vomit, spillages and broken glass.

The data showed 708 instances of London Underground trains being cleaned or taken out of service due to such accidents between April 2023 and April 2024. The Northern line was affected the greatest number of times, with 217 trains being cleaned over the year.

The Jubilee line followed with 106 incidents. The Hammersmith and City line suffered the least number of messes, with only 42 carriages requiring cleaning. Saturday was the day with the most incidents recorded over the year, topping the list at 177.

TfL said in a previous FoI response from September 2022 on a similar topic that checks for immediate and obvious cleaning were carried out daily on London Underground trains. These were followed by mini cleans every three days, including grab poles being wiped.

Deep cleans, which involve a full interior and exterior clean, were said to be done every 21 days. A general external wash of trains reportedly takes place every three days.

The case officer said: "Saloon seats are vacuumed as part of the Deep Clean regime, and shampoo cleaning is conducted when required after spillages. Spillages, soiled, or immediately obvious saloon seat issues are picked up daily as part of additional casualty cleaning."

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