Londoners moved a step closer to receiving their biggest present this year when Father Christmas helped deliver longer trains on the Jubilee line.

Santa and his reindeer were roped in to deliver the final new carriage being added to trains to create more space for passengers. In total 58 carriages and two whole new trains have already been delivered to Stratford Market Depot and the last one arrived today.
 
London Underground is creating space for 6,000 more passengers each hour during peak periods by converting trains from six to seven carriages in length.

The Jubilee line will be closed from December 26 to 30 to allow Tube Lines to complete the work before the line is handed back to London Underground to run the longer trains for passengers from New Year's Eve for the first time.

During the closure, Tube Lines will convert and test four trains each day and will adapt the final parts of the Tube’s infrastructure, including the signalling system and the platform edge doors which operate on the new parts of the line.

Further testing will be undertaken by Tube Lines and London Underground to ensure the line can reopen safely with longer trains on 31 December ready for an all-night service to help New Year revellers to get home.
 
The line closure is necessary because six-carriage and seven-carriage long trains cannot be safely run at the same time and is also required to ensure rigorous testing of the trains, equipment on stations and the signalling system.

“About 100 people will be working over Christmas to make the final changes and conduct more testing," said Siv Bhamra, senior project manager at Tube Lines who is overseeing improvements to the Jubilee line.

Transport for London is investing £10billion over the next five years to improve and expand London's transport network. More than half of that is in the Tube.
 
Tube Lines is also laying new track on parts of the line, upgrading stations and replacing the whole signalling system. The new signalling system is being tested and will be operational in 2009, enabling more trains to run more often and at higher speeds. The extended trains and new signalling system together offer a capacity increase of 40%.
 
Tube Lines – made up of Amey and Bechtel – is responsible for the maintenance and upgrade of the infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.  London Underground is responsible for operating the Underground, for employing drivers and station staff, for ticketing and fares, and for the Tube’s safety regime.
 
Information from www.tubelines.com