Customer first-engineering the Underground

Since 1988, London Underground has been committed to a number of significant business change programmes. The guiding principle adopted for these programmes has been the need to shape the company specifically to meet the needs of the fare-paying passenger. Following significant devolution and engineering reorganisation programmes in 1988 and 1989, London Underground introduced a company-wide comprehensive change programme in November 1991, which aimed to improve bottom line performance by about #180 million pa, to reduce the workforce from 21700 to 16000 and to improve the service delivered to passengers in terms of quantified and measurable criteria, which relate to the safety and quality of the transport product. The article traces the history of the change programmes and reports on progress for the six fiscal years from 1989/90 to 1994/95. The article also describes the movement of the Underground to a state of potential financial self-sufficiency, in which the Underground will generate sufficient funds from the business to meet an average annual capital renewals investment of about #300 million.