Night Tube: TfL promises 24-hour weekend service from September 2015

Changes were condemned by RMT Union general secretary who claimed 24-hour tubes on Friday and Saturday night were a 'disaster waiting to happen'

TfL will run 24-hour tube services from 2015 (REUTERS/Luke Macgregor )

Transport for London announced it will run a 24-hour night tube service over the weekends from 12 September next year.

Passengers will be able to take the ‘night tube’ on Fridays and Saturday, hopefully cutting journey times by 20 minutes, according to TfL.

The RMT Union, who recently elected Mick Cash as general secretary, condemned the plans.

A Union spokesperson, speaking to the BBC, said the plans had “not been properly thought through and are a disaster waiting to happen”.

TfL plans to run six trains per hour through central London on the Victoria, Jubilee, and the majority of the Piccadilly, Central and Northern Line.

The busy Northern line will run eight trains per hour – helping to cope with the high footfall to and from Leicester Square and Camden Town.

‘Night tubes’ will launch in time for the staging of the Rugby World Cup, hosted in three London stadium – Twickenham, Olympic and Wembley – as well as 10 others around the country.

Mr Cash, in remarks to the BBC, said: "This proposal is now being bulldozed through without any proper risk assessment or agreement on core issues.

"To make this plan work we need more tube staff not less if we are not going to be risking disaster at three o'clock in the morning when the West End is flooded with thousands of people fresh out of the pubs and clubs.

"As it stands at the moment the night tube plans are not properly thought through and are a disaster waiting to happen."