Senior public officials are risking the improvements in efficiency and performance on some London Underground lines by questioning the future of the private company responsible for them, the company’s chief executive says.

In a Financial Times interview, Terry Morgan, stepping down as chief executive of Tube Lines, said the comments of senior figures at Transport for London, the London mayor’s transport organisation, were sometimes based 'on emotion, not fact'.

'I think people have to think through the consequences of some of the things they are talking about,' Morgan said.

His comments offer a rare public glimpse of the tension between TfL and Tube Lines, which maintains infrastructure on the Jubilee, Northern and Piccadilly lines.

Financial Times